Newburyport High School Hockey Team Sails Into North Division Two Championship Game, To Play Peabody On Friday, March 5th At Salem State College

March 4, 2010

When: Friday, March 5th, 7:00 pm
Where: Rockett Arena, Salem State College, Salem, MA

Who would have thought at the beginning of this year’s high school hockey season that the Newburyport Clippers would be making a repeat appearance in the North Division 2 Eastern Mass Championship game? After last year’s wildly successful season that culminated in the first state Division Two Championship for a Newburyport High School hockey team, most of us probably wouldn’t have bet the house that the Newburyport Clippers would be there again this year.

The loss of several seniors from the team last year and perhaps an emotional let down from having won the championship last year could have been difficult factors to overcome, but the Clippers were up to the challenge and are now one win away from repeating as the Eastern Mass North Division 2 champions. They really turned it on the second half of the season and played some excellent hockey against some really good hockey teams.

This year Newburyport rode under the radar of many high school hockey followers as the undefeated and top seated Wilmington Wildcats deservedly garnered much of the publicity while completing an undefeated regular season. Newburyport’s 3-1 victory over the Wilmington Wildcats in Monday’s Semifinal game at the Chelmsford Forum wasn’t a shock to followers of Cape Ann hockey faithful as the Clipper’s had played Wilmington very well in their last regular season battle, a game Newburyport lost, 3-1, even though they had dominated play throughout most of the game.

You can cheer on the Newburyport Clippers (17-4-2) on Friday evening, March 5th at Rockett Arena, Salem State College, as they take on the Number 3 seated Peabody Tanners (18-3-2) in the North Division 2 Championship game. This year the top four teams in the North Division 2 bracket made it to the semifinals. Peabody defeated Winthrop (the Number 2 seed), 3-2, and Newburyport knocked off the Number 1 seed, Wilmington, 3-1.

Once again, we wouldn’t count out the Clippers in this game even though Peabody is the higher seed in the division. Newburyport has a strong record when playing in “big” games and this is a “big” game! Whatever the outcome, this should be another exciting high school hockey game, featuring two of the best teams remaining in the tournament in Division Two hockey.

The 7:00 pm game will be broadcast live on WNBP-1450 on the radio and via digital streaming from the WNBP-1450 website.

Good luck, Clippers!