FILE PHOTO
Peabody/Lynnfield girls hockey coach Michelle Roach, speaking to the team, bemoaned its lack of success scoring goals after Saturday’s loss to Masconomet.
By SCOT COOPER
PEABODY — For almost 50 minutes Saturday afternoon there wasn’t much ink going on the score sheet in the Peabody girls hockey game against Masconomet.
However, the Chieftains never stopped putting the pressure on Peabody goalie Jenny Collins, and eventually they broke through for a 2-0 win.
Masco was dominant in the first period, keeping the puck in the Tanner end for long stretches of action, with Collins, a freshman, getting a pad, a glove, a stick on every shot she saw, and she saw quite a few.
Mikayla Vincent did get one by Collins with about five minutes left in the first, but it clanged off the left post. Peabody also struck iron with time running out in the opening period, when Molly Smedira’s shot struck the pipe to the left of Masco goalie Molly Elmore.
The second period was a carbon copy of the first, a lot of good chances by both teams but nothing in the net. The Tanners were much better in the second, carrying the play for long stretches. But they couldn’t get one by Elmore.
With Masco desperate to end a 5-game winless streak, the Chieftains once again were aggressive on the attack from the opening puck drop in the third. Despite a couple of Maco power plays, Collins was still perfect for Peabody.
The Chieftains finally got a puck over the goal line on a broken play in front of the Peabody net. A Tanner clearing pass struck a leg and wound up on the stick of Masco’s Abby Gendron along the goal line. Gendron took a stride towards the front of the net and dished the puck to the far post, where co-captain Kate Irons knocked it home with 12 minutes left in the third.
The goal gave Masco a big lift, and with that shot of confidence, the Chieftains controlled the play for most of the period until another loose puck ended up in the Peabody goal.
Defenseman Lexi Rosenbaum took a shot from the right point that hit teammate Izzy Sarra to Collins’ left. The puck landed right on Sarra’s backhand and she swept the puck across the crease to Vincent who had an open net to look at.
Peabody brought Collins to the bench with a minute to go in the third, but couldn’t get one by Elmore, who said the locker room mood was upbeat after the team picked up its first win since Christmas.
“Everybody was pretty excited in the locker room after this win, we hadn’t won one in a long time,” Elmore said. “I just tried to stay focused when there wasn’t a lot of action in my end and wait for us to score.”
Masco coach Ryan Sugar said he told his team to just keep up the attack do what they were doing, with a little modification after the first two periods.
“I told them not to get frustrated, keep shooting keep attacking, but I told them to attack the net, crash the net, which we weren’t doing early on,” Sugar said. “It’s been a rough stretch (0-3-2) after opening the year 4-0, so it’s good to get this win.”
Peabody (3-5-1) coach Michelle Roach said her team played well for stretches Saturday afternoon, but couldn’t get the puck in the net.
“We held them off, but we’ve been having trouble finding the back of the net all year,” Roach said. “Jenny was excellent, she’s been our rock all season along with our other goalie (Abby Buckley) as well, we have to find a way to score some goals.”
Peabody will host Shawsheen next Saturday.