Lawrence excited to build up program in first year
OLIVER MILLER plays the puck past a Winchester defender during Wakefield’s season-opener on Tuesday night. Miller assisted on the Mike Locke’s third-period goal. (Dan Pawlowski Photo)
Published in the December 14, 2018 edition.
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
WOBURN — As first steps go, it was certainly in the right direction for the Wakefield High boys’ hockey team on Tuesday night at O’Brien Ice Rink as they matched up against Winchester.
Winchester, coming off a trip to the Div. 1 North Finals last year, didn’t control the game so much as a 4-1 score would indicate. Wakefield, skating hard for a full 45 minutes, hung right with the home team all night and responded to a 2-0 deficit in the third period with a goal by freshman Mike Locke. Minutes later, a scrum in front of the Wakefield net dislodged the cage and senior goalie Justin Harding’s blocker, but the puck found its way in and was called a good goal despite the chaos. An empty-netter accounted for the final score.
There were plenty of positives to draw from and plenty of areas to work on, both of which should excite a hockey player. It certainly invigorates a coach.
“I thought we played hard for our first game,” said Wakefield head coach Jason Lawrence. “There’s definitely things we need to work on, we showed some flaws tonight, but for game one, I’ll take it.”
Winchester leaned on their leaders as captain Mike Drew’s hat trick accounted for their first three goals.
The first period saw both teams shake some rust off. Winchester scored 4:15 into the game when senior captain Luke Mix connected with Drew on a stretch pass from the defensive zone, springing the explosive forward to a breakaway that he finished with a perfectly executed deke.
Wakefield earned two power plays in the first but couldn’t capitalize; a theme that stuck with them in the second period. In the first, the second power play was much better and the Warriors got a good chance off a nice feed from freshman defenseman Owen Locke to sophomore forward Brogan Chambers but Winchester’s sophomore goalie Rob DiVincenzo recovered well to stop it.
The positives of the opening frame resided mostly in the hustle department. Senior Dan Guarino set the tone in many regards by putting his body on the line and the defense, led by captains Mike Lucey and Jake Regan, and including senior transfer Connor Santos, did well to keep Winchester’s chances to a minimum. Harding made seven of his 18 saves in the first period.
There were no goals in the second as the Warriors once again went through some ups and downs. The ups included a relentless forecheck led by captain Thomas Harrington. One of Wakefield’s best chances of the night came early in the period when Regan took a nice feed from Chambers, pumped on a slap shot to get a Winchester defenseman to lay down on the ice and weaved around toward the slot where his shot was covered up on another nice stop by DiVincenzo.
Wakefield found their groove and the best shift of the game came around the seven-minute mark of the period when the first-line forwards, Harrington, Chambers and junior Cam Souza, moved the puck well and had a couple of nice chances.
The strong play frustrated Winchester and drew a five-minute major slashing penalty, but unfortunately, the downs of the second period included more trying times on the man advantage.
Wakefield couldn’t capitalize on the major, or with 40 seconds of a 5-on-3, keeping the score at 1-0 going into the third.
The response to Drew’s second goal was freshman Mike Locke’s first goal of his Wakefield career as he got himself in a good position in front of the net and scored from his knees after holding his ground against some tough Winchester defenders.
“Locke’s first goal, that’s a credit to him, he’s worked his tail off since he got here in tryouts,” said Lawrence. “He’s had success getting to the right spots and he knows what to do when the puck gets to him.”
Wakefield was certainly exhausted, but they can safely say they earned a tip of the bucket from the home team in this one.
For Lawrence, a teacher at the Galvin Middle School, this first step is just as much about building a program as it is starting a season. Lawrence was head coach of the Wakefield girls’ team in 2016-17 and now gets back behind the bench of a boys’ program for the first time since he coached Everett, who in 2016 he led to their first Greater Boston League title since 1970.
The Warriors will have plenty of resources and tons of hockey experience at their disposal this season. You want to become a better goal-scorer? How about asking Lawrence, whose 25 goals during his senior season (’08-09) at BU was the most by aTerrier in a season since Chris Drury had 28 in ‘98.
You want continuity? Back this year are assistants Mike O’Brien and Mike Manfredi.
You want to be a better defender? Talk to new assistant Joey Ryan, a Malden native and second round draft pick in the ‘06 draft to the Kings whose hockey career as a defenseman included stops in Quebec Juniors, the ECHL and the AHL.
“I’m really excited,” said Lawrence. “We have a really good group so we’ll see what we can do with it.”
The Warriors are keeping their goals close to the vest this year, but they have the talent to aim as high as they’re willing to work.
“As a team, we want to win the games we’re supposed to win,” said Lawrence. “We have team goals that we’re going to keep to ourselves. I think collectively as a group, we have some work to do to get there but we’re very optimistic.”
The state of Wakefield hockey is strong as over 50 kids tried out.
“It’s a great problem to have when you have that many kids in a program,” said Lawrence. “Now it’s just about getting the right mentality and building on the core values that we have as a program that we want to build moving forward.”
Game two for the Warriors will be tomorrow night against another tough test as they meet Reading who is currently ranked 13th in the Boston Globe’s Top 20. The puck drops at 6 p.m. at Burbank Arena.
