Winthrop/Lynn Girls Hockey sees Season End against Arlington Catholic

By Erik Johnson / For The Item

WINTHROP -- Winthrop/Lynn's girls hockey team ran into perennial powerhouse Arlington Catholic and had its season come to an abrupt end last night. The Bulldogs were shut out, 4-0.

"AC is a good team," Winthrop coach Anthony Martucci said. "We didn't execute the way I would have liked to. In fact, they did to us what I wanted to do to them. I wanted to push the puck and forecheck. My hat is off to them."

Katie Burt had a sensational game in net. She faced 44 shots, and turned away 40 of them. She made several sensational saves, including stopping a few breakaways.

"(Burt) is absolutely phenomenal," Cougars coach Kim Knox said. "We knew coming in how strong their goaltending was going to be. She truly is the backbone of that team."

Lindsey Barker proved to be a force on the ice for the 16th-ranked Bulldogs (9-4-6) in what will be her final varsity game. Fellow seniors Rachel Mailhiot and Kelly Deveney also had strong performances.

"We are going to miss our seniors," said Martucci. "They've been there since the inception of the program and are a great group."

Alyssa Sullivan scored a pair of goals and added an assist for 20th-ranked Arlington Catholic (12-7-2). Natalie Flynn and Michela Scutti scored the other two goals. Two of the goals came on the power play.

The game got a little chippy in the third. The Bulldogs were able to kill off a 5-on-3 power play.

The Cougars outshot Winthrop 44-to-18.

"Our offense didn't ever get going," said Martucci. "We're a young group, though, and we will have a lot of talent returning."

Mackenzie Clark finished the season with 97 career points as a sophomore.

Girls Hockey Ties with Marblehead

By Jonathan Weiner / For The Item

WINTHROP -- With both squads trailing first-place Beverly/Gloucester by only a handful of points in the North Cape League, both the Marblehead and Winthrop/Lynn girls hockey teams were hoping for a win over one another -- not only to keep pace, but also to inch closer to a possible playoff berth.

The Headers and Lady Bulldogs, who had deadlocked each other 1-1 back in December, settled for the same result on Saturday evening -- a 1-1 tie.

This one occurred when Marblehead's Lexie Laing netted the tying score with only 36.1 seconds left to go in the contest at Larsen Arena.

Trailing 1-0 with 2:02 left, Marblehead, which had been frustrated by a very solid performance by Lady Bulldogs goalie Katie Burt, got a break when a pair of Winthrop/Lynn players were each assessed a penalty, giving the Headers a 5-on-3 power play advantage. Burt continued to hold Marblehead at bay, particularly on several point-blank opportunities from up close.

The Headers pulled goalie Molly Depew for an extra skater with 1:15 remaining and a 6-on-3 skater advantage. Burt came up with several big stops, as Marblehead continued to attack the net. It looked as though the Lady Bulldogs would emerge unscathed, yet with five seconds left on the power play (and 36 seconds left on the clock), Laing, who was positioned less than 10 feet in front of the net, took a pass from the left side from teammate Ally Healy, and she one-timed the puck past Burt for the game-tying score.

"We were able to move (Burt) laterally (on the goal), and Lexie (Laing) saw the open part of the net," said Marblehead coach Emily Hudak, whose club goes to 3-2-4 in the league (5-4-4 overall). "We played very well, and had our chances (throughout the game), but Katie's a great goalie, and made some great saves."

Marblehead carried the early play once the puck was dropped, but it would be Winthrop/Lynn that took the early lead, just five minutes in. Forward Amanda Cordes picked up a loose puck in the Headers zone, and poked it past Depew for the game's first score.

"We moved Amanda to forward (from defense), and we were throwing the puck to the net for a chance," said Winthrop/Lynn coach Anthony Martucci. "It was good to get that first goal, especially playing at home, as it creates a hill for the other team."

Cordes had another opportunity later in the period to add to the lead, stealing a puck at mid-ice and going in for a breakaway, but was stonewalled by Depew.

Marblehead's Kelsey Maguire had several chances to tie the game in the second period, but was thwarted by Burt each time. Maguire fired a point-blank slap from 15 feet away midway in the stanza, but Burt gloved the shot. A half-minute later, Burt again halted Maguire's slap to keep the 1-0 lead for the Lady Bulldogs.

Depew also came up big to keep the margin to one goal. She robbed center MacKenzie Clark and winger Lindsey Barker on back-to-back opportunities later in the period, with the Lady Bulldogs storming the net.

Burt was busiest late in the period, stopping Laing at point-blank range on a wrist shot, and then holding strong when Laing came in on a breakaway after stealing the puck at the Marblehead blue line. Burt also stuffed forward Keelin Fallon's opportunity near the end of the period when she tried to jam the puck past the sprawling goalie.

"Katie was incredible tonight," said Martucci of his netminder. "She's such a strong goalie, and she makes the hard saves look easy."

