Thursday evening was action-packed on the ice, as the Winthrop, Marblehead, and Essex Tech boys hockey teams played in their respective state tournaments.
No. 5 Winthrop punched its ticket to the Division 4 semifinals with a 4-0 victory against No. 4 Littleton at Loring Arena in Framingham. Phil Boncore opened the scoring just minutes in, followed by goals from Dom Spinale, Joe Pumphret, and another from Boncore. Next up for the Vikings is top-ranked Stoneham (TBD).
No. 8 Marblehead, the defending Division 3 state champion, fell to top-ranked Nauset in a 5-1 final at Gallo Rink in Bourne. The Headers struck first when Crew Monaco found Kyle Hart two minutes in, but that’s as good as it got as Nauset netted five unanswered goals. The Magicians bowed out with a final record of 17-6-1 behind Coach Mark Marfione.
As for No. 3 Essex Tech, helmed by Peabody’s Mark Leonard, his Hawks were shut out, 3-0, against No. 6 Bedford at the Chelmsford Forum in Billerica. The game was scoreless for more than two periods, but Bedford broke the ice with the eventual game-winning goal at the 12:37 mark of the third period. The Hawks checked out with a final record of 18-4-1.
