Let's simply call this what it was: the single greatest upset in North Shore sports history.
In any sport, at any time in area high school history.
Period.
How the 2001-02 Salem High School hockey team's miraculous — yes, you can call it our very own version of the "Miracle On Ice" and it wouldn't be hyperbolic — overtime victory over a superior-in-almost-every-way Wilmington team in its first-ever state tournament appearance is, to me, mind-boggling.
Look at the facts.
Salem had never, ever in its first 56 years as a hockey program qualified for the state hockey tournament. For most of those years they were cellar dwellers; fodder for their opponents.
Then came Year No. 57. An energetic second-year coach, 25-year-old Kristian Hanson, had a young, talented group of Witches believing they could get into the playoffs, and made them realize that what happened in the previous six decades didn't concern them at all.
History was made on Feb. 4, 2002, when Salem came from behind to beat Northeast Regional, 3-2, on a Ross Childs goal with 2:58 remaining. The Witches finished the regular season with an 11-8-1 record, and were seeded No. 12 out of 15 teams in the Division 2 North playoffs.
There, they'd face an established, powerful Wilmington team that was seeded fifth overall, had produced 16 wins, played a much stronger schedule than Salem, and, everyone believed, would blow the way-in-over-their-heads Witches out of the water with relative ease.
The Wildcats certainly had their chances. They came out at Watertown's Ryan Rink buzzing, pelting 26 shots on the Salem goal in the first period alone. But goalie Dan Lassiter was a rock in goal for the Witches, stopping all of them to keep the game scoreless after one period.
Lassiter continued to stand on his head as Wilmington fired puck after puck at him, most to no avail. The Wildcats hit five posts, but could only get two shots by him: one in the second and one in the third. Both times, those goals tied the score after Derek Hollis and Ross Childs had given Salem leads of 1-0 and 2-1, respectively.
By the time overtime had rolled around, the Witches clearly had all the momentum and Wilmington could only wonder how they'd put away this pesky team once and for all.
The answer: they wouldn't.
Just 40 seconds in to OT, Justin Wilkins fed Childs with a pass up ice, and he bombed a slapshot from 45 feet out past Wildcats keeper Paul Sperrazza for his 25th goal of the season — and one that will live in North Shore sports history for all time.
"We're Belarus! We're Belarus!" the Salem High players screamed after the game, alluding to the tiny country that had toppled mighty hockey power Sweden in the Winter Olympics just a few short weeks earlier.
Lassiter finished with 53 saves as his team was outshot by an almost 5-to-1 margin (55 to 12). But the only numbers that mattered — 3 for Salem, 2 for Wilmington — hung on the scoreboard at game's end for all to see.
