With 4:39 remaining in the second period of Saturday’s New Year’s Eve matinee between Lynnfield’s boys hockey team and Gloucester at O’Keefe Rink, Lynnfield’s Timothy Sullivan was taken down to the ice on a breakaway.
The result: a penalty shot. Sullivan, in his first game of the season, skated towards the Gloucester goalie and after a series of dekes, roofed a forehand strike into the net to tie the game 2-2, followed by a passionate, one-knee celebration in the corner with the Lynnfield faithful giving him an applause.
“He’s really good with the puck, good hands,” Lynnfield head coach Jon Gardner said. “Holding it, faking it, making a couple extra moves for good measure, and just to bury it was huge.”
That was one of the highlight plays of Lynnfield’s (5-0-1) 4-2 win against Gloucester (2-3) to head into the New Year. The Pioneers led after every period and defeated the Fishermen for the first time since the 2017-18 season.
“It’s always a nail-biter when we play the Fishermen,” Gardner said. “It must be the salt water, they’re a prideful group.”
The Pioneers’ Joseph Raffa began the scoring with 11:14 remaining in the first. While falling down, he buried a rebound off a right-pad save to put Lynnfield up 1-0. However, the next two belonged to Gloucester, a team Gardner says “never” quit.
“We [coaching staff] told them – if we get up, they’re going to keep coming,” Gardner said. “They always grind. They have a good mix of skill and that grit. You’re always going to get that.”
“We scored the first goal and kind of sat on it, then made some sloppy plays,” Gardner said.
Sullivan’s penalty shot goal tied the game 2-2 and, just as importantly, sparked the Pioneers. With 2:20 remaining in the second, junior Jack Carpenter weaved around a Fisherman before sliding the puck through the goalie’s pads to give Lynnfield a 3-2 lead heading into the final period – the eventual game-winning goal.
“We don’t give up a lot, and we’re going to continue to be our own worst critic and keep evolving, and keep winning,” Gardner said.
Then came the third period, one Gardner “thought was our best period.” The frame began with a scrum in front of Lynnfield goalie Daniel McSweeney, including a shove and several players flirting with time in the penalty box.
With 4:26 remaining, and Lynnfield holding just a one-goal lead, Gloucester went on the power play after a tripping penalty. To Lynnfield’s credit, Gloucester was slow and stagnant with the man-advantage and the Pioneers cleared the puck down the ice five times.
An empty-netter from Drew Damiani put things away. The senior, right near his bench, celebrated with fellow Pioneers and the final score favored Lynnfield 4-2.
“[I’m] proud of that win,” Gardner said.
McSweeney made several big stops for Lynnfield, highlighted by a first period sequence when he flashed the pads then poke-checked the rebound away from a Fisherman. Gardner also said it was a “great game all around” for senior Lucas Cook.
With 2022 in the books, and when asked what he’s learned from his team so far, Gardner said “we’re a work in progress.”
“We have a lot of returners, but some of those returners are playing in more intense roles, going from a fourth line to a third or even higher,” Gardner said. “[We’re] just looking to keep forging our identity because it’s up in the air.”
Another chance at that comes Wednesday when the Pioneers travel to Newburyport to take on the Clippers at 5 p.m.
Joey Barrett can be reached at [email protected]
