Youth Hockey – East Coast Junior Patriots reach semifinals in state championship playoffs

By Meghann Breton

Last weekend, the East Coast Junior Patriots (ECJP) competed in the State Championships for Massachusetts. The ECJP are a triple A Bantam youth hockey team made up of 13-, 14- and 15-year-old kids from Saugus and the surrounding towns. The ECJP were one of only six teams that made it to the tournament this year in their division, and they advanced to the Semifinals.

The ECJP played their first States game last Friday (March 1) at the New England Sports Center in Marlborough against Triton/Amesbury. It was a really close first game that was tied 2-2 until the very last minute of the game when Triton/Amesbury took the lead and won 3-2.

The ECJP played their second States game last Saturday (March 2) against Twin City. ECJP came back with a vengeance and won the game 7-0.

The ECJP played their third States game later that night against Wilmington. This next game was very tense. It was back and forth the whole time. Neither team could score. The game ended up going into OT and Wilmington scored in the last three minutes of OT, winning the game 1-0.

The ECJP played their State Championship Semifinals on Sunday (March 3) in a rematch against Wilmington. The game once again started off very evenly matched with a lot of tense back and forth, but no goals. Finally, five minutes into the second period, ECJP scored. Wilmington responded quickly by scoring a goal of their own, making the score tied 1-1. A minute later, Wilmington scored another goal to take a 2-1 lead. Wilmington kept the heat on and scored again, making the score 3-1. ECJP kept trying to come back, but ended up losing the game 7-1.

The ECJP have come a long way from their first State Championship Competition back in 2020 when they competed as Squirts. In 2020, these kids didn’t even come close to the Semifinals. They were out-skilled and unprepared for the competition that they faced. After two years of practice and hard work, these same kids not only managed to qualify for the State Championships again in 2022, but also managed to finish in third place in their division. Once again, these same kids qualified for the State Championships this year and once again they finished strong in the Semifinals.

The ECJP plan to keep working hard, honing their skills, and come back stronger next year! In the meantime, the ECJP plan to finish up their regular hockey season and then finish off strong with their playoff games at the end of this month. The ECJP will play their next game on March 9 at 7:50 p.m. in Haverhill.