Katie Burt

Lynn/Winthrop loses Nailbiter to Hingham

By Steve Krause / The Daily Item

STONEHAM - The question of the night at the Stoneham Arena was, "Was it a goal or wasn't it?"

The question was asked not once, but twice ... and at the same end of the rink both times. Both the Lynn/Winthrop girls combined team and Hingham thought they'd had a goal, but the referees waved them both off. It only ended up costing one team, however ... and that team was the Bulldogs, who fell to Hingham, 4-3, in a shootout in the Division 1 state semifinal.

In the third period, a Hingham shot stopped right on the goal line. The light went on, but the referees overruled the goal judge.

In overtime, however, Bulldog Mackenzie Clark (and most people who were sitting behind the net) thought she'd scored the game-winner to cap off the upset to end all upsets in high school sports this winter. She took a shot from about 10 feet out and the puck appeared to hit the back of the net and bounced back out all within the blink of an eye.

The goal judge didn't put the light on this time, and neither referee would overrule his decision. And when Hingham outscored the Bulldogs 3-2 in the shootout, the Harborwomen had their date in next Sunday's state final against Acton-Boxboro.

The explanations after the game were as varied as you could imagine.

"I thought that it went in," Clark said. "But the referees said, 'no goal, no goal.' But if that's the case, why did the whistle blow?"

The goal judge said the puck hit the post, as did Hingham goalie Beth Findley.

"It hit off my glove and hit the post," she said. "All I can do is thank the hockey gods. That was karma, I guess, for our goal that was disallowed."

Hingham coach Tom Findley said he thought there was a stick with black tape that had been pushed into the net, and it created the illusion that it was a puck.

And Bulldog coach Anthony Martucci said, "I thought it was in, but I don't know. It was a great shot by Mackenzie. If it went in, great. But that's the game."

That the Bulldogs were even in the position to be involved in a controversy at all was 100 percent attributable to Pickering eighth grader and goalie Katie Burt, who saw 50 shots in regulation and stopped all but three of them.

"We build our team from the goalie out, and Katie just stood on her head tonight," Martucci said. "We knew that if we were going to win, Katie was going to have to steal it. And she almost did."

The Bulldogs got the jump in the first period when Clark scored off a faceoff at 9:54. But Hingham's Katie Walsh got that back on a goal that appeared to ricochet off a skate and change course.

After a scoreless second period, the third period was absolutely one for the books. Hingham went up 2-1 10 seconds into the period on Sarah Schwentzfeier's power play goal, but Chelsey Bartlett shot one from 15 feet out that zinged past Findley to tie it at 8:08. Schwentzfeier gave Hingham the lead again at 9:28, but Courtney McTague got the equalizer for the Bulldogs two minutes later.

Girls Hockey edges Arlington in Shootout

By Jonathan Weiner / For The Item

WINTHROP - There was some concern whether the Winthrop/Lynn girls hockey team might have some rust when it played its first postseason game Saturday against Arlington.

The Bulldogs hadn't played in nine days, while the Spy Ponders were coming off a 2-1 overtime thriller against Barnstable earlier in the week.

But Winthrop/Lynn skated through it for a 2-1 shootout win in Division 1 girls action at Larsen Rink -- ensured only after goalie Katie Burt forced defenseman Hannah Wright to fire wide on Arlington's final chance.

"I felt that we had the advantage because of Katie," said coach Anthony Martucci "She's one of the best goalies in the state, and she did what she did best."

The shootout's only goal came courtesy of Taylor Brown, who beat Arlington goalie Casey Schaejbe with a wrist shot on the team's third opportunity, with the puck trickling past the goalie and into the net.

Lynn/Winthrop plays later this week in the quarterfinal against either Medway/Ashland or Braintree.

"(Brown) got a head of steam, and took the shot," Martucci said. "She took it solidly, and it crossed over. It was a beautiful goal."

Arlington applied constant pressure on the 'Dogs (16-3-1), but Burt kept Arlington at bay. However, Spy Ponder forward Kristin McKenzie flicked a 15-foot wrist shot to the short side to even the score at 1-1 midway through the third period.

Both squads had chances for the victory in the 12-minute overtime, with perhaps Winthrop/Lynn's Courtney McTague having the best shot. Brown stole the puck near mid-ice, skated into the Arlington zone and slid the puck to McTague, who was standing in front of the Spy Ponders net. But Schaejbe gloved the shot for the save.

