Tewksbury ties up L-S

After beating No. 6 Tewksbury earlier this season, the No. 5 Lincoln-Sudbury boys hockey team was fixing to win again yesterday in order to claim the outright title of the Dual County/ Merrimack Valley League 2.

The Redmen had other plans.

Behind dominant play from both defenses and goalies, as well as a blown opportunity on a 5-on-3 early on from the Warriors, Tewksbury managed to prevent Lincoln-Sudbury from taking lone rights of the league title by forcing a 1-1 tie at the New England Sports Center in Marlboro. The two teams combined for 78 shot attempts, and yet, the Redmen’s Patrick Letourneau (19 saves) and the Warriors’ Cam Marcoux (23 saves), played stellar in net behind strong performances from each blue line unit.

Tewksbury coach Derek Doherty was relatively pleased with the tie by saying his guys can work off that better than a loss. Lincoln-Sudbury’s Matt Carlin took a little issue with it, though, considering a Boston Latin win against Concord-Carlisle would force a tie for the league title.

“It is (dissatisfying),” Carlin said. “If we had won the game, we win our league outright. … One thing I did like is, going back to the dressing room, you could feel (the dissatisfaction). We shared a title, there was no sense of excitement in the locker room. We felt like we left something out there.”

Part of that feeling came from poor execution on a golden chance to get ahead early, as two penalties by Tewksbury (11-4-2) within a few seconds of each other gave the Warriors a 5-on-3 opportunity in the first period. Lincoln-Sudbury (14-2-3) got off six shots within the 1:56 the opportunity lasted, but Letourneau played like a mad man behind a unit that broke up many potential scoring chances.

After the Redmen got back to a one-man disadvantage, the Warriors had three more minutes of power play time with Will O’Keefe in the box for a five-minute major. But Tewksbury held its own.

“I want to give credit to their three penalty killers, and their goalie,” Carlin said. “But our guys didn’t work hard enough. If you don’t out-work the penalty kill … that changed the game.”

Tewksbury had gotten off to a slow start with its physicality and energy in transitions, but that defensive stand inspired revived play and an early goal in the second frame. Campbell Pierce made a big hit in open space inside the Warriors’ blue line, dumped the puck off to O’Keefe, who then crossed the net with a pass to Aaron Scott for a goal and a 1-0 lead.

Lincoln-Sudbury caught up quickly, though, as Jayden Cormier took a deflection off his own slap shot for another slap shot, which soared past Letourneau for a tie with 7:57 left in the frame.

Thomas Hassett finished with a goal and an assist and senior goalie Patrick Cote stopped 20 shots as Lowell (10-4-2) topped Dracut/Tyngsboro, 4-2 in a MVC/DCL contest.

Joe Hill scored the gamewinner with 50 seconds remaining, clinching a 3-2 victory for Wilmington (5-10) over Middlesex League foe Wakefield.

Girls hockey

Mckenzie Cerrato scored twice to help Melrose (114-2) defeat Watertown, 7-1, in the Middlesex League.