PHOTO: SPENSER. HASAK
Lynn’s Caleb Reddick looks for an opening to pass the puck against Revere on Wednesday night.
BY SCOT COOPER / FOR THE ITEM
LYNN — The Lynn Jets and the Revere Patriots boys’ hockey teams will each have to wait until their next games to start picking up goals and assists. The only names that made it onto the score sheet Wednesday night were the goalies along with the five penalties Revere took and three that were handed out to the Jets.
Lynn’s Jack Stafford and Revere’s Maxx Anderson took turns stopping shots for 45 minutes in a scoreless tie in the season opener for both teams. The first period was a little tentative as both clubs felt each other out. Lynn took control of the play in the second, and Revere really played its best period of the game in the final 15 minutes.
Revere coach Joe Ciccarello said it was great to leave Lynn with at least a point after losing three straight to the Jets at Connery Rink, the Jets home, since he took over the Patriots four years ago.
“We’re tickled to come out of here with a point,” Ciccarello said. “We would have liked a win for sure, but we’ll take this point and go out and try to win the next one.
“We have a lot of young kids in big roles for us this season, so that’s what it was tonight really — a bunch of young kids feeling each other out.”
The Patriots changed their strategy in the third period. They gave up trying to work the puck in tight for quality shots, instead working the puck back to the point, where the defensemen would drill it to the front of the cage. The Revere forwards crashed the net every opportunity they got, but could not get a deflection or rebound past Stafford.
“Lynn has a very good team. They are always tough to play. Their goalie is outstanding also,” Ciccarello said. “We don’t have that prototypical sniper on our team so we changed it up and tried to squeeze one in to get a win in the third period.”
The Jets had a half dozen great chances to score on Anderson, but could not get one by him. Sean Devin had a partial breakaway in the first period, but Anderson stopped it, and Brett Molea ripped one past the Revere goalie with 5:10 left, but the puck clanged off the crossbar.
Lynn coach Joe Conlon was pleased with the opening-night effort, but said he hopes to see a lot more of his players crashing the net.
“The game went the way I thought it would,” Conlon said. “Whenever we play Revere it’s usually a one-goal game, and certainly this game was no exception.”
“We’ve been telling our kids for the past two weeks that Revere is going to come in and work hard, and they certainly did. I thought overall we played pretty well. We’ll work on getting bodies in front of the net for our next game, certainly.”
Scot Cooper can be reached at [email protected].