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girls' hockey

Blue Devils get back on track

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FITCHBURG – The Leominster High school co-operative girls’ hockey team rang in the new year by getting back on the winning track Monday afternoon.

Against visiting St. Joseph Prep, the Blue Devils bounced back after a tough one-goal loss on Dec. 30 with a 5-0 victory in a matinee game at the Wallace Civic Center’.

Leominster is now 4-2-1 on the season with the triumph, while the visiting Phoenix fall to 1-5.

“I was very happy with what I saw from our team today. We got back to playing our game with us dictating the tempo,” said Blue Devils head coach Nancy LeBlanc. “For the past few games, we weren’t playing our game. We were sloppy and getting away from the fundamentals. Today, we hustled and played three full periods.”

Blue Devils eighth-grade net minder Carina Eshbaugh made 15 saves to preserve the shutout between the pipes for the home team.

Leominster outshot the Phoenix 44-15 in the victory.

“When we put 44 shots on net, we expect good things to happen,” said LeBlanc. “Last game, we were held to 14 shots on net and we’re a better team than that. We showed it today.”

Offensively, the Blue Devils were led by the duo of Allison Neiley and Kaylin Hawkins, who each finished the contest with a pair of goals. Amanda Allan contributed a goal and an assist for the winners on Monday.

Erin McGrath, left, congratulates Amanda Allan after Allan scored to put Leominster up 3-0 over St. Joseph/Mt. Alvernia Monday at the Wallace Civic Center. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Alan Arsenault)
Erin McGrath, left, congratulates Amanda Allan after Allan scored to put Leominster up 3-0 over St. Joseph/Mt. Alvernia Monday at the Wallace Civic Center. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Alan Arsenault)

Leominster teammates Carley Ehwa, Alyssa Allan and Rachel Simkewicz also had a hand in the victory as they each registered assists.

Leominster took a 2-0 lead after the first 15 minutes as Neiley and Hawkins lit the lamp 6:20 and 9:58 into the stanza, respectively. The hosts carried the play for the majority of the opening period as it peppered St. Joseph goalie Katie Dolson (39 saves) with 13 shots on goal.

In the second period, Leominster tacked on two more and enjoyed a 4-0 upper hand heading into the second intermission. Allan and Hawkins tallied goals 40 seconds apart for the Blue Devils.

Leominster capped the scoring  when Neiley potted her second of the game at the 11:02 mark to make it 5-0.

Monday’s game was a clean game for the most part as it saw only two penalties combined in 45 minutes of action, with each team committing  just one penalty.

“It’s nice to play the majority of the game five-on-five,” said LeBlanc. “I thought we did a pretty good job keeping our feet moving and playing together as a team and staying out of the penalty box.”

Leominster's Carley Ehwa fights on the boards for the puck with St. Joseph/Mt. Alvernia's Bridget McGovern at the Wallace Civic Center on Monday. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Alan Arsenault)
Leominster’s Carley Ehwa fights on the boards for the puck with St. Joseph/Mt. Alvernia’s Bridget McGovern at the Wallace Civic Center on Monday. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Alan Arsenault)

Leominster will return to the Wallace Civic Center ice for its next contest on Jan. 9 when the Blue Devils meet Central Catholic for the second time this season. The Blue Devils secured a 2-1 victory over the Raiders on Dec. 28 at the Salem Ice Center in Salem, New Hampshire.

Local roundup: Fitchburg storms past Leominster

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The Fitchburg/Monty Tech ice hockey team took care of business Friday evening in the Mark Bushnoe Memorial Christmas Tournament, thrashing Leominster, 7-1, at the Wallace Civic Center.

The Red Raiders (5-2-0) wasted little time taking a lead as Colin Hines potted the first of his two goals on the night just 33 seconds into the game, with assists credited to Cody Berkio and Sam Jaramillo.

Ahead 1-0 after one, Fitchburg doubled the lead with what proved to be the game-winner 37 seconds into the second frame as Jaramillo took a feed from Hines and found the back of the net.

Jacob Pruneau scored the first of his two markers to make the lead 3-0 before Hunter Couture and Nick Paquet scored to give Fitchburg a 5-1 lead after 30 minutes of play.

Hines netted his second of the game 4:12 into the third off a Berkio pass and Pruneau scored his second 67 seconds later with assists credited to Kyle Gendron and Couture.

Fitchburg/Monty Tech's Colin Hines sends a shot toward the net during Friday's win over Leominster. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Nick Mallard)
Fitchburg/Monty Tech’s Colin Hines sends a shot toward the net during Friday’s win over Leominster. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Nick Mallard)

Red Raiders netminder Easton Minardi 16 shots to preserve the victory.

Leominster’s lone goal came on the power play as Robin Duval dented the twine. Will Parker assisted on the goal.

Blue Devils goalie Logan Wood stopped 28 shots before giving way to Jordan Boule, who allowed one goal on five shots for Leominster (0-6).

Fitchburg/Monty Tech’s Jacob Pruneau and Leominster’s Kyle Moyen were named to the all-tournament team for their efforts.

Girls hockey

Dover-Sherborn 1, Leominster 0: Carina Eshbaugh made 18 saves in defeat, which drops the Blue Devils to 3-2-1 on the season.

College hockey

Tufts 6, Fitchburg State 0: The Falcons (5-4-2) were blanked in the consolation game at the Codfish Bowl, with Brendan Fennell and Harrison Bazianos each scoring twice for the Jumbos. Matthew Radder made 44 saves for Fitchburg State, which surrendered a pair of shorthanded tallies in the loss.