Both teams traded numerous scoring opportunities in the third, but Depew and Burt held strong to keep the 1-0 score intact until Laing's game-tying goal in the last minute.

English Girls Oust Masco in Shootout

By Christian Mielcarek / For The Item, February 27, 2009

WINTHROP n Nine rounds into the shootout, it was over, and the English girls hockey team was left standing.

Madison Molea scored her first goal of the season as player No. 9 in the shootout, which gave No. 7 English a 1-0 win over 10th-seeded Masco in a Division 1 first-round game at Larsen Rink on Thursday.

This was the third meeting this season between the North Cape League co-champs, who split a pair during the regular season n 3-1, English, on Jan. 2, and 2-1, Masco, on Feb. 12. This one was a goaltending clinic between sixth-grader Katie Burt of English and eighth-grader Alex Jones of Masco.

“All I can say is that as soon as we got into the shootout, I knew we were going to win because I have so much confidence in Katie,” said English coach Anthony Martucci, whose team plays Woburn next on Sunday.

But it took a lot of time to get to the shootout n three scoreless periods of regulation, plus one scoreless overtime session. It was after regulation ended that things got extra dramatic.

Start with what happened at the 7:44 mark of overtime. Right off a face-off, Masco got the puck into the English zone and put a shot on net. Burt deflected it into the boards. Masco got the puck again 10 feet in front of the net. Burt made a glove save falling down.

“That took about five years off my life,” Martucci said. “(It is) all about defense and goaltending come tournament time. If you can do those two things well, you can win.”

But English also had to score. And that happened in the shootout … not before some more anxious moments, though.

Masco, as the visiting team, shot first, and Hannah Koenig connected, solving Burt by shooting under her glove. That put Masco ahead 1-0. English didn’t score until two shots later, when Barker found the net under Jones’ glove.

Then, in the ninth round, Molea (the daughter of English athletic director Gary Molea) sent the English faithful home happy when she directed the puck into the net high and to the right. (Many previous English attempts were low and to the right.)

“I’m proud of each and every one of my girls,” Masco coach Bill Haines said. “It’s too bad, because shootouts are a lousy way to determine a champion, but those are the rules we play by.”

Haines added, “(Jones) played with tremendous poise. She’s been great all year. She’s capable of making big saves, which you saw tonight, because she was at her finest.”

English improved to 16-4 with the win, while Masco finishes 14-4-4.

 Goalie Burt Earns Shutout in First Postseason Game

By Christian Mielcarek / For The Item, February 23, 2009

WINTHROP -- English goalie Katie Burt may only be in the sixth grade scholastically, but on the hockey rink, she continues to prove she belongs playing against high school competition.

The all-star keeper was a major factor in English's 14-4 regular-season record -- which earned the team a 7th seed in the MIAA Division 1 girls hockey tournament -- and in a 4-0 victory over 26th-seeded Shrewsbury in Round 1 last night at Larsen Rink in Winthrop.

"She's performing like a senior," said Bulldog (15-4) coach Anthony Martucci. "I couldn't ask for anything more from her. A shutout is a nice way to start her postseason career."

The Bulldogs will next play 10th-seeded Masconomet, which defeated Beverly 4-1, on Thursday in Winthrop.

When a team is held scoreless, the majority of the praise is showered upon the goalie, and while Burt is deserving, a fair share of the credit must also be awarded to the English defense. Led by all-stars Ashley Fiandaca and Taylor Brown, the Bulldogs limited the Colonials to 22 shots, a miniscule amount of serious scoring chances, and a power outage on the power play. English killed five penalties, including 50 seconds of a five-on-three.

"Their defense was making it hard for us, but I thought we were in the game the whole time," said Shrewsbury (10-8) coach Frank Panarelli. "The first time we played English, we lost 6-0, and it was 5-0 after the first period. We only skated 11 girls tonight, and for a first year program who most thought wouldn't win more than a couple games, to make the state tournament, I'm very proud."

Sophomore Stephanie Folsom stopped 27 shots in net for Shrewsbury, but she couldn't completely withstand the Bulldogs' attack. With 11:58 remaining on the clock in the first period, Vanessa Caruccio scored her first of two goals when she tipped the puck past Folsom on the feed from Lindsey Barker.

Brown scored her team's second goal of the night unassisted after maneuvering the puck the majority of the ice before ripping a wrister just outside the left face-off circle. The shot appeared to initially be saved, but it squirted loose from between Folsom's arm and side and fell into the net 4:36 into the second period.

"I thought we came out a bit sloppy in the first period," Martucci said. "It's tourney time, so every team comes out wanting to win, but we pulled away due to some great senior leadership."

Still leading 2-0 entering the third, the Bulldogs continued to keep possession at will. English didn't capitalize until the 5:42 mark, when Mackenzie Clark poked home the puck on an assist from Barker, and Caruccio sealed the game with a breakaway slapper that beat Folsom low glove side unassisted with 3:03 left to go in the game.