Wright had a good opportunity to give Arlington (15-6-1) the win, but Burt held her ground and kept the score tied.

Arlington had the best chances in a scoreless first period. Burt foiled Kelsey Russell's 20-footer on a two-man power play and did the same on Michelle Reilly's 15-foot slap shot.

Both teams had solid chances in the second period and it looked as if the score would be deadlocked heading into the third. But Brown beat Schaejbe with a 20-foot slap shot from the left side with 57 seconds left to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.

Both goalies continued their stellar play throughout the third period, though McKenzie evened the game with just under six minutes left. Each team was foiled in the overtime, setting up Brown's shootout heroics.

St Mary's Sabrina Ianetti and Kara Donati  battle for the puck during Wednesday's game at Connery Rink. (Item Photo/ Reba M. Saldanha)

St. Mary's girls hockey wins city battle

By Matthew Roy / For The Item

LYNN -- Two of the top ranked teams in Division 1 girls hockey met at Connery Rink on Wednesday as No. 2 St. Mary's hosted No. 3 Bulldogs.

The Spartans big game experience proved to be too much for the Bulldogs to over come as St. Mary's powered its way to a 5-0 win, its seventh shutout in a row.

"We started off a little slow in the first period but in the second and third I thought we really played well," St. Mary's coach Frank Pagliuca said. "They were a quality team and we knew that we had to come out and play well from the start."
 

The Bulldogs (9-2-0) came in as one of the hottest teams in the state, having won nine straight, but on Wednesday they were simply overwhelmed by St. Mary's. Katie Burt was outstanding in goal, making 38 saves, to keep her team in the game.

"St. Mary's is a very disciplined, well coached hockey team," Bulldogs coach Anthony Martucci said. "We came out nervous and tentative in the first period and were a little bit in awe of them."

St. Mary's (10-0-3) had an early power play when Caroline McKinnon was called for tripping at 2:29 but failed to convert. A little over a minute later they would break the ice off a Bulldog turnover that resulted in Bridget Donovan snapping a shot past Burt at 5:17.

The Spartans continued to swarm the Winthrop end but Burt held up the fort nicely until late in the first when Allison Butler picked up a loose puck and banked an acute angle backhander off Burt's pads and in for a 2-0 lead after one.

"The one thing we couldn't do is get behind early," Martucci said. "One goal was OK but two goals wasn't so good. That's like climbing a mountain against them."

An early Bulldog power play in the second went by the boards and the Spartans would strike a killing blow seconds after getting Sabrina Iannetti out of the box. Hannah Quin made a perfect length of the ice pass to Iannetti, who flipped a backhander over Burt's glove for her 13th goal of the season.

"Once we started getting our legs moving and skating, we were able to take control of the game a little bit," Pagliuca said.

The onslaught of shots continued throughout the middle period, where the Spartans finished with a 17-1 shots on goal advantage, and culminated with 1:16 left when Marisa Maccario banged in a third chance at Butler's initial shot to make it 4-0 after two..

The sophomore from Marblehead would cap the scoring in the third with a power play goal at 9:40, assisted by Donovan and Angela Dandreo.

"In a way, this is a good loss for us," Martucci said. "We had come in having won nine in a row and this kind of gets us back to reality a little bit. Now we just have to go out and take care of business in the rest of our games."

Bulldogs girls hockey player Mackenzie Clark celebrates after scoring against Everett at Larsen Arena in Winthrop on Saturday. Clark surpassed the 100-career-point milestone in the Bulldogs' 5-0 win. Teammate Ariana Dembro (21) and Everett goalie Casarra Roderick (30) watch the play. (Item Photo / Owen O'Rourke)

Clark reaches milestone in Bulldogs girls hockey win

By Jonathan Weiner / For The Item

WINTHROP -- Lynn English's Mackenzie Clark will always remember the very special gift she gave herself for her 18th birthday.

Hitting that particular milestone this past Saturday, she reached the 100-point plateau midway through the opening stanza with the first of her two goals, as the Winthrop/Lynn English/Revere girls hockey team blanked Everett, 5-0, at the Larsen Arena.



