By: Mark Allred | Follow me on Twitter @BlackAndGold277 @AmesburyMaples
On December 31st, 1934, the Amesbury Maples played the Maynard Hockey Club at the Lemoine Memorial Rink on Friend Street in downtown Amesbury, Massachusetts. It was a cold and windy Monday night, but that didn’t stop the hundreds of fans in attendance at the facility located at the rear of the St. Jeans Club.
Amesbury started the opening period up on the scoreboard 2-0 courtesy of an unassisted goal from John Lucy and Gerard Roy, who scored a goal assisted by Alphonse Picard. The visiting Maynard team turned up their offensive pressure, scoring three straight goals to end the period leading 3-2.
In the second period, Maples forward Albie Roy tied the game at three apiece, assisted by Alphonse Picard. The Maples would take a 4-3 lead when Gerard Roy scored his second goal of the game, assisted by Albie Roy. Alphonse Picard and Albie Roy both played intense games physically and were leaders offensively, both posting multi-point games vs. Maynard.
In the third period, Maples forward Harold “Chewie” Williams would extend the Amesbury lead to 5-3 with a goal assisted by Archie Cloutier, who was playing well and helping the Maples hold down the lead. Cloutier would figure in the final Maple goal when he set up forward Aurel Picard, giving Amesbury a 6-3 lead in the final frame. Maynard would get one more goal in the final minutes of the third period, but it wasn’t enough in this contest, as the home Maples defeated the visiting Maynard team by the score of 6-4.
This was a significant victory for the Amesbury Maples, who were previously on a three-game losing streak, dropping games to the North Cambridge Hockey Club, the Lafayettes out of Haverhill, Mass., and St. Dominic’s from Lewiston, Maine. The Maples would end the 1934-34 winter hockey season with a 13-6-3 record and back in the NEAAU postseason tournament for another year held at the original Boston Garden.