Wildcats Put Newburyport in Hairy Situation [VIDEO]

Maybe blondes do have more fun.

The Wilmington boys hockey team was certainly having a good time of things Monday as they opened the North Division 2 postseason.

With freshly bleached hair, the locals cruised past Newburyport, 6-2, inside Stoneham Arena on Monday and advanced to likely dquare off against the bracket's top seed.

“We look good right? It’s like a Backstreet Boys, 90s or 80s band look. It’s nice,” said junior Cam Owens, who scored twice and dished out three assists in the victory. “We thought it’d be fun, kind of funny. We’re really bonding as a team.”

The fun began for Wilmington late in the first period when Jake Rogers connected on a feed from Owens and gave the team a 1-0 lead.

Newburyport knotted the score at 1-1 just over a minute into the second period, but the Wildcats tandem struck again. Owens found a streaking Rogers, who flew towards net and snuck the puck five hole on the Clipper goalie.

About two minutes later, Owens found himself in the middle of the festivities when he hauled in a pass from Dalton Rolli and scored a goal of his own to make it 3-1 with 10:05 remaining in the second frame.

But Newburyport clawed back in it again with 3:17 to play before the intermission, once more cutting its deficit to one goal at 3-2.

Owens had another answer, however, with 2:11 left when he hammered home a power play goal after a Clipper defender nearly pushed the puck over the line for an own goal.

“I thought we were skating in sand in the beginning of the game. Maybe first game jitters, but that second period if it wasn’t for the goaltending it would have been a different story,” said head coach Steve Scanlon. “We didn’t panic. A lot of the older kids have been deep in the tournament. They know how to handle themselves. There’s a lot of emotion on every goal, but if you get scored on you have to bounce back.

The third period belonged to Luke Foley, who scored a pair of goals in the final 15 minutes.

With 11:14 to go in the game, Foley streaked towards net and scored from behind the goal line when Brendan McDonough hit his outstretched teammate in the tape with a pass in transition.

Owens wasn’t officially credited with an assist on the final goal, but he redirected a shot from the point, which hit the post with 2:23 to go. Foley was on the doorstep for an easy rebound tally.

“When you don’t see (Owens) all year long he can bother you like that,” said Scanlon. “I think the kids in the Middlesex League adjusted to him well, but the Cape Ann teams, he’s always given those teams a bad time. He picked up where he left off.”

The teams didn’t play each other this season, but their rivalry extends back to last year and beyond when they battled as opponents in Cape Ann play. The history was evident by the Clippers’ physical play when the game was all but wrapped up, and evident also in Scanlon’s comments after the game.

“Once we got the fifth goal we were tucking it away and they came apart at the seams like they usually do,” said Scanlon with a rye smile. “Then the goony (stuff) starts. I don’t know what that was. That’s them though. We’re used to that too.”

As a reward for their win, the Wildcats will head back to Stoneham on Friday at 5:30 p.m. Their opponent is likely top seed Lynnfield, which played Tuesday against the bracket’s No. 16 team.

Both Scanlon and Owens said it’s refreshing to be the underdog in a playoff game after normally going into the postseason as a favorite.

“It’s actually good being the underdog,” said Owens. “You don’t have a lot of pressure on you."