PEABODY — Sometimes, it comes down to the little things, which when added up, make a big difference between winning and losing. A poked puck here. Digging the puck out of a scrum on the boards. That extra hustle to win a 50-50 puck and make a critical clear.
Such was the case Wednesday night at McVann O’Keefe Memorial Ice Rink between undefeated teams. In the end, Peabody-Lynnfield-North Reading escaped Winthrop in a 1-0 final.
Senior captain Ava Buckley scored the only goal of the game. She collected a puck off the boards that was sent into the offensive zone by Chloe Gromko with about three minutes into the second period. Buckley swooped in alone on Winthrop goalie Riley Towse, who denied the shot, but the rebound bounced around in front, eventually landing on Buckley’s stick. She made good on her second attempt, blasting a right-handed wrist shot past Towse to make it a 1-0 game at the 3:13 mark.
“It was good, as we were able to get Ava behind them,” said PLNR coach Michelle Roach. “This game has become a bit of a rivalry the last few years. We are friends with their coaching staff and the girls are friends, so it’s very personal. They come and they play hard for 45 minutes.”
Winthrop coach Anthony Martucci said whenever PLNR and Winthrop collide, “it’s a hard-fought game.
“That team is well-coached with great players, so it’s fun to be a part of it. It was a little less fun on our end today,” he said. “Their team is very good and I know their coach and see some of their players in the offseason. We know them and they know us, so it’s always a good battle.”
Defense ruled with neither team generating many shots on goal. In the end, it all came down to PLNR making every play it needed to make to deny the Vikings.
In the waning minutes of the game, a huge factor in preserving the win was PLNR’s ability to keep the pressure on Winthrop and not give the Vikings a chance to pull Towse for an extra skater. A key moment came with a little more than a minute to play when a PLNR player beat a Viking to the puck and poked it out of the zone, forcing Winthrop offside.
“That play, to force them offside and get the puck out of the zone, was huge,” Roach said. “I’m not sure who did it, but it was huge. Those were the plays tonight that were the difference-makers. That was the theme of today. It just came down to, ‘Are you going to do the little things?’”
“Every time we seemed to get the chance, we had to put her back and that’s tough because it messes up the flow of the game,” Martucci said. “We just couldn’t get anything established.”
Roach said the difference in the game was PLNR’s “versatility and depth” on defense.
“In those critical moments, the decision-making on D really helped us,” she said. “Their knowing when to step up, when to back off, when to take a shot. The depth on D was able to give us some breathing room.”
Roach highlighted the play of Vanessa Steinmeyer and Erin Dee.
“Vanessa and Erin just don’t stop,” Roach said. “They are constantly moving their feet and forechecking and getting back. They are constantly digging. The best way to describe them is they are gritty and are going to do the hard work and just keep coming up with the puck.”
Martucci highlighted the play of Towse (18 saves).
“She stayed back in the crease and made some great decisions,” he said. “She was phenomenal, especially considering we run only two lines on defense, which is hard.”
Roach agreed and also credited PLNR goalie Alysse Mutti (15 saves).
“Both goalies played well,” Roach said. “We are two very strong defensive teams with two strong goalies. The shots were low in number, but we worked on our selection. We knew coming in that it was likely a one-goal game, like it’s been the last few times we’ve played.”
Winthrop (4-1-1) is back on the ice Saturday against Medford-Malden at LoConte Rink (2 p.m.).
“They are always a tough challenge. In fact, in our whole league, everybody is going to battle hard,” Martucci said. “Every game is a tough one.”
PLNR (6-0-1) hits the road to Smead Arena in Springfield to take on Longmeadow on Saturday. Puck-drop is slated for noon.
“I expect them to be similar to Winthrop,” Roach said. “We expect another battle. We are taking that long ride out there. It’s where we beat Pope Francis last year, so we’ve played there before, so, hopefully, we can see where we are at.”
