 |
|
Photo by Bob Roche
Peabody goalie Derek Savage brushed aside this penalty shot at the end of the first period to keep the Tanners ahead of Winthrop in the North semifinals. |
By Bob Albright
CHELMSFORD - Uncharted territory.
From here on the Peabody hockey team may want to pull out the trusty GPS because they are now skating where no Tanner team has ventured before. Thanks to a rousing 3-2 win over a very formidable Winthrop squad in Monday night’s Division 2 North semifinals that is indeed the scenario facing coach Mark Leonard’s crew who now find themselves just one win away from the state championship game on the hallowed ice at the Garden.
“It’s pretty special,” said Leonard Monday with a smile that even the zamboni buzzing around the Chelmsford Forum ice in the background could not clean off his face. “These guys just did something that no team from Peabody has ever done. They worked so hard and I’m so proud of them.
“People have doubted us all year long,” Leonard continued. “(They say) we’re not tough enough, we’re not big enough, but here we are in the North final. There’s just a lot of heart in that locker room.”
The No. 3 seeded Tanners, who were out-shot by the No. 2 seeds, 22-19, will now square off with defending state champ Newburyport Friday night in the familiar confines of Rockett Arena at Salem State (7 p.m.). In the night cap in Chelmsford, the Clippers pulled off the mild upset by handing top seeded Wilmington its first loss of the year, 3-1.
“We have a nice opportunity in what is almost our home rink in Salem which is nice,” said Leonard as he watched the Clippers and Wildcats take the ice. “No matter who it is we are going to be proud to be in that game and we are going to battle. We have a chance to skate in the Garden and we’re going to be focused on that.”
After spotting Masconomet a 2-1 lead in the quarterfinals before storming back with three third period tallies in a 4-3 win, Peabody led throughout against a feisty Winthrop squad which they had beaten and tied in the regular season. As was the case in their scoreless tie in the final meeting, the difference once again for the Tanners could be found between the pipes where goalie Derek Savage put on a virtuoso performance.
Starting off with a stop on Winthrop’s Chris LeBlanc’s penalty shot to preserve a 1-0 Peabody advantage at the end of the first period, the junior was in top form throughout with the lone exception of a knuckler that popped over his glove for the first Winthrop goal that tied the game at 1-1 in the second.
“It just hit the wrong part of the glove,” Savage said of the one blemish on a stellar evening that saw him turn back 17 shots -- a good dozen of which were red light material.
Suffice it to say, almost everything else hit the right part of the leather as Savage left the Vikings shaking their heads time and time again. With the Winthrop turning up the heat in the final stanza, Savage lifted his game as well.
“They wanted to tie it and I didn’t want to let them do that. We want to go to the Garden,” said Savage of a flurry of third period saves certainly worthy of a trip to Causeway Street, punctuated by a brilliant glove save on Winthrop’s Joe Scarfo with 6:03 to go. He saw it all the way, right?
“Luck,” said Savage with a smirk. “The glove was just there and I made the stop.”
Needless to say, Savage’s glove work was nothing new to his teammates.
“He’ been like that all season,” said Andrew Bucci who netted what proved to be the game-winning goal in the third off a pretty backhanded feed from Derrik Pereira. “He makes the big saves and then we come down and score. I think he’s one of the best goalies around and he showed why today.”
“He’s been doing an unbelievable job for us the last few games and has really been carrying us,” Pereira added. “That’s what you need in the tournament. You need a hot goalie and that’s what we have.”
You also need defensemen like Eric Muise, captain Mike Broughton, Ryan Noftle, Nico DiSalvo, and others who helped keep Savage’s line of vision clear all night long. Winthrop would finally solve the goalie on the power play with 2:28 to play to make it, 3-2, setting the scene for a frantic, albeit predictable, final two minutes.
“You knew it would be like that of course,” said Leonard with a chuckle. “We haven’t done anything easy all year.”
But when Bucci sacrificed his entire body to block the Vikes' final slapper of the night, the Tanners were on their way to their first ever North final.
“It feels unbelievable,” said Bucci. “Coming into the season me, D.P. (Pereira) and Matt (Rodgers) talked about trying to be the first team to take the team deep into the playoffs and win a championship.”
