PEABODY — It was an emotional day at McVann-O’Keefe Memorial Rink Saturday afternoon, as the Lynnfield hockey team picked up a 5-1 win on Senior Day against perennial rival North Reading — winning the Cape Ann League regular season title in the process.
It’s the first time since 2005 that the Pioneers have been CAL champions.
“It was definitely way too long of a drought, and that’s something that we’ve been drilling down on all season,” said Lynnfield coach Jon Gardner. “This week in particular, since we knew we could clinch it with a win, it’s really been our focus.”
Chase Carney continued his incredible season for the Pioneers with two goals and two assists, while Drew Damiani had one goal and two assists. Will Steadman and Aidan Burke each had one goal and one assist.
But possibly more important than the offensive firepower — which has been there all year — is the defensive play for the Pioneers, who have only allowed six total goals in their past six games.
“We basically just challenged the guys and told them that the defense needs to be better,” said Gardner. “We had that terrible lapse the last time against North Reading (a 5-2 loss on Jan. 12), and since then we’ve really locked it down. It’s a credit to all of our guys back there for their work.”
Prior to Saturday’s game, the Pioneers honored their group of nine seniors — Carney, Burke, Steadman, Damiani, Janssen Sperling, Owen Kennedy, Patrick Barrett, Tyler Scoppettuolo, Evan Fitzmeyer and Phineas Mitchener — for their contributions to the program over the years.
“These guys have grown a lot with this program, and it’s really coming to fruition this year,” said Gardner. “They’re a great group of guys and we’ll miss every one of them, but for now we want to focus on finishing the job this year.”
The Pioneers took over this game early and never let up. Behind a lot of physical play and some highlight goals from Steadman and Damiani, Lynnfield took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.
Three more goals — two from Carney and one from Burke — in the second period put the game out of reach, and only a goal by North Reading’s Cole Lopilato in the third period spoiled the Pioneers’ shutout bid.
Lynnfield (12-2-0) takes on Medford Monday afternoon (4), but it’s hard not to look ahead to Saturday’s matchup against former CAL foe and this year’s Northeastern Conference Dunn Division champion Masconomet.
“We have a ton of respect for their program and how successful they’ve been over the years, and we know it’ll be a tough battle,” said Gardner. “When we had the opportunity to schedule a few non-league games, we jumped at the chance to face a team like that. It’s always a good back-and-forth and we’re really looking forward to it.”