The Falcons return to action Thursday evening with a MASCAC tilt at Plymouth State.

Women’s basketball

Mitchell 92, Fitchburg State 44: Rylie Harlow led the Falcons (2-8) with nine points in the Hat City Tournament defeat, while Ephemian Bailey, Stephanie Hart and Olivia Almeida each chipped in with seven.

The Falcons will next play Western Connecticut on Saturday at 3 p.m. in a Hat City Tournament consolation game.

Local roundup: Falcons fall in Codfish Bowl tourney

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The Fitchburg State ice hockey team dropped a semifinal tilt in the 57th annual Codfish Bowl tournament on Thursday, falling -1 to host UMass Boston.

After the Beacons jumped out to a 1-0 courtesy of an Evan Googins (two goals, assist) marker midway through the first, the Falcons (5-3-2) pulled even just 63 seconds later on an unassisted tally by Hunter Fortin, his seventh of the season.

But the host Beacons stormed back with three unanswered goals to earn the win, with Owen Bourdow netting what proved to be the game-winner 6:47 into the second period. Googins and Corey Clifton capped the scoring for UMass Boston in the victory.

Freshman goaltender Max Macchioni made 36 saves for Fitchburg State in the loss, while UMass Boston’s Sam Best stopped 18 of the 19 shots he faced to earn the win.

Boys basketball

Leominster 58, Lincoln Sudbury 50: Justin Dadah Jr. (26 points) and Chase Hause (12 points) were named to the all-tournament team at the Framingham Holiday Tournament. Terrance McCormack added 12 points for Leominster (4-1) in the consolation game victory.

Boys hockey

Lunenburg/Ayer-Shirley 4, Leominster 0: Logan Martin scored twice and Garrett Hakey made 21 saves to lift Lunenburg/Ayer-Shirley Regional in the Mark Bushnoe Memorial Tournament at the Wallace Civic Center.

Lunenburg/Ayer-Shirley bested Leominster High at the Wallace Civic Center Thursday night. (Courtesy Lunenburg Athletics)
Lunenburg/Ayer-Shirley bested Leominster High at the Wallace Civic Center Thursday night. (Courtesy Lunenburg Athletics)

The Blue Knights (3-2-2 overall) will play Assabet Valley Tech in the championship game of the Bushnoe Tournament on Friday evening back at the Civic Center. The Aztecs defeated Fitchburg/Monty Tech, 4-3, in overtime in the other tournament semifinal contest.

Leominster (0-5) will play the Red Raiders in the consolation game.

Antonio Romano and Sean McGrath also scored for the Blue Knights.

Girls hockey

Leominster 2, Central Catholic 1: Alyssa Allan and Rachel Simkewicz scored to lift the Blue Devils on Wednesday night.

Blue Devils ground Rockets

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FITCHBURG —The Leominster girls hockey team hit the ice Friday evening looking to string together back-to-back wins heading into the Christmas break.

The Blue Devils continued their strong play as they found the back of the net four times en route to a 4-1 victory over visiting Auburn at the Wallace Civic Center.

Leominster improves to 2-1-1 overall on the season and hands Auburn its first loss of the campaign. The Rockets drop to 2-1-1.

“I saw solid play from our girls for the entire game. We came out a little sloppy early on in our last game but tonight, from the opening faceoff, I thought we passed the puck well and we had some greats shots on net,” said Leominster head coach Nancy LeBlanc, now in her sixth season at the helm for the Blue Devils. “This was a true team win, everybody contributed to this one tonight.”

For Leominster, Friday night’s result came on the heels of a 3-0 win at home against Brookline on Wednesday.

As for Friday night’s contest, Leominster dominated the opening period as it peppered Auburn goalie Tori Horne (32 saves) with 12 shots on goal. Despite carrying the play for the majority of the opening stanza, the game remained scoreless until the final minute.

Carissima Heinis fires a shot for Leominster during Friday's win over Auburn. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)
Carissima Heinis fires a shot for Leominster during Friday’s win over Auburn. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)

A pair of Auburn penalties gave the Blue Devils a 5-on-3 advantage with a minute left on the clock and Leominster took advantage as it netted a pair of power-play goals to take a 2-0 lead into the locker room for the first intermission. Carrismas Heinis and Rachel Simkewicz each lit the lamp for the hosts at 14:14 and 14:47 of the first period, respectively.

“That was huge,” said LeBlanc. “We told them in the locker room that we can’t let up because Auburn is a good team and strike quickly.”

That’s just what the Rockets did as they cut the deficit in half 7:06 into the second period when Izzy Spencer beat Blue Devils goalie Carina Eshbaugh (11 saves) to make it a 2-1 game.

Leominster answered in the second period with a goal from Madison Salovardos with 2:16 remaining in the middle frame to put Leominster up 3-1 through two periods.

In the final 15 minutes, Leominster refused to let Auburn chip away as it maintained the upper hand. The Blue Devils outshot Auburn 11-3 in the final period and 36-12 in the game.

Leominster one more insurance goal for good measure with 3:18 remaining when Heinis netted her second of the game to make it 4-1.

Leominster is a co-op team with Lunenburg, Ayer-Shirley Regional, Clinton, Sizer School, West Boylston, North Middlesex Regional and Groton-Dunstable Regional.

“This is a great group. We have a ton of new faces, it’s a bigger team than we’ve had in the past and they’ve just clicked,” said LeBlanc. “They work really hard and they’ve come together as a team both on and off the ice.”

The Blue Devils return to action on Dec. 28 when they travel to the Salem Ice Center in Salem, New Hampshire, to take on Central Catholic High School.