Duxbury, Braintree advance in Tenney Winter Classic girls hockey tournament
KINGSTON – Anna McGinty vs. Eva Surette should be quite an entertaining goalie matchup on New Year's Eve.
McGinty, who stars for the Duxbury High girls hockey team, and Surette, a standout between the pipes for Braintree, each did what they do best on Monday night, backstopping their respective teams to first-round wins in the Lee and Mike Tenney Girls Winter Classic at The Bog.
McGinty stopped all 17 shots she faced as Duxbury blanked Notre Dame Academy, 1-0, in the first game of the doubleheader. Surette was beaten twice during regulation in the nightcap as Braintree and Hingham skated to what officially counts as a 2-2 tie. Since this is a tournament and tournaments need winners, Surette put in a little extra work. After keeping the score tied through a five-minute MIAA-approved overtime period , she then stopped three of four Hingham attempts in a shootout (the MIAA doesn't recognize those), which the Wamps won, 3-1.
Duxbury (3-0) and Braintree (2-1-1) will square off in the title game here on Saturday (time TBA). NDA (2-1) and Hingham (1-0-1) will meet in the consolation game (time TBA).
Surette, a junior, denied the first three Hingham attempts she saw in the shootout before Abbey Kennedy beat her to the stick side to conclude the fourth round of the shootout. Surette didn't have to face a fifth shot as Braintree's Meghan Ceriani ended things with a wrister to give the Wamps an insurmountable lead.
Asked if she enjoys shootouts, which are rare, Surette said: "I think I'm decent at them, so I kind of like them. They're interesting. You just gotta stay focused. With everybody yelling you have to stay focused."
Surette was a Second Team Patriot Ledger/Enterprise All-Scholastic last winter after she posted a .911 save percentage and authored nine shutouts for a Braintree team that finished 15-6-1 and made it to the Division 2 Round of 16. Wamps coach Kevin Burchill is counting on another big season from Surette since Braintree's offense is a work in progress with Savanna Littlewood (27 goals, 13 assists, 40 points last season) having transferred to Buckingham Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, Maggie Burchill (10-15–25) having graduated and senior forward Ella Woods out for the season with an ACL tear.
It's a similar story in Duxbury, where McGinty, a junior, is being asked to keep the ship afloat while the Dragons figure out their offense. Goals were not an issue for Duxbury in last year's 19-3-2 campaign that included a run to the Division 2 quarterfinals, but, like Braintree, the Dragons are dealing with a defection to prep school (star Ayla Abban is at Tabor Academy after pouring in 33 goals as a junior last winter) and an ACL tear (senior forward/captain Lily Sparrow, who had a 7-13–20 scoring line last season).
"I think we're going to win a lot of games like this," coach Dan Najarian said of the 1-0 victory, in which Duxbury was outshot 17-9. "We've played three games and scored five goals, and three of them by a defenseman. We're searching right now for some forwards to step up. I have a lot of young talent; you can tell they're very talented kids. Some of them need to turn into an alpha dog and want to score some goals for me."
McGinty was sharp all night against NDA but especially so in the first period when the Dragons were outshot 8-2.
"We just couldn't score," NDA coach John Findley said. "We were throwing shots at her instead of passing when we got in tight. I give her credit – she played great. She was definitely the difference in the game. We could have won that four or five to one. But, hey, live and learn."
"She played great," Najarian agreed. "She's a junior now, and she's been my starter for three years. Makes big saves in big games. She doesn't get fazed by anything. A real treat to have back there in net."
Senior defenseman McKenna Colella scored the game's lone goal in the final minute of the second period when she emerged from a scrum along the left-wing boards in the offensive zone, skated between the circles and sizzled a wrister over the blocker of NDA goalie Delia Logan. It was Colella's third goal of the season.
"It's definitely important for defensemen to step up when they have opportunities," Colella said. "Taking advantage of opportunities is super important, especially in a game against such a great team like NDA. I feel like the forwards did a good job of getting back when they needed to so the defense could step up and play offensively."
The nightcap got off to a sleepy start with Hingham and Braintree combining to fire only five shots on goal in the first period. Things picked up in the second period, though, as Hingham freshman Alexa Harris converted a rebound at the 3:21 mark and Braintree's Claire Joyce replied 62 seconds later for a 1-1 tie. Hingham took the lead again with 1:05 left as star sophomore center Caroline Doherty (she had 24 goals as a freshman) went bar down to cap a 2-on-1 shorthanded rush with Addie Garrity.
Hingham almost rode that lead to a win, but Braintree freshman Bridget Walsh scored from the left point with 2:32 remaining in regulation. Hingham goalie Isabel McGarr got a piece of the shot, but the puck deflected up and over her shoulder.
"Perfect," Burchill said of the direct approach. "Just get it to the net and anything can happen."
Claire Joyce and Emma Walsh converted in the shootout for Braintree before Ceriani ended things.
Rockland, Silver Lake boys advance in Cashman Tournament
In the first round of the Cashman Tournament at Rockland Arena, Rockland topped Abington, 2-1, on goals by Cooper Larouco and Shane Kimball. Joey Salamone, Ben Romer and Logan Murphy had assists, and goaltender Joey Dow made 22 saves for the Bulldogs (3-3). Freshman Sam McDonald scored for Abington (2-3), and goalie Spencer Merrick made 20 saves.
In the first game, Silver Lake (4-1) struck twice in the first five minutes of the third period to beat Whitman-Hanson, 2-1. Connor Shields scored for the Panthers (2-3) in the loss.
The consolation championship games will be played Wednesday.
This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Duxbury, Braintree advance to final of Tenney girls hockey tournament
