Published April 1, 2020

By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI

LYNNFIELD — The Cape Ann League boys’ hockey coaches recently met to pick their All-Conference and All-Star teams. One Lynnfield High player made the CAL All-Conference team while four others made the CAL All-Star team.

Sam Pifko made the All-Conference team and it is his first-ever postseason honor. The senior forward scored a league-high 24 goals to go with 10 assists for 34 total points.

“He was remarkable,” stated Pioneers head coach Jon Gardner. “He only scored four goals last year and I have never seen a jump like that in scoring ever. He is also a great kid as well.”

The four CAL All-Stars are John Simonetti, Ronnie Fuccillo, Dan Mack and Jake DeBenedictis. For Simonetti, a senior forward, it was his second year in a row on the team while it is the first time for the other three.

Simonetti led the team in assists with 21 and he scored nine times to finish with 30 points.

“I think that he should have made All-Conference as well,” said Gardner.

Fuccillo finished with 25 points as the senior forward had five goals and 20 assists.

Mack, a senior defenseman, had 14 points with three goals and 11 assists.

In goal, DeBenedictis went 10-8-2. The junior had a goals-against average of 2.47.

“All of them had very solid years,” said Gardner, who just completed his eighth year at the helm.

The Pioneers lost 5-2 to North Andover in the first round of the Division 2 North state tournament ended the year at 11-8-2. They came in fourth place in the CAL going 6-4-2.

“We lost a lot of our fire power from the year before,” pointed out Gardner. “Overall, I was very happy with the way the season went.”

Along with the four All-Stars, the team will also lose six other seniors: Jackson Hammersley, Rob Tashjian, Colin Dennison, Sean Robbins, Jack LeCoste and Anthony Magwood.

LeCoste is a defenseman while Magwood was a goalie. The other four were forwards.

“The seniors were a great group and they will be tough to replace,” admitted Gardner. “They left a positive impact on our program, and we had winning records all four years.”

The Pioneers are expected to return over 10 veterans next year.

“We have our goalie and our top defensemen back next year,” said Gardner. “We are hoping some of our forwards will be able to step up for us.”