The 11 locals who play hockey at St. Mary’s of Lynn, unforuntately, won’t be playing in the state tournament.
The Spartans (7-4) will not participate by MIAA rule after five of their players got game misconducts after a fracas broke out during the post-game handshake of a loss to Arlington Catholic Wednesday night.
“The officials did everything they could to break it up,” said St. Mary’s Athletic Director Jeff Newhall in a release. “From our point of view, all of our players share equal blame for our role in the incident … We understand hockey is a contact sport in which emotions run high, but we expect our players to do a much better job controlling those emotions. We support the rules of the MIAA and accept the penalties for breaking them.”
According to the school’s press release, Under MIAA Rule 72.12, any team whose players receive a total of three game misconduct penalties over the course of the season is ineligible for the MIAA tournament. Rule 72.14 states that any team getting more than four game misconduct penalties collectively must forfeit one game.
That game will give Gloucester an automatic win and two crucial points as the Fishermen look to make a return to the postseason in Division 2 North. The five Spartans in question will serve two-game suspensions after that.
St. Mary’s does have the option to appeal the postseason ban, something Head of School Dr. Raymond A. Bastarache says the school will re-visit at the end of the year if the season is completed without another incident, according to the release.
