Girls hockey team clinches tourney spot

The Winthrop Lady Bulldogs hockey team punched their ticket for a Journey to the Tourney with a victory and a tie in action this past week.

Coach Anthony Martucci’s squad moved within one point of a tourney berth with a 4-0 blanking at Wilmington last Wednesday. McKenzie Clark, who is nearing the 100 point career mark, lit the lamp twice. Lindsay Barker and Rachel Mailhiot each scored a goal. Clark assisted on Rachel’s goal and Taylor Brown earned an assist on one of McKenzie’s lamplighters.

Saturday saw the Lady Bulldogs entertain Cambridge. Perhaps it was bad karma left over from the boys’ 2-2 tie with Danvers a few nights earlier (see story above) as Cambridge scored a goal late in the third period to earn a 2-2 tie.

Brown scored her 12th goal of the season (assisted by Clark), which is quite an achievement for a defenseman. Chelsea Bartlett, assisted by Barker and Mailhiot, accounted for the other Winthrop marker.

"It would have been nice to get the two points," said Martucci. "This is the fourth time this season that we’ve had a lead in the third period and had the game end in a tie, so that definitely is an aspect of our game that we need to work on."

Still, the tie was good enough to assure the girls of a spot in post season play. The Lady Bulldogs stand at 6-2-6 on the season and will play at Everett Saturday and host Shawsheen Tech (6:10 face off) on Monday.