FILE PHOTO
Louis Olivieri is one of two Big Blue players who eclipsed the 100-point mark for his career this season
By SCOT COOPER
The Swampscott hockey team is in a new spot as it awaits the start if the Division 3 hockey tournament.
The Big Blue are the top seed for the first time, finishing the regular season at 17-3, the best record in the history of the program.
Blue coach Gino Faia said the team will use this week to get healthy, and he’ll remind his team that they’ve got to play their best hockey of the year, because seeding doesn’t matter when the puck drops. “We’re very happy about our regular season, certainly, but that’s not going to mean much when we take the ice next Sunday,” Faia said. “We’re proud of our regular season, but it’s a different story now. Anything can happen in the playoffs, seeding really doesn’t matter, you have to play well no matter whether you’re seeded first or last.”
The Big Blue received a first round bye, and will play the winner of the Newton South-Lowell first round game. Swampscott has some history with both teams in previous seasons, playing Newton South in several East Boston Tournaments and beating Lowell twice last winter.
“It’s the playoffs and you’ve got to go out and win games, top seed, bottom seed, you have to do it on the ice this time of year,” Faia said. “We’ve got a good week to get ready, which we need to get everybody healthy.”
Several regulars were wiped out by different illnesses down the stretch, but the Blue still won five of their last six games despite having two of their first four defensemen out of the lineup.
Faia said pressure in the offensive end and contributions from the backline have been the keys to Swampscott’s success this season. The forwards have done a good job forcing turnovers with an aggressive fore-check and then turning them into scoring opportunities for the Blue.
“One of the things that’s really helped us is good offensive numbers from our defensemen, Jack Poska, Dom Codispoti, Emery Wollerschied and David Peterson have all had good seasons defensively, and have really contributed on the offensive end as well,” Faia said.
This is the third straight playoff trip for junior goalie Dan Johnson and the big first line of Mike Johnson, Andrew Dove and Louis Olivieri. Both Mike Johnson and Olivieri cracked the 100-point plateau for Swampscott this winter.
“We do have a lot of guys with playoff experience, certainly but I think this season we really are a deep team and can play three lines and get production from all three lines,” Faia said.
In Division 1, St. Mary’s (13-7-2) awaits word of its first-round opponent. The Spartans won’t know until after tonight’s Division 1A play-in games.
In Division 2, No. 12 Saugus (9-7-4) will try to knock off No. 5 Methuen (12-4-4) Tuesday night in Woburn. The Sachems will try to get their footing back after dropping their final two games of the regular season
“It’s important that we shore up a few things defensively, and it’s important that we play our game,” said Saugus coach Jeff Natalucci.
“We need to get in there aggressively on the forecheck, and really, just play our game. We need to bring our game, and not let them bring their game to us.”
Natalucci will be counting on a strong performance in the net from junior Nick Sanderson and will look for some scoring punch up front from Brendan Ronan (18-12-30), Brendan Patterson (12-8-20) and top-scoring defenseman Mike Sarnacchiaro (5-10-15).
“When things are working for us, it’s our speed, getting pucks in deep, playing the game down low,” Natalucci said. “We’ve got three lines that can all skate really well, and when we forecheck the way that we’re capable of, and play the game down low we have a lot of success.”
No. 3 Danvers (15-3-2) and winner of the Northeastern Conference/North crown, grabbed a bye awaits the winner of the Tewksbury-Stoneham game. Coach Steve Baldasarre said his team bounced back from a tough stretch in the middle of the season and closed the schedule very well.
“We really just have to keep playing with the consistency we’ve been playing with lately, we had our little lull, three losses, in the middle of the season,” Baldasarre said. “The guys got refocused they worked hard, the guys picked each other up, and we had a lot of guys step up after a few guys got hurt.”
No. 4 Winthrop (13-3-4) will try to shake off a rough stretch to close the season; junior forward Tyler Mignosa suffered a back injury in practice and will be out of action for three months, according to coach Dale Dunbar.
“He (Mignosa) went out five games ago, and we haven’t won since, we’ve managed a couple of ties, but I’m a little concerned about our recent play,” Dunbar said. “Tyler’s one of those kids that does everything for you, and you really miss him when he’s out of the lineup.”
Winthrop will square off against the No. 13 seed Lynnfield Tuesday night at 7:30 in Stoneham.
No. 9 Marblehead (12-6-4) comes into the tournament with a 6-0-2 in February to finish with 12 wins after a 0-4-1 start. Coach Bob Jackson said his team would need an A-plus effort Tuesday (7:30) at the Chelmsford Forum against North Andover.
“North Andover is very, very formidable opponent, and we are definitely going to have to play one of our best games of the year to beat them,” Jackson said. “If you look at their record, they played a great schedule this year, they beat Danvers, they beat Tewksbury, they beat Lincoln-Sudbury. Some of the teams that are ahead of them in the playoff standings they played really well against.”
Marblehead will need solid play in the net from senior Ronan Cunningham and scoring from the first line of Braden Haley, James McCarthy and Drew Cioffi. Marblehead’s second line has been a pleasant surprise this winter, with Sam Cioffi and Jacob Garfield playing with freshman Zach Piersol. Piersol didn’t make the team to start the year, but worked his way onto the team and has scored some very big goals for Marblehead.