NEWBURYPORT — If this was the final sendoff for the 2024-25 Newburyport girls hockey team, then what a way to go out.
With their Division 2 playoff lives literally hanging on by 0.02 of a percentage point, the Clippers took to the Graf Rink ice on Tuesday afternoon and put together the ultimate display of grit, toughness and fight that they’ve shown all season. For long stretches overmatched by a Norwell-Scituate-Abington (NSA) co-op team that will be hosting a tournament game next week, the Clippers still managed to erase a three-goal deficit, before nearly scoring twice over the final 80 seconds of an eventual 5-4 loss.
“I’m just super proud of their effort,” said Newburyport coach Josh Freeman. “You know, we’re down a couple of kids and down to only seven forwards, but these girls still always go out and compete every game. To come back twice against a team like (NSA) says a lot. But it’s something this team has done all season, they always fight.”
So here’s what you need to know.
Big picture: Newburyport has never missed the MIAA playoffs since becoming a standalone program four years ago.
But for this season specifically, just last week the Clippers (8-11-1) found themselves outside of the projected Division 2 field. That changed after a win over Gloucester last Wednesday, as the program moved up to No. 30. But following losses to Winthrop on Saturday followed by Pope Francis in the first round of the Bank Classic tournament on Sunday, the Clippers dropped a spot to No. 31 when the latest power rankings came out on Tuesday morning.
… With only 0.016 separating them between No. 32 Gloucester, and 0.017 separating them between No. 33 Stoneham — and being out of the playoffs.
“I guess we’ll find out on Friday morning when the pairings are announced,” laughed Freeman. “We didn’t hit 10 wins, which would have gotten us in automatically. But NSA was up at No. 16, which will hopefully help our ‘opponent ranking,’ and the fact that we only lost by one goal was huge.”
Truly … Every. Single. Goal. Matters.
So even though Newburyport looked all but finished down 5-3 with the clock ticking under two minutes, there was still no reason to quit. And when Allie Simons ripped a shot from the point that found the back of the net with 80 seconds left, well, that quite literally might have saved the team’s season. The Clippers then nearly tied it after Olivia Wilson drew a penalty with 25 seconds left, but a final shot at the buzzer was deflected out front and went wide.
“What a huge, huge goal that was for us,” said Freeman of Simons. “That could very well end up being the difference between us making the playoffs and being left out.”
For the first 15 minutes, though, Newburyport looked to be in for a long day.
It took NSA (13-7-1) just 50 seconds to score, and after the first period it had the makings of a blowout at 3-0. A bad situation then only got worse when the Clippers took an interferance penalty early in the second. But while on the kill, Holly Sullivan intercepted a pass near the blue line, and converted her breakaway chance to get the Clippers on the board.
And it was certainly the spark the team needed.
Delaney Belanger would find the back of the net with six minutes left in the period, and just two minutes later, Sullivan would poke home her second of the game. Both tallies came off beautiful feeds from the electric Wilson, who entered the game with 25 goals and 11 assists on the year.
“I can’t say enough good things about our effort today,” said Freeman. “Again, I’m just super proud of them for making that comeback, and really playing some good team hockey when we needed.”
In the third period, the ice was tilted towards NSA.
But despite play being in its zone for most of the frame, Newburyport got an outstanding effort in net from Cody Saboliauskas (36 saves). The goalie kept it a tie game for the majority of the period, and even turned away a handful of shots on a penalty kill.
NSA, however, would finally break through.
Katie Comerford poked home a rebound during a huge scrum in front of the net with six minutes left, then two minutes later, the speedy Maddie Cantor zoomed around three Newburyport skaters before ripping a shot top-shelf to make it 5-3. The Clippers got the huge response from Simons, but weren’t able to force overtime.
So we’ll see if that provided enough percentage points to stay in the playoffs.