"It's definitely one of my better birthdays," said Clark, who also plays soccer at English. "I just wanted to get it done, and I'm relieved to get it."

The Lady Bulldogs (2-1) attacked the Crimson Tide net right from the opening faceoff, but were thwarted by goalie Casarra Roderick. Defenseman Taylor Brown clanked a shot off the post early, but Roderick turned opportunities from defenseman Kasey Harris and winger Hannah Lopresti aside in the first few minutes.

However, Brown broke the scoreless tie with just over six minutes gone. She took a feed from teammate Kara Donati, and fired a 20-foot wrist shot past Roderick for the game's first goal.

Clark then attained her milestone just 46 seconds later. The Lady Bulldogs continued their assault upon the Everett net, and the team was able to double its lead. Skating in on a 2-on-1 with Lopresti, Clark took the feed and beat Roderick with a 15-foot wrist shot to give Winthrop a 2-0 edge.

"I skated in, and saw the open part of the net," Clark recollected of her 100th career point. "I didn't think it went in at first, and then everyone started celebrating."

Coach Anthony Martucci said, "When I first took the job (two years ago), I could tell right away how special a player Mackenzie was as a ninth grader. We put her on the second line to start with, and last year, she really came into her own. Her speed and strength are incredible, and she's one of the leaders on this year's team."

Clark added point No. 101 with 39 seconds gone in the middle period. She broke up a pass at the Everett (1-2) blue line, skated in on the breakaway, and stuffed a backhand past Roderick to increase the lead to 3-0.

Winger Courtney McTague netted a pair of third-period scores, exactly nine minutes apart (with the latter coming on the power play), to close out the scoring.

Goalie Katie Burt handed in the shutout, her first of the campaign.

"We didn't get off to a good start in our first game (a loss to Shewsbury), but we've been able to jell together as a team," added Martucci. "Tonight, we had a lot of (offensive) chances developing, and we played very well defensively. That's something that we pride ourselves on."

Bulldogs combined girls hockey team recovers nicely

By Joyce Erekson / The Daily Item

The Winthrop Lady Bulldogs (combined Winthrop, Lynn and Saugus) girls hockey team rebounded from a tough loss over the weekend to defeat Marblehead, 5-3, at Larsen Rink

Marblehead drew first blood on a Rachel McKay goal midway through the first period, but the Lady Bulldogs answered with five straight goals to take a 5-1 lead into the third period.

Junior McKenzie Clark from Lynn English rang up her 99th career point on a goal with six minutes left in the opening period. Anna Fucillo made it 2-1 less than a minute later and Caroline McKinnon scored to give Winthrop a 3-1 lead after one period.

The Lady Bulldogs (1-1) added two more in the second period on a power play goal by Chelsey Bartless and one by Taylor Brown to take four-goal lead into the final period. Katie Zarinksy scored a pair of goals for the Magicians to close things out.

"After the first game, I think the rust was kind of off,"  coach Anthony Martucci said. "Tonight I thought we came out and executed our game plan a little better."
 

Winthrop/Lynn Girls Hockey sees Season End against Arlington Catholic

By Erik Johnson / For The Item

WINTHROP -- Winthrop/Lynn's girls hockey team ran into perennial powerhouse Arlington Catholic and had its season come to an abrupt end last night. The Bulldogs were shut out, 4-0.

"AC is a good team," Winthrop coach Anthony Martucci said. "We didn't execute the way I would have liked to. In fact, they did to us what I wanted to do to them. I wanted to push the puck and forecheck. My hat is off to them."

Katie Burt had a sensational game in net. She faced 44 shots, and turned away 40 of them. She made several sensational saves, including stopping a few breakaways.

"(Burt) is absolutely phenomenal," Cougars coach Kim Knox said. "We knew coming in how strong their goaltending was going to be. She truly is the backbone of that team."

Lindsey Barker proved to be a force on the ice for the 16th-ranked Bulldogs (9-4-6) in what will be her final varsity game. Fellow seniors Rachel Mailhiot and Kelly Deveney also had strong performances.

"We are going to miss our seniors," said Martucci. "They've been there since the inception of the program and are a great group."

Alyssa Sullivan scored a pair of goals and added an assist for 20th-ranked Arlington Catholic (12-7-2). Natalie Flynn and Michela Scutti scored the other two goals. Two of the goals came on the power play.

