TEWKSBURY – On a night fraught with offensive frustration, it looked like the Andover High girls had finally caught a break.
Inside the final minute of Wednesday night’s Division 1 Round of 32 playoff game, the Warriors — down by a goal — took a delayed penalty. As Lincoln-Sudbury goalie Suki ten Brinke exited to bring on the extra skater, an errant L-S pass trickled into the empty net, seemingly tying the game in the flukiest fashion possible.
The officials conferred and waved off the goal, claiming Andover had touched the puck, which would end the play.
Still leading 1-0, Lincoln-Sudbury, the No. 23 seed, then ran off the remaining 52 seconds, finishing off No. 10 Andover’s season.
Andover coach Jon Hutcheon voiced his displeasure with the decision. Needless to say, he did not agree.
“Nothing I can say right now is going to change the call. We didn’t think we touched it,” said Hutcheon.
“It should have been a goal. I know the refs are doing their best, but we all make mistakes. It’s part of life. We’ll agree to disagree. You don’t want to see a season end like that. We had 44 other minutes of hockey that we could have scored, and we couldn’t get through them. I thought Lincoln-Sudbury played a great game.”
Andover finishes its year at 9-7-5, which includes a regular season win and a tie against 5-14-2 L-S.
Hanley Finnicum had the lone goal of the night, just 61 seconds in. From there, the night belonged to Brinke and Andover’s Rylan Collins. The two goalies played exceptionally well, denying everything thrown their way.
With the loss, the first-year coach Hutcheon bids adieu to seven seniors – Bella DiFiore, Nora Hurley, Roos Klaarenbeek, Scarlet Glass, Grace Johnson, Lucy MacLean and Abby Srivastava.
“We lose seven unbelievable players and seven unbelievable kids,” said Hutcheon. “We’re going to miss them, that’s for sure. It’s a special group of seven, but it’s also a special group of 22 players in that room.”