LYNN — In a battle of top-25 teams in Division 1, the No. 21 St. Mary’s and No. 19 Winchester boys hockey teams traded blows throughout the night before settling for a 3-3 draw at Connery Rink Wednesday night.
“We’ve had some issues this season getting off to slow starts, and (Wednesday) was no different,” said St. Mary’s coach Mark Lee. “But the guys responded well and were able to bounce right back against a very good Winchester team. We would’ve loved the win, but walking away with a point is never a bad thing.”
The Spartans got two goals from Nick Thornton in the tie, while Brady Bullock added one goal. Goalie Owen Giangrande picked up 19 saves in net.
Lee knows that his conference schedule in the Catholic Central League always gives his team a test for the entire season, but scheduling non-conference games against strong teams like Winchester is especially important in the new statewide tournament power ranking system.
“We certainly haven’t dodged any bullets this season in terms of our competition, and we’ve gone toe-to-toe with some of the top teams in the state despite being on the younger side,” said Lee.
And Winchester certainly tested the Spartans early. Just 21 seconds into the game, David Strong broke free and scored to put the Sachems ahead 1-0.
But despite the setback, St. Mary’s didn’t waver.
A minute later, the Spartans responded when Thornton cleaned up a rebound out front to tie it at 1-1. Bullock then gave St. Mary’s the lead a few minutes later when he sniped a wrist shot under the crossbar from just inside the blue line.
Winchester answered back with a goal of its own with seven minutes to play, and it looked like the two teams would go into the intermission deadlocked. But Thornton made sure that didn’t happen, knocking in a loose puck with 1:20 to play and making it 3-2 Spartans.
The only scoring action of the second period came when Michael Cashell tied the game at 3-3 less than three minutes in, but one thing the Spartans were able to do was up the level of physical play on their end.
“Winchester is a speedy team and we really wanted to try to throw off their rhythm by getting more physical,” said Lee. “That was a key adjustment for us in between periods.”
After a scoreless third period on both ends, the two teams went to a five-minute overtime period that consisted of four-on-four play. Both teams were able to stretch the ice and get a number of scoring opportunities, but neither side was able to cash in and the game ended in a draw.
St. Mary’s (4-6-3) hosts Arlington Catholic Friday night (8) back at Connery Rink.
“Arlington Catholic is having a great year this year and they’re going to be a tough team to beat, so we’re expecting another battle,” said Lee. “It should be a great, high-quality high school hockey game.”
