Gloucester girls hockey falls to more experienced Newburyport in home opener

Dec. 12—With a young roster comprised of mostly sophomores and eighth graders, the Gloucester girls hockey team was thrown right into the fire in its first two games over the weekend.

The Fishermen, who are entering their second year of varsity status, had some trouble with two of the stronger programs in the Northeast Hockey League, falling to Peabody 7-1 in Friday's opener and 5-2 to Newburyport in Saturday's home opener.

While the results were not what the team was hoping, Gloucester performed better as each game wore on and head coach Caitlyn Bernick was quick to credit her squad's progress.

"We're getting our feet wet against some good teams but we're battling," Bernick said. "We played our best period in the third period both games and we're skating well. It's just a very young team so we have had some trouble against teams with a lot of seniors."

In Saturday's home opener, Gloucester skated right with a strong Newburyport squad, but the Clipper's experience was the difference as they scored three times on rebounds while outmuscling Gloucester in front of both goals to prevent rebound chances on the other end.

The Clippers broke out to a 3-0 lead in the first then added two more in the second to take a commanding, 5-0 lead before Gloucester settled in and started to find its rhythm.

"It was the rebounds, we have to work on cleaning those up," Bernick said. "We skated right with them, our goalie made some nice saves but those upperclassmen got position on us and they were able to generate more second chances than we were because of it. But we focused on that and did a better job with those in the second half of the game, we just couldn't get out of that hole."

Gloucester started to play its game in the middle of the second frame, connecting on more passes and generating more offense. Sophomore captain Abby Lowthers got the team on the board in the final minute of the second frame on a rebound chance off a shot from Jenna Connelly to cut the deficit to 5-1.

The Fishermen continued to play well against Newburyport's starters in the third and found the back of the net again on a great rush from sophomore captain Brooke McNiff, who skated past multiple Clipper defenders and scored on a wraparound, banking it in off the back of the goalie's leg to make it 5-2.

"We saw what we can do when we play our game," Bernick said. "We have potential."

Gloucester is led by three sophomore captains as Lowthers wears the "C" and McNiff and Ella Costa are the assistant captains. McNiff and Costa made up Gloucester's top defensive pairing while Lowthers headed up a line with sophomores Ari Scola and Connelly, both returning varsity players.

Junior Aria Caputo headed up Gloucester's first line with sophomores Sydney Bouchie and Halle Wenworth flanking her. Freshman Keagan Jewell, who scored Gloucester's goal on Friday against Beverly, centered another line with eighth graders Mya Jewell and Elliana Parsons flanking her on the wings. Junior Lexi Salah and eighth Karissa Burgess also logged big minutes on the blue line.

In net, eighth grader Kaydin Cusumano started both games over the weekend, making 21 stops in Saturday's game and showing potential with her lateral quickness and positioning in between the pipes.

"There's a lot of younger players on this team and our sophomores are the core," Bernick said. "They're all working hard to get better and we will keep battling no matter who the opponent is. We played two tough teams to start but if we keep improving we will pick up some wins this year."

Newburyport 5, Gloucester 2

at Talbot Rink, Gloucester

Newburyport 3 2 0| 5

Gloucester 0 1 1| 2

1st Period: N, Ellie Turgeon (Gracie Kelleher) 3:56; N, Olivia Wilson (un.) 9:27; N, Kelleher (Fiona Dunphy) 12:06.

2nd Period: N, Wilson (un.) shg, 5:00; G, Abby Lowthers (Jenna Connelly) 14:10.

3rd Period: G, Brooke McNiff (un.) 5:15.

Saves: N, Ella Puleo 16; G, Kaydin Cusumano 21.

Records: N, 2-0; G, 0-2.

Gloucester girls hockey at a glance

Head coach: Caitlyn Bernick (2nd season)

Last year's record: 3-8-1

Captains: Abby Lowthers, Sr., F; Ella Costa, Sr., D; Brooke McNiff, Sr., D.

Key returning players: Aria Caputo, Jr., F; Lexi Salah, Jr., D; Sydney Bouchie, Soph., F; Jenna Connelly, Soph., F; Ari Scola, Soph., F; Halle Wentworth, Soph., F.

Strengths: Gloucester has a strong sophomore class that makes up the core of the team.

Concerns: The Fishermen are still very young with only one senior and two juniors on the roster.

Coach's Outlook: "This is a young team but there's a lot of potential. We have some good skaters and a lot of sophomores with experience. We just want to get better every game, we know we have some tough teams on the schedule but we are going to battle with everyone like we have the first two games already."