PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
Mckayla Norris scored the game-winner Sunday evening with 1:59 to go to lift the Lynn/Winthrop Bulldogs to a girls hockey win over Algonquin.
By SCOT COOPER
WINTHROP — Center Mckayla Norris banged home a goal late in the third period Sunday evening, giving the Lynn/Winthrop girls’ hockey team a 3-2 win over the Algonquin Tomahawks.
Kelsie Griffiths and Emma Carleton provided the assists.
Algonquin had erased a two-goal deficit, scoring a pair in the third to put the pressure on the home team, setting the stage for Norris to come through big, with 1:59 left in the game.
Bulldogs coach Anthony Martucci said that his team is not an offensive juggernaut, and that it succeeds if it scores a couple of goals and then relies on goalie Gretchen Howard and good team defense.
“We don’t score a lot, we fight to score goals,” he said. “We shook off the two goals they scored and got a really good win. We got enough to win it, so we’ll take it.”
Norris said that her team didn’t panic when Algonquin got goals in the third period by Kayla Currin and Christina Leonard that knotted things up at two. She said that it was a good team effort that led to the winning goal.
“Well, we had a really good breakout from our zone,” she said. “We worked it up from the defensive zone to the offensive zone, and I found myself in front with the puck.
“In moments like that you have to make a quick decision, do I pass it or take it to the net,” Norris said. “I passed it over to Kelsie (Griffiths), went to the net and got her rebound and put it in.”
After a scoreless first period the Bulldogs went ahead on a goal by Sydney Adamson with 5:37 left in the second period. Adamson took advantage of a turnover and she beat Tomahawks goalie Angela Ferro cleanly to the stick side.
The Bulldogs bumped the score up to 2-0 with just 25 seconds left in the second period on a goal by Abby Stafford. Bella Perrotti took a pass from Norris and skated close to the left point where she gave it to Stafford, and she fired it through a crowd past Ferro.
The Tomahawks took advantage of a couple of funny bounces to score two unassisted goals in the third period. Christina Leonard was sent to the penalty box and her teammates successfully killed the penalty. The puck was still in the Algonquin zone when Leonard came out of the box and grabbed the puck at her own blue line, made a quick turn and skated in alone and beat Howard to make it 2-1.
On the second goal the Bulldogs had just finished killing a penalty when the puck bounced to Currin and she skated down the left wing and beat Howard up high. Both goalies, Ferro and Howard were solid in net, especially when their teams were shorthanded.
Tomahawks coach Jay Monfreda said that his goalie always keeps his team in the game.
“We found ourselves in a hole, and we were able to climb out of it because Angela made some great saves,” Monfreda said. “She played really well again for us, she kept us in when we fell behind. Our team kind of goes where she goes if she has a good game, we have a good game.”
“We kept working and we kept our composure and we were able to tie the game up,” the Tomahawks coach said. “They came back and made a nice play to get that goal, but I liked the way we played to come back in the third.”
Martucci said that his Bulldogs always seem to make things exciting, just about every game.
“We’re a team that always seems to make every game interesting,” he said. “We like it fun, and with this team it seems like it’s no fun unless the game goes down to the wire. The girls shook off those two scores in the third and we got a good win.”
The Bulldogs will host Medford Wednesday night at the Larsen Rink.