They got by with a little help from their friends.
The Shawsheen Tech boys hockey team ended up finishing the 2022-2023 as co-champions of the Commonwealth Athletic Conference after Essex Tech skated to a 1-1 tie against Lowell Catholic on Sunday.
The tie left Essex and the Rams tied for the league crown after the teams split their season series.
Prior to learning of the league championship, the Rams had excellent non-league games against Haverhill and Marblehead.
Last Saturday, the Rams earned a 3-2 win on the road against Haverhill, two days after an exciting 3-2 overtime loss at home against Marblehead.
Against Haverhill, junior Roland Spengler of Tewksbury had the game-winning goal in the third period.
Senior Kevin Ackerley and junior Keenan Considine of Wilmington had the other Ram goals while assists went to junior Kyle Gray of Wilmington, junior Chase Darcey of Billerica, freshman Justin Thibert of Wilmington and junior Derek Nazzaro of Tewksbury.
The game with Marblehead was a thriller.
Tied 1-1 after two periods, the visitors took a 2-1 lead with 8:34 left when junior Cam Waldman scored..
Two minutes later, the Rams drew even as senior Nick Calouro converted a chance out front. Considine started the scoring chance with a nice rush into the Marblehead zone.
Marblehead scored the game-winning goal just 53 seconds into the five-minute overtime session to hand Shawsheen just its third loss of the season. Senior Drake Wyman scored for the visitors with sophomore Crew Monaco earning the assist.
After a scoreless first period, Marblehead took a 1-0 lead at 5:41 of the second when sophomore James Caeran scored a goal assisted by junior Hogan Sedky.
Junior Liam Milne of Wilmington answered one minute later for Shawsheen, tying the score.
Milne also had an assist on the goal by Calouro.
Shawsheen (14-3-1 overall) wraps up its season with a Tuesday afternoon home game against Fitchburg/Monty Tech at 12:30 p.m. and a Thursday home contest against Methuen starting at 4 p.m.
