This one turned into a battle of two high-powered offenses real quick.
On Wednesday night, the Newburyport girls hockey team welcomed in league rival Beverly to the Graf Rink. There was certainly no shortage of goals between the two teams, but another 2-goal, 2-assist outing from junior captain Olivia Wilson helped Newburyport pull out the 6-5 victory. Wilson — who began her varsity hockey tenure as an 8th-grader — still already sits at 96 career points, and will have her first chance to hit the triple-digit milestone during Saturday’s game against Marblehead down at Salem State University.
She already has 18 goals and 4 assists this winter, with still eight games left in the regular season.
But Wilson of course wasn’t alone on Wednesday night. Newburyport (5-6-1) also got two goals from Allie Simons, and both Riley Freeman and Holly Sullivan found the back of the net. Freeman and Sullivan had assists as well, as did Joely Middleton, Mackenzie Riley and Caroline Jones.
BOYS: Forrest, Clippers get past Rockport
Looking at the final stats, the Newburyport boys hockey team probably wasn’t expecting Wednesday’s game to come down to the wire like it did.
When everything was tallied up, the Clippers had outshot Rockport, 47-12.
But as the final minutes ticked away, they still had do deal with killing off a 6-on-5, as it was somehow only a one-goal game. Thankfully, though, Newburyport was able to skate away with a much-needed victory, holding on for the 5-4 win over Rockport up at the Talbot Rink. Despite surrendering five goals, the Clippers’ coaching staff was still quick to credit senior goalie Cooper Miller, who made 42 saves for the Vikings to keep it a competitive game.
But at the end of the day, Newburyport (6-7-0) did what it needed to do.
Senior captain Will Forrest had another solid game for the Clippers, scoring two goals. Finn McNeil, Owen Mongeau and Tommy Gagnon were behind the other tallies, and eight different Clippers recorded an assist. For Gagnon, it was the freshman’s first career varsity goal.
Newburyport came into the game having dropped two straight to talented Essex Tech and Canton teams, but got back on the winning track. Up next, though, is the much-anticipated rematch against archrival Triton on Saturday at the Graf (6:30 p.m.). The Clippers took the first meeting of the season between the two back in December, and have now won eight in a row in the rivalry series.