Mass-Conn hockey: State’s best roll in All-Star games

WORCESTER In the final chapter of another incredible hockey season several of the MIAA s best flexed their strength Sunday afternoon with wins for both the boys and the girls in the MA CT Dividing line All-Star Games at the Worcester Ice Center The MSHCA s junior boys all-stars overwhelmed Connecticut s in an offensive fury toppling it - before the girls junior senior squad ground out a - win in a much closer affair Stars from the North particularly stood out with Essex Tech s Brian Delisio two goals taking home MVP for the boys Peabody Lynnfield North Reading junior Eleni Spack goal earned the same honors for the girls It s super it s such a big deal Spack explained I was working so hard out there I just felt like This is my meeting So I just felt right at home I got to meet all these new players and we played so well together I m just so proud of the entire crew and I m proud of myself for stepping out there and having a good tournament It s really awesome to be a part of In the second event East Catholic goalie Sarah Gionfriddo saves did well for CT to hold off a talented group of scorers in a scoreless first period The second period was a different story Milton senior Molly Murphy lit the lamp first taking an exchange from Waltham s Sophia LaFacui to the left circle before ripping in the - lead Spack soon followed with a shot from the point that got through and HPNA senior Quinn Bennett rounded off a three-goal frame with the first of her two goals Bennett added an empty-net goal in the final seconds for what felt like a proper senior send-off Definitely it was super fun Bennett stated Scoring in general is kind of a big deal for me I love to count I m not going to say I don t it s fun But I definitely wouldn t have been unhappy if I didn t outcome I m just happy I got this opportunity to be able to play in this tournament To be able to play with the best players in Massachusetts that I played with in the high school season is really fun Massachusetts goalies Megan Mullarky Malden Catholic Morgan Murphy Marshfield and Jil Costa Belmont combined for a -save shutout behind an impressive defensive showing Duxbury was well-represented with five players including seniors Sami Norton Zoey Madigan and Maeve Gallagher that Dragons head coach Dan Najarian got to coach one final time He cherished the opportunity alongside Belmont head coach Brendan Kelleher behind the bench but also the chance to help organize a meaningful encounter This is just a culmination for the kids to get recognized for their efforts throughout the year it s just a really nice cherry on top Najarian mentioned It s a great time You see these kids all year long with their helmets on and you play against them and you battle them It s just really nice for them all to sit on the same bench and joke around and just realize that they re all kind of the same working towards the same goal It s really neat The junior boys wasted no time in their championship building a - lead after the first period and a - advantage by the end of the second Delisio was one of six players to result multiple goals for MA in an impressive showing of talent and gelling on the fly and the entire group seemed loose from the very first puck drop It s a lot of fun to be a part of reported Duxbury head coach Mike Flaherty who was behind the bench for MA There s specific pretty talented kids here Getting to talk to them on the bench is a lot of fun getting to know them a little bit Delisio s two goals in the first period paired with scores from Oliver Ames Brendan Teehan Westfield s Joe Maffia two goals and Marshfield s Ben Berian three goals assist for a dominant start MA ramped up the scoring even further in the second period as Berian and Belmont s Leo Packard each scored two of their three goals and Concord-Carlisle s Cam Doull scored both of his in the frame It means a lot we all worked hard to be here Berian commented These are several of the best kids from New England so it just means a lot that we re able to put up so a large number of goals We all worked really well together even though it s our first time playing Pembroke s Kevin Murrin Canton s Joey Ryan and St John s of Shrewsbury s Brady Chenevert each posted two assists in the win while Marshfield s Brendan Kiziuk had three assists