After press time:
North Reading falls to Amesbury 6-1 (Feb. 5)
By DAN ZIMMERMAN
NEWBURYPORT — A week ago, the North Reading boys’ hockey team saw their consecutive win streak halted at five by an opportunistic Newburyport club. Now, with six regular season games remaining, the focus will be on improving upon their MIAA Power Ranking and holding on to the lead for the CAL Baker crown.
Despite the 2-1 loss to Newburyport on Jan. 29, marking the first defeat since early January, the Hornets ranked at No. 8 in the Division 4 slate of 48 teams and are poised to claim home ice advantage when the playoffs commence in several weeks.
“We’re still down a couple of players and more or less, skating with two lines but I thought the effort was really good tonight,” said North Reading coach Brian McAuliffe, who is currently 8-5 overall. “Newburyport is a top-notch team. We took it to them in the first period but were unable to match their effort and execution late in the game.”
McAuliffe was referring to a sequence in the third period when the Clippers scored back-to-back after North Reading had held a 1-0 lead for the bulk of the game. Both Newburyport goals were picked up by Luke MacIsaac.
On paper, 8-7 Newburyport looked average at best, but their win-loss record doesn’t begin to tell the story. Ranked at No. 13 in Division 2, the Clippers recently fell in defeat to a pair of elite teams in Greater Boston high school hockey, namely Canton (13-1-1) and Essex Tech (12-2-1). Other than that, Newburyport has been a hockey stalwart all season.
In recent years, Newburyport has proven highly adept at controlling the neutral zone, making it difficult for their opponents to transition, particularly on the man advantage. McAuliffe described it as “gumming up the middle.” But early in the contest, the Hornets were able to break through and put several testing shots on Clipper goalie Damien Lamb. The ultimate bid came from North Reading scoring leading Christian Lava (15-goals, 9-assists) who capitalized on a power play with a brilliant coast-to-coast rush to put his team on top. The dramatic goal, with 2:42 left in the first, was unassisted.
The Clippers dominated the middle frame, outshooting the visitors by an 11-1 margin. Charlie Cooper stonewalled the effort, but even the premier netminder wasn’t able to withstand a number of shots from the slot.
“Cooper did a great job and shielded a lot of their shots and kept us in the final stretch,” said McAuliffe. “But we did a poor job covering guys in front of the net. I could see it from the bench – we left a player wide open and sure enough, it resulted in a goal.”
Actually, two goals, 38 agonizing seconds apart. McAuliffe traded Cooper for an extra attacker in the waning moments but the strategy failed to yield a tying goal.
On Wednesday night, North Reading traveled to face Amesbury (4-8-1) in a season rematch (results in after press time). In their earlier meeting, the Hornets handed their CAL foe a 4-2 defeat. The Hornets will return home for a Saturday afternoon showdown with Essex Tech (12-2-1), which is currently 3rd-ranked in Division 3.