PEABODY — The Lynnfield boys hockey team walked away with a point in its season opener against Cape Ann League foe Triton Saturday with a 2-2 tie at McVann-O’Keefe Memorial Rink.
A lack of varsity experience hurt the Pioneers through the first two periods before they scored a pair of goals in the third.
“We have some returners, of those returners six or seven have played consistently,” Lynnfield coach Jon Gardner said. “So you’re talking about a roster of kids who are playing their first varsity game. We played a bunch of scrimmages but I told them in the locker room after the first two periods, it was like lights, camera, we put on our dress whites and we kind of wilted a little bit under the bright lights.”
Lynnfield actually had a chance to lock up a win, leading 2-1 after third period goals from John Simonetti and Ronnie Tashjian in the final minutes. But the Pioneers couldn’t hold on despite an excellent day in net from Jake DeBenedictis (26 saves).
“I feel bad because Jake has been chomping at the bit for two years,” Gardner said. “He worked his tail off. The transformation he’s made in two years is insane. The transformation he’s made since the season ended and what he’s done is remarkable. He stole us a point (Saturday). There’s nothing he could do about either of those goals but he wanted a win.”
Triton carried play for the most part in the first period but neither team found the back of the net in the first 15 minutes.
The Vikings started the second period on the power play and, while Lynnfield successfully killed off the man advantage, Triton capitalized on the momentum. Cael Kohan dished a pass to Brad Killion who found the back of the net to give Triton a 1-0 lead.
Simonetti got the Pioneers back into things early on in the third. The senior captain gained possession just inside the Triton zone and ripped a wrist shot just over the blocker of Triton’s goalkeeper to tie things up at 1-1.
Later on, Sam Pifko skated to a breakaway and was tripped by a Vikings defender. However, he wasn’t awarded a penalty shot and Lynnfield couldn’t generate much on a power-play chance.
“(The official) did a great job,” Gardner said. “But he thought the defenseman had caught up with Sam and I don’t believe so. Sam is playing really sick. He was throwing up on Wednesday night on the bench in our scrimmage against Gloucester. Didn’t practice all week after that. He’s out there grinding away. Would’ve been nice to see him get rewarded with a penalty shot.”
But Lynnfield still got back on the board with just over three minutes to play. Cole Trainor fought through a Vikings defenseman and slid a pass over to Tashjian who found the back of the net to give Lynnfield a 2-1 lead.
Triton got to draw up one final look with its goalie pulled during a timeout in the final minutes and it worked perfectly. Mike Beevers turned in the corner and found a wide open Killion, who buried a one-timer to tie the game at 2-2.
The five-minute four-on-four overtime was all Triton, but DeBenedictis made five saves to hang onto the tie.
“With the calendar being so short this year we’ve had to prioritize things to go over,” Gardner said. “There just hasn’t been enough time to work on little intangibles or newances like four-on-four.”
“Then you attach that word overtime and guys start to get white knuckles. Everyone was postering, had a little too much time with the puck, and we didn’t do anything with it.”
Lynnfield travels to Masconomet Wednesday (8:15).