LYNNFIELD — Lynnfield resident Ryan Sheehan is no stranger to MIAA sectional championship games.
As a three-sport standout athlete at Lynnfield High, Sheehan played in four North sectional championship games, two each in hockey and baseball. In his four-year tenure as assistant coach of the Lynnfield baseball team under head coach John O’Brien, Sheehan has helped lead the Pioneers to four straight Division 3 North championships from 2017-2020.
This past winter, Sheehan, in his fourth year as head boys hockey coach at Triton, did it again, leading the Vikings to their second sectional final in program history. The Vikings, who have never won a state championship, last advanced to the finals in 1990.
That’s the good news.
The bad news is unfortunately, Sheehan has come up empty every time, the latest loss coming at Tsongas Arena March 9 at the hands of Lincoln-Sudbury by a score of 8-1.
“I guess you could say I’m pretty good at getting there and I’m pretty good at not being able to finish it off,” laughed Sheehan. “We got off to a bad start. Lincoln-Sudbury scored three goals in their first five shots and were down 4-0 quickly. I thought we gained some momentum when we scored a goal near the end of the first period, but they came out and scored off their first shot of the second period, and that was it.”
Sheehan earned nine varsity letters at Lynnfield. A senior captain, he was the starting catcher on the baseball team, leading the Pioneers to the north finals his junior and senior years.
In hockey, Sheehan was a three-year starting goaltender for the Pioneers, leading them to two north championship finals, the first as a sophomore and the second as a senior.
He also started for three years at linebacker, tight end and fullback on the football team.
Following graduation in 2004, Sheehan spent a year at Hebron Academy in Maine where he played football, hockey and baseball. He moved on to Eastern Connecticut State University, playing two years of baseball before injuries put an end to his playing career.
“I just fizzled out after shoulder and knee injuries made it impossible for me to play,” said Sheehan.
A physical education teacher in Lynn, Sheehan got his start in coaching after college when his older brother Pat was named head football coach at Triton.
“That was not my original plan at all,” said Sheehan. “I majored in economics. My brother Pat had just gotten the head football coach job at Triton and he asked me to come and coach with him. I had wanted to stay with sports as long as possible as I love the competition. The best way to stay around that was to be with the kids, so I fell into teaching, and coaching, for that matter.
“Teaching has made it possible for me to coach, so it has really worked out well,” said Sheehan. “I rotate to all the elementary schools in Lynn, so I’m the ‘utility player,’ kind of the first man-off-the bench type teacher.”
Sheehan began coaching high school hockey as an assistant coach at Lynnfield under his former coach Vin Mirasolo. When Mirasolo left two years later to coach Melrose, Sheehan followed and spent four years as an assistant before getting the Triton job in June, 2016. He inherited a team that made program history the previous season when the Vikings qualified for the Division 1 state tournament for the first time.
After failing to make the D1 state tournament his first two years, Sheehan broke through in 2019, leading the Vikings to the semifinals of the Division 2 North tournament.
Sheehan also spent four years as an assistant baseball coach at Triton and three years as an assistant football coach at Lynnfield starting in 2017.
When not coaching, Sheehan manages to steal a round or two of golf at Nahant C.C., where he plays to a 5.5 handicap.
“A neighbor introduced me to the club and I love it there,” said Sheehan. “I’m done by 11:30 every day and the course really gives me the chance to work on my short game. To play well there, you have to be able to chip and putt.”
Triton punched its ticket to the championship game with a 2-1 win in overtime over top-seeded Masconomet. Sheehan said the team’s success boiled down to two things.
“The key was great leadership and a lot of talented players,” said Sheehan. “It was an unprecedented year mainly because we had a great group of kids, maybe the most enjoyable group I have ever coached.”
Sheehan and his wife, Amanda, moved back to Lynnfield in 2015 where they are raising two daughters, ages two and one.