The game got a little chippy in the third. The Bulldogs were able to kill off a 5-on-3 power play.

The Cougars outshot Winthrop 44-to-18.

"Our offense didn't ever get going," said Martucci. "We're a young group, though, and we will have a lot of talent returning."

Mackenzie Clark finished the season with 97 career points as a sophomore.

Girls Hockey Ties with Marblehead

By Jonathan Weiner / For The Item

WINTHROP -- With both squads trailing first-place Beverly/Gloucester by only a handful of points in the North Cape League, both the Marblehead and Winthrop/Lynn girls hockey teams were hoping for a win over one another -- not only to keep pace, but also to inch closer to a possible playoff berth.

The Headers and Lady Bulldogs, who had deadlocked each other 1-1 back in December, settled for the same result on Saturday evening -- a 1-1 tie.

This one occurred when Marblehead's Lexie Laing netted the tying score with only 36.1 seconds left to go in the contest at Larsen Arena.

Trailing 1-0 with 2:02 left, Marblehead, which had been frustrated by a very solid performance by Lady Bulldogs goalie Katie Burt, got a break when a pair of Winthrop/Lynn players were each assessed a penalty, giving the Headers a 5-on-3 power play advantage. Burt continued to hold Marblehead at bay, particularly on several point-blank opportunities from up close.

The Headers pulled goalie Molly Depew for an extra skater with 1:15 remaining and a 6-on-3 skater advantage. Burt came up with several big stops, as Marblehead continued to attack the net. It looked as though the Lady Bulldogs would emerge unscathed, yet with five seconds left on the power play (and 36 seconds left on the clock), Laing, who was positioned less than 10 feet in front of the net, took a pass from the left side from teammate Ally Healy, and she one-timed the puck past Burt for the game-tying score.

"We were able to move (Burt) laterally (on the goal), and Lexie (Laing) saw the open part of the net," said Marblehead coach Emily Hudak, whose club goes to 3-2-4 in the league (5-4-4 overall). "We played very well, and had our chances (throughout the game), but Katie's a great goalie, and made some great saves."

Marblehead carried the early play once the puck was dropped, but it would be Winthrop/Lynn that took the early lead, just five minutes in. Forward Amanda Cordes picked up a loose puck in the Headers zone, and poked it past Depew for the game's first score.

"We moved Amanda to forward (from defense), and we were throwing the puck to the net for a chance," said Winthrop/Lynn coach Anthony Martucci. "It was good to get that first goal, especially playing at home, as it creates a hill for the other team."

Cordes had another opportunity later in the period to add to the lead, stealing a puck at mid-ice and going in for a breakaway, but was stonewalled by Depew.

Marblehead's Kelsey Maguire had several chances to tie the game in the second period, but was thwarted by Burt each time. Maguire fired a point-blank slap from 15 feet away midway in the stanza, but Burt gloved the shot. A half-minute later, Burt again halted Maguire's slap to keep the 1-0 lead for the Lady Bulldogs.

Depew also came up big to keep the margin to one goal. She robbed center MacKenzie Clark and winger Lindsey Barker on back-to-back opportunities later in the period, with the Lady Bulldogs storming the net.

Burt was busiest late in the period, stopping Laing at point-blank range on a wrist shot, and then holding strong when Laing came in on a breakaway after stealing the puck at the Marblehead blue line. Burt also stuffed forward Keelin Fallon's opportunity near the end of the period when she tried to jam the puck past the sprawling goalie.

"Katie was incredible tonight," said Martucci of his netminder. "She's such a strong goalie, and she makes the hard saves look easy."

Both teams traded numerous scoring opportunities in the third, but Depew and Burt held strong to keep the 1-0 score intact until Laing's game-tying goal in the last minute.

English Girls Oust Masco in Shootout

By Christian Mielcarek / For The Item, February 27, 2009

WINTHROP n Nine rounds into the shootout, it was over, and the English girls hockey team was left standing.

Madison Molea scored her first goal of the season as player No. 9 in the shootout, which gave No. 7 English a 1-0 win over 10th-seeded Masco in a Division 1 first-round game at Larsen Rink on Thursday.

