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SALEM | It's impossible to turn the impressive depth of a hockey team into a weakness, but Tewksbury wasted little time in neutralizing Masconomet's biggest strength yesterday afternoon at Salem State College's Rockett Arena.

WOBURN | After two scoreless periods in last night's Division 2 North first round contest against Lincoln-Sudbury, Masconomet hockey coach Bill Blackwell implored his team to keep its composure. The cool and collected team would win the day, he reasoned.

There was a time this season when Masconomet, the defending Cape Ann League champions, were struggling to score goals and, at 4-4, were looking like the playoffs were more fiction than fact.

Then captain A.J. Rothwell and his two assistants, Andrew Roach and Tommy Brazil, approached head coach Bill Blackwell | and that one meeting has seemingly changed everything for the Chieftains.

Junior winger Tom Brazil scored twice as Masconomet earned its 12th win of the season, knocking off North Andover, 3-1, at Merrimack College.

Ryan Dooley also scored, Andrew Roach had a pair of assists and Mike DiGiorgio stopped 13 shots for the Chieftains (12-7 overall), who finished 10-6 in Cape Ann League play.

Masconomet held two of the state's top scorers, Ryan Smith (55 points) and John Connolly (40 points) off the scoreboard, but were hurt by a pair of unassisted goals over the first two periods in falling to Lynnfield, 2-1.

Andrew Panella had a goal and an assist for Masco, but it wasn't enough in Haverhill. Senior center A.J. Rothwell also played well for the Chieftains (10-6), while Brendan Dahlgren notched his first varsity goal.

First half analysis: Considering the Chieftains lost their two leading scorers and No. 1 goalie from a year ago to transfers or junior hockey, they've done a fine job. Buying into a team-wide concept of scoring and overall defense has worked well. The win-one, lose-one habit looks to be over, with five victories in their last seven outings.

In what has been an up-and-down, rollercoaster season for the Masconomet Regional hockey team, this ranks as one of the highlights of the winter thus far.

In a physical contest, the Chieftains tied the game late in the second period, then netted the game-winner with five-and-a-half minutes to play to sweep their two-game season series from Newburyport with a 4-3 victory over the Clippers at the Graf Rink in Newburyport.

The Chieftains have been having trouble scoring early in the season but the floodgates opened in this one they hammered Amesbury, 10-1.

Ryan Dooley, Andrew DiVenuti and Tom Brazil each had a pair of goals and Anthony DiBenedetto collected three assists for the winners.

If anyone knows how to remove the invisible shield that seems to cover opposing nets every time the Masconomet Regional hockey team plays a game, please contact head coach Bill Blackwell immediately.

Once again stymied by an inability to produce consistent offense | not to mention getting burned by an extremely talented Lynnfield offensive assault | the Chieftains suffered a 6-2 setback Saturday afternoon at the McVann-O'Keefe Rink.