LYNNFIELD — Last year’s season didn’t exactly end the way the Pioneers’ boys hockey team had hoped.
Lynnfield finished the regular season 10-9-1 and earned the No. 4 seed in the Division 3 state tournament.The Pioneers squeaked by No. 29 Norton, 4-3, in the opening round only to be stunned in a big upset by No. 20 West Springfield, 5-2, in the round of 16.
The Pioneers graduated 11 seniors, among them being Daily Item and Cape Ann League first-team All-Star Jarret Scoppettuolo, leaving the team light in terms of veteran varsity returners.
Head coach Jon Gardner, however, doesn’t see it as a rebuilding or bridge year. Instead, he is embracing it as an opportunity that doesn’t come along too often.
“I don’t want to rehash the postmortems on last year’s team, but the only way you get better is to do that,” he said. “I’m excited about the turnover from last year to this year. Last year, for some reason, we just didn’t mesh at times. I think 90 percent of the time we outplayed and outshot opponents, but just didn’t get the goals. People use the term, ‘rebuilding year,’ but we don’t. That’s doing a disservice to your kids. This group is young and eager to play and a blank canvas kind of thing.”
Gardner had his first chance to see what the new group could do Saturday during a scrimmage at McVann-O’Keefe Memorial Rink against defending Division 3 state champion Marblehead. For the record, the Pioneers may have started slowly, but they finished strong to polish off a 5-2 win.
“We liked that they (Headers) got up early. We said at the break that Marblehead made a good push, so we asked the kids, ‘How are you going to respond?’ Once we got back to square, we recalibrated and got it done. That third period, hockey was at its finest for us. The guys had several blocked shots and they (Headers) didn’t end up with a lot of shots on goal. I was proud of that.”
Forward Owen Considine, a Cape Ann League first-team All-Star, and defenseman Jay Carpenter will serve as captains with Nick Kelter serving as assistant captain.
Gardner said he expects Considine will be “huge” this year.
“Even apart from the 17 goals he scored last year, he plays with a chip on his shoulder and will take it upon himself to make sure we don’t drop down,” Gardner said. “It’s great that he is already saying and doing the right things, which makes my job easier. He’s like a fourth coach out there.”
Gardner said Carpenter is “rock solid, steady and was so consistent last year. “He has some flash, but doesn’t need to show it,” Gardner said. “He has some wheels and offensive upside and just doesn’t make a lot of mistakes.”
“Nick is very dynamic, a physical specimen kind of guy,” Gardner said. “He can do some stuff that I’m even in shock of and is a great skater who is strong and is just coming into his own.”
Junior Michael Marenghi and sophomore Angelo Covino split time in net against Marblehead.
“We have two great goalies who push each other,” Gardner said. “That’s where it all starts for us, being so young and inexperienced. We need goalies to bail us out.”
Gardner said junior Brendan Driscoll will see significant minutes this year and is a “rock-solid defenseman who is nasty and tough to play against. He’s going to get a lot of minutes.”
Junior Anthony Calla played defense last year, but may move to a wing position. He is recovering from an injury, but expected to return to the ice soon. Gardner described Calla as a “versatile player.”
Sophomore Lucas Deraps, who also played defense last year, is also back, but likely will be moved to a different position.
“He’s a big, strong guy so it’s nice to have his and Anthony’s versatility,” Gardner said.
Other players Gardner is looking to for offensive production are Considine’s linemates, sophomore forward Andrew Carbone, who Gardner said “will be huge this year,” and freshman left winger CJ Anderson, who is also expected to get “significant minutes.”
As they did last season, the Pioneers have a challenging non-league schedule.
“We don’t skimp on schedules. We just go big on them,” Gardner said. “We’ve cultivated some good non-league relationships for decades so we’re going to play Gloucester twice [and] we have Westwood. But to some degree, we went a little harder with Winthrop twice.”
The Pioneers open the season at home on Saturday, Dec. 14 against league rival Triton, a team coached by former LHS three-sport standout Ryan Sheehan.
Lynnfield is scheduled to play Winthrop on Thursday, Dec. 26 in the opening round of the Michael Giordano Christmas Classic at Murphy Memorial Rink in Boston. Puck-drop is slated for 4 p.m.
“They’re always a wagon,” Gardner said.
Once again, the Pioneers will hop the Martha’s Vineyard ferry to compete in the Farleigh D. Dickinson Tournament Feb. 15-16 at Martha’s Vineyard Arena, taking on CAL rival Essex Tech in the opening round at 5 p.m. The Pioneers close out the regular season Feb. 20 against Scituate at Hobomock Ice Arena.
