Swampscott is off to a flying start post-Christmas, beating the Lynn Jets 8-0 on Monday evening at Connery Rink. Goal-scorers for the Big Blue were Zack Ryan (two), Derek Faia, Ronan Locke (two), Kody Langevain (two), and Aidan Sprague.
In the first period, it was the Big Blue who were on the attack in the opening three minutes, dominating possession and getting quality shots on goal. The Jets’ goaltender and captain Stephen Difilippo stood strong, however, denying everything Swampscott fired at him early.
The first big opportunity came to Swampscott as defenseman and assistant captain Aidan Fitzpatrick found himself one-on-one with the keeper, but Difilippo stood his ground and deflected the puck away for a solid save.
The Big Blue continued with their pressure, finally leading to a goal scored by Ryan with five minutes left in the period to give Swampscott an early lead. Two minutes later, it was Faia who doubled Swampscott’s lead.
It didn’t stop there. The Big Blue were patient on the power play and moved the puck around the ice before Locke fired a shot past Difilippo for Swampscott’s third goal of the period.
In the second, Difilippo made several big saves within 30 seconds. The first was on a snapshot from Sprague, and moments later, Locke had his shot saved after Difilippo scrambled back into position to deny the puck.
Shortly after, however, a rebound fell right to Langvain who tapped in the fourth goal of the night.
Later on, Difilippo made another impressive save that even got some of the Swampscott faithful to applaud. He made a quick-reaction glove save to prevent a goal from a Big Blue attacker.
Swampscott’s head coach Gino Faia was impressed with the Jets’ tender.
“Their goalie was unbelievable. He made like a dozen five-star saves. You got to give that kid credit,” Faia said.
Later in the period, Swampscott capitalized on another powerplay. Faia faked as if he was going to go around the goal and passed the puck behind him, allowing Langevain to fire a shot on goal before anyone could react.
“We were just running [our] regular line units. They were all moving [the puck] well which was good to see. We got the puck moving which we talked about, so it was good,” Faia said.
Ryan got in on the action, using his pace to get past the Jets’ defenders and firing a quick wrist shot into the back of the net for the Big Blue.
With around one second left in the second period, Locke beat the buzzer by tenths of a second to give the Big Blue a 7-0 lead going into the intermission.
In the third period, the Big Blue continued to control the puck and kept it in the Jets’ half for the majority of the period. Sprague got onto the scoresheet with a goal halfway through the period.
Both the Jets and Big Blue play on Tuesday as they continue in the Lynn Christmas Tournament.
