It’s the night before a big game at McVann-O’Keefe Skating Rink, and Peabody/Lynnfield/North Reading senior Alyse Mutti is in net for some drills at practice. The All-Scholastic goaltender isn’t allowing much past her.

Head coach Michelle Roach pulls the team together to go over some X’s and O’s. Players stand up and start skating to different blue lines — one group to work on the power play, the other to play mini-games. But before Mutti splits for the power play group, she briefly chats with the only other goalie at practice, who she’s normally competing against at this stage.

He’s got seven inches on her. He has 35 more years of experience.

Yet, whenever Alyse looks over at father Mike Mutti’s net, she playfully takes pride in it always having a few more pucks in it. When asked if they’re competitive with each other, they exchange the same loving and cheerful smiles.

“Oh yeah (we’re competitive),” Alyse said. “I’m sweeping him. This whole season, I’ve swept him.”

“Yeah, very competitive,” Mike added, still grinning. “I think she was 11 the last time I officially beat her, in a shootout.”

For the past three years, PLNR hasn’t had another goalie. The Tanners haven’t exactly needed one with how Alyse has dominated, earning All-Scholastic honors from different publications since she was a sophomore. This year, PLNR enters the weekend with the fewest goals allowed (14) in the state, and Alyse’s 0.93 goals against average is a main reason.

But having another goalie, for practice at the very least, makes a massive difference. Roach would stick a shooter tutor in the other net, and Alyse had no competition.

It was Alyse’s goalie coach’s idea for Mike, who’s been a goalie since about 22-years-old, to start going to practice with her. He had practiced with her and coached from the time she picked up hockey in the second grade through the U-14 level, so it was nothing new for them.

Roach was on board, and at the end of last year, he practiced on Sundays. But now that his schedule opened up a bit to practice regularly this year, Mike was set on doing just that for as long as he was wanted there.

“We kind of left it as, I was going to keep showing up until she told me to stop coming,” Mike said.

But that was never going to happen.

“It’s good to have the competition,” Alyse said. “When I was alone — there were no other goalies for the past two years. You kind of get stuck in a loop, it’s hard to push yourself. It’s good to have somebody there to push you and compete against.”

“I’m never going to say no,” Roach added. “We love having him here. … He comes and he helps, and he jokes with the kids, and they all know him, they all love him.”

Alyse looks to play at the next level, but Mike being there every day is a full-circle experience in her last year of high school.

She only ever wanted to be goalie when she started out, largely because Mike was. Mike didn’t pick up hockey until he was in an adult league, but took goaltender training more seriously once Alyse showed interest, in order to help her improve.

Mike will watch Alyse dominate on the ice and sometimes has “I taught her that,” moments, though admits she’s more advanced with her skill set.

But Alyse — who Roach says is the spitting image of personality, level-headed demeanor and work ethic of her father — learned plenty from Mike.

“He puts 100 percent into everything he does,” Alyse said. “You can see it on the ice, at home, and at his work. Just always 100 percent. I like to bring that to myself, to bring it to his standards. He’s a good role model. I want to be just like him.”

For Roach, she’s appreciative of this opportunity, knowing just how valuable it was for her to have her father as a coach when she was a player.

“I know that’s time I really loved and enjoyed,” she said. “To be able to have him here with her, especially in her senior season — and they have such a good dynamic. … (They’re) just a great family.”

As for the whole hockey experience the last four years have been for Alyse, it’s meant everything. And at 12-2-1 entering Saturday (ranking No. 11 in Div. 1), she and her teammates have TD Garden in their sights for an epic sendoff.

One-timers

The Duxbury (8-8-1) boys found their winning formula at the turn of the new year, rebounding from an 0-6 start. Linemates Mikey Yucius (senior) and Jack Funk (sophomore) have combined for 19 goals and 19 assists to help lead the 8-2-1 stretch since, and the Dragons — who ranked No. 8 in the latest MIAA Div. 2 power rankings — can get above .500 for the first time this year against Plymouth North on Saturday.

There’s only one division in boys hockey with two teams still unbeaten. If it stays that way entering the last week of the regular season, though, No. 1 Nauset (14-0-1) and No. 2 Medfield (16-0-1) get a crack at handing the other its first loss in what should be an epic Div. 3 showdown on Feb. 17.

We knew the Middlesex League Liberty’s boys title race would be tight, but its finish has all-time suspense. If Reading beats Arlington, all we need is Belmont to tie both Arlington and Woburn, or to lose one or both, to crown an outright champion (Reading). If Arlington ties or beats Reading, though, there are over a dozen combinations from the other three remaining league games that leads to an outright or co-championship for any of the four.

St. John’s Prep has rebounded from a 2-3 start with nine wins over its last 10 games to win the Catholic Conference, rank No. 2 in the MIAA’s Div. 1 power rankings, and thrive at the right time in search of a third Div. 1 state title in four years.