PEABODY — It may have been ugly, but in the end both teams were able to skate away with a point.
That’s how the head coaches of the Peabody/Lynnfield and Winthrop girls hockey teams felt following a 2-2 draw in a Northeastern Hockey League battle Wednesday evening at McVann-O’Keefe Memorial Rink. In all, 15 total penalties were called between the two teams.
“When you’re running your special teams the whole night, it kind of throws things off on your bench,” said Peabody/Lynnfield coach Michelle Roach. “I’d certainly like to see us not take as many penalties, but I did like to see that we were able to battle back two different times and walk away with the tie.”
“It was just an unreal game between two really good teams,” said Winthrop coach Anthony Martucci. “You know coming in that when you have two physical teams, penalties are going to get called. It would have been nice to stay out of the box a little more and obviously not give up those two powerplay goals, but at the same time we were able to walk away with a point.”
Sarah Powers had one goal and one assist to lead the way for Peabody/Lynnfield, while Jenna DiNapoli scored one goal and Hannah Gromko had one assist. Goalie Audrey Buckley had a big night in net with 32 saves.
“We give out a Player of the Game award after each game, and Audrey for sure gets it (Wednesday),” said Roach. “She was the backbone of the team out there and she had a phenomenal performance keeping us in it all night.”
The Vikings got goals from Mia Martucci and Julia Holmes in the draw. Winthrop goalie Summer Tallent made 21 saves.
“We had a lot of opportunities (Wednesday), and to be honest we’re having some trouble putting the puck in the net at the moment,” said Anthony Martucci. “It always helps when you have a one-of-a-kind goalie like Summer back there keeping you in the game, but we have to give her some support out there.”
Winthrop came out hot to start the first period, scoring just one minute into play when Holmes found the back of the net to put the Vikings ahead early. The Vikings continued that early pressure for much of the first period, eventually taking that lead into the second. By the time the second period ended, Winthrop had already put 22 shots on net.
But even with that pressure, Peabody/Lynnfield was able to find an opening. After earning a powerplay chance, Powers was able to rip a shot that DiNapoli was able to tip into the back of the net to tie the score up at 1-1.
The two sides remained deadlocked going into the third period, but Mia Martucci quickly put the Vikings back in front when she slapped one home on the powerplay early in the final frame.
However, as was the case all night, Peabody/Lynnfield quickly got a powerplay of its own and cashed in. It was Powers once again, as she scored with 8:30 left in the game to knot things up at 2-2.
From there, the only things that flashed up on the scoreboard were penalties. After battling through the rest of the third period and then an entire overtime without either side giving an inch, the two league foes skated away with the draw.
Winthrop (3-0-1) hosts Medford/Malden Wednesday (6:10).
“Our main goal at the moment is to improve the offense and start scoring some more goals,” said Anthony Martucci. “We feel really good about how we’re playing all over the ice right now, but we need to cash in when we get those scoring opportunities.”
Peabody/Lynnfield (3-1-1) travels to Masconomet Friday morning (11:30).
“It’s another big league matchup for us, and we need all the points we can get,” said Roach. “It’ll be tough coming off of a physical, emotional game like this one so quickly, but hopefully we can rally and get a win.”