This was the third meeting this season between the North Cape League co-champs, who split a pair during the regular season n 3-1, English, on Jan. 2, and 2-1, Masco, on Feb. 12. This one was a goaltending clinic between sixth-grader Katie Burt of English and eighth-grader Alex Jones of Masco.

“All I can say is that as soon as we got into the shootout, I knew we were going to win because I have so much confidence in Katie,” said English coach Anthony Martucci, whose team plays Woburn next on Sunday.

But it took a lot of time to get to the shootout n three scoreless periods of regulation, plus one scoreless overtime session. It was after regulation ended that things got extra dramatic.

Start with what happened at the 7:44 mark of overtime. Right off a face-off, Masco got the puck into the English zone and put a shot on net. Burt deflected it into the boards. Masco got the puck again 10 feet in front of the net. Burt made a glove save falling down.

“That took about five years off my life,” Martucci said. “(It is) all about defense and goaltending come tournament time. If you can do those two things well, you can win.”

But English also had to score. And that happened in the shootout … not before some more anxious moments, though.

Masco, as the visiting team, shot first, and Hannah Koenig connected, solving Burt by shooting under her glove. That put Masco ahead 1-0. English didn’t score until two shots later, when Barker found the net under Jones’ glove.

Then, in the ninth round, Molea (the daughter of English athletic director Gary Molea) sent the English faithful home happy when she directed the puck into the net high and to the right. (Many previous English attempts were low and to the right.)

“I’m proud of each and every one of my girls,” Masco coach Bill Haines said. “It’s too bad, because shootouts are a lousy way to determine a champion, but those are the rules we play by.”

Haines added, “(Jones) played with tremendous poise. She’s been great all year. She’s capable of making big saves, which you saw tonight, because she was at her finest.”

English improved to 16-4 with the win, while Masco finishes 14-4-4.

 Goalie Burt Earns Shutout in First Postseason Game

By Christian Mielcarek / For The Item, February 23, 2009

WINTHROP -- English goalie Katie Burt may only be in the sixth grade scholastically, but on the hockey rink, she continues to prove she belongs playing against high school competition.

The all-star keeper was a major factor in English's 14-4 regular-season record -- which earned the team a 7th seed in the MIAA Division 1 girls hockey tournament -- and in a 4-0 victory over 26th-seeded Shrewsbury in Round 1 last night at Larsen Rink in Winthrop.

"She's performing like a senior," said Bulldog (15-4) coach Anthony Martucci. "I couldn't ask for anything more from her. A shutout is a nice way to start her postseason career."

The Bulldogs will next play 10th-seeded Masconomet, which defeated Beverly 4-1, on Thursday in Winthrop.

When a team is held scoreless, the majority of the praise is showered upon the goalie, and while Burt is deserving, a fair share of the credit must also be awarded to the English defense. Led by all-stars Ashley Fiandaca and Taylor Brown, the Bulldogs limited the Colonials to 22 shots, a miniscule amount of serious scoring chances, and a power outage on the power play. English killed five penalties, including 50 seconds of a five-on-three.

"Their defense was making it hard for us, but I thought we were in the game the whole time," said Shrewsbury (10-8) coach Frank Panarelli. "The first time we played English, we lost 6-0, and it was 5-0 after the first period. We only skated 11 girls tonight, and for a first year program who most thought wouldn't win more than a couple games, to make the state tournament, I'm very proud."

Sophomore Stephanie Folsom stopped 27 shots in net for Shrewsbury, but she couldn't completely withstand the Bulldogs' attack. With 11:58 remaining on the clock in the first period, Vanessa Caruccio scored her first of two goals when she tipped the puck past Folsom on the feed from Lindsey Barker.

Brown scored her team's second goal of the night unassisted after maneuvering the puck the majority of the ice before ripping a wrister just outside the left face-off circle. The shot appeared to initially be saved, but it squirted loose from between Folsom's arm and side and fell into the net 4:36 into the second period.

"I thought we came out a bit sloppy in the first period," Martucci said. "It's tourney time, so every team comes out wanting to win, but we pulled away due to some great senior leadership."

Still leading 2-0 entering the third, the Bulldogs continued to keep possession at will. English didn't capitalize until the 5:42 mark, when Mackenzie Clark poked home the puck on an assist from Barker, and Caruccio sealed the game with a breakaway slapper that beat Folsom low glove side unassisted with 3:03 left to go in the game.