Scuzzarella’s four points pace Saugus over Lynn

SAUGUS – The Saugus hockey team went to Gloucester on Wednesday sporting an unbeaten record. By the time it left Talbot Rink, it had lost 5-1 and gotten a bit of a wakeup call.The response to the loss? A couple of hard days of practice by coach Chris Connors.Evidently the Sachems got the message. For two periods, Saugus and Lynn played dead-even hockey, but thanks to two third-period goals by Mike Scuzzarella, who finished with a hat trick and four points, the Sachems pulled away to a 5-1 win on Saturday night at Kasabuski Arena.”I can’t say enough about the play of Mike,” Connors said. “He took matters into his own hands in the third period. We’ve challenged him and he stepped up.”For the Jets (2-2, 1-1 Northeastern Conference South), it was a frustrating final 15 minutes after playing two periods of solid hockey against the South leaders.”It was a great hockey game and we played two great periods and then we lost our composure in the third,” Jets coach Al Melanson said. “We let a bad call affect our game and then we stopped skating.”The game was tied at 1-1 after two periods when the Sachems captain caught a bounce early in the third.Ryan McManus fed Scuzzarella just inside the blue line for a shot that glanced off Tyler Slepoy’s shoulder and dropped into the net just 63 seconds into the period.Bolstered by Scuzzarella’s second goal of the game, Saugus (3-1-0, 2-0-0 NEC South) picked up the intensity and began to outwork the Jets in the offensive zone. Just 101 seconds after Scuzzarella gave Saugus the lead, defenseman Craig Cooper swooped into the left wing corner and beat Slepoy with a pretty backhander after coming from behind the net to make it 3-1.”We won every 1-on-1 battle all over the ice,” Connors said. “And we took the body and played with a chip on our shoulder.”Cooper’s goal was followed 14 seconds later by a hitting-from-behind penalty on Sean Crowley, which put the Sachems on the power play for the sixth time in the game.After going 0-for-5, including a 28-second 2-man advantage in the second period, in previous chances, Saugus finally clicked on the power play as Scuzzarella completed his hat trick with a supreme individual effort. He won a face-off to the left of Slepoy and fired a shot inside the right post to make it 4-1.Joe Vecchione’s power play goal with 6:44 remaining put a cap on the Sachems’ explosive third period.”We knew coming in that we were facing a hot goaltender and we had a rigorous day of practice to get ready,” Connors said. “I was extremely proud at the character my group showed, especially bouncing back from a tough loss in Gloucester.”Saugus got things started on the game’s first shift when Scuzzarella scored off a Derek Stretton rebound 43 seconds into the contest.The Jets steadied themselves after the opening Saugus salvo and got back even on the power play at 10:21 when Dan Casale was in the right place to slam home a deflected Steven Leighton shot.Lynn came close to taking the lead on the first shift of the second period when Paul Essery robbed Liam Bransfield at the top of the crease to keep it 1-1.