Bucci and Co. broke the ice early on in the contest as Rodgers (goal, assist) knocked home the second rebound off consecutive Bucci blasts by Winthrop standout netminder Patrick Feeley. Rodgers would record two points on the night leaving him just two shy of Jimmy Geraghty’s all-time Tanner scoring mark of 151 points.
Thanks to some Savage goaltending, it looked like it would stay 1-0 after one, but when a Peabody defender was whistled for handling the puck with 14 seconds to go all eyes turned to center ice where LeBlanc made his best run at Savage on a penalty shot only to see the netminder coolly block his bid to the side.
Winthrop would tie the game less than a minute into the second peariod, and just five seconds after the Tanners had killed off a penalty, to make it 1-1. The Tanners would wake up in the latter stages of the period, however, and got the prettiest goal of the game when speedy sophomore Eric Costa sped in on the left side and beat Feeley to the far post with a perfectly placed wrister with linemates Rob Houghton and Mike Chiappini picking up assists on the play.
Just a minute and half into the third stanza, the “Three Amigos” gave the Tanners all the insurance they would need with the way Savage was playing. The goal was a product of a terrific effort that saw Rodgers battle to keep the puck in the zone and get it up to Pereira, who deftly found Bucci alone in front for his first score of the tourney.
“I’m happy for him, he’s really been pressing a lot and it has really affected his game,” said Leonard of his leading scorer. “He’s the leading scorer on the North Shore and he had a huge goal tonight for us.”
Bucci and the Tanners know that things will not get any easier tomorrow night against a Clipper squad that comes in on a huge roll after toppling the No. 1 seeds.
“Newburyport has experience and won the state championship last year, so they know what they can do,” said Bucci. “We’re the underdogs, but I feel like if we come out to play we can beat anyone.”
Great escape against Masco
Much of that confidence has to come from one of the most eventful weeks in Tanner hockey history as Tanners dispatched with Danvers (3-1) in their opener and then stunned Masco – again – with three unanswered goals in the first 5:47 of the third period to take a 4-3 win in the quarterfinals.
Starting off the final stanza on the power play against Masco – and with their ears still ringing from a paint-peeling intermission speech from Leonard – Ryan Noftle got the Tanners to within two on a great individual effort just 32 seconds into the period. The score clearly energized the Tanners, while also quickly reminding the Chieftains of their nightmare regular season contest with the Tanners that saw Peabody erupt for four goals in the final 80 seconds to take a 5-3 win.
Just 48 seconds later, senior Peter Sucharewicz helped make that nightmare a reality when he banged home his own rebound to tie the game.
With the Chieftains reeling, Rodgers finished off the comeback when he poked home the game winner off the rebound of a Broughton blast to make it 4-3.
Redemption for Rodgers against Danvers
Yes, Rodgers will have the 23-stitch scar on his chin for life, but it’s safe to say that the memory of his two third period tallies to oust the team that gave him that blemish will last just as long. The senior forward’s two goals, the second of which came on an open net, propelled the Tanners to a 3-1 win last Tuesday over their fierce NEC rivals om Peabody’s tournament opener.
In the two team’s second regular season meeting, a tie, Rodgers was leveled by a cheap shot after scoring a goal, sustaining the gash and a chipped tooth. The gritty winger returned just six minutes later and ultimately scored the game tying goal.
Savage celebrated his birthday in net with 18 saves and Houghton got the Tanners out front first in the second period with his first tournament tally.
For the season the Tanners went unbeaten against Danvers (2-0-1), Masconomet (2-0) and Winthrop (2-0-1) – three teams which easily could have been – penciled into tomorrow night’s north final by many a high school hockey bracketologist.
“It gives us a lot of confidence,” said Pereira who scored the opening salvo against Masco. “Those are three great teams and we beat all of those teams in the regular season too, so it is definitely good preparation for the next team we are going to see.
“We’re just playing great hockey right now,” Pereira continued. “We’re just trying to ride it and see how far it can take us.”
Chasing History
Heading into the North final, Peabody’s Matt Rodgers is within two points of the school’s all-time scoring record, while linemate Andrew Bucci is in third place.
Jim Geraghty 1980 151
Matt Rodgers 2010 149
Andrew Bucci 2010 128
Elijah Cohen 2009 127
Ed Sousa 1975 126
Dennis Magarian 2000 124
