Marblehead boys hockey earns first win of season vs. Saugus

SALEM – The Marblehead hockey team came into its game on Wednesday against Saugus sporting an 0-4 record and having scored only two goals in 12 periods of play this season.For the Headers, who had already lost to the Sachems this season, this game on the day after Christmas was one they needed to win.Well, Santa left a little something for the Headers at Rockett Arena as Mike Cohn’s goal with 9:24 left in the game gave Marblehead a 3-2 win and that much-needed first win of the season.”For the kids to come back after they tied the game was a big momentum boost,” Marblehead coach Bob Jackson said. “We did the job of taking away gaps for them and making them shoot from the outside.”It was a much different story for the Sachems, who suffered their first Northeastern Conference/South loss.”Hats off to Marblehead. They played a good game,” Saugus coach Chris Connors said. “They won the one-on-one battles and physically manhandled us. We had a lot of guys who took (Wednesday) off and were on their own agenda.”Defense was the name of the game in the first period, as neither team would manage a shot on goal for five minutes (Saugus would go 6:32 before putting a puck on Aaron Reny), but when the Headers got a power play at 5:02 of the first, they struck.Chris Donahue took a pass at the top of the right circle and fired a shot that deflected off a Saugus skate and past Paul Essery for a 1-0 lead on the first shot of the game by either team.Saugus would come close to getting the game tied midway through the first, but Mike Scuzzarella’s deflection of a Ryan McManus pass clanged off the right pipe, preserving Marblehead’s 1-0 lead into the first intermission.The defensive domination continued in the second period, where the two teams combined for a total of eight shots on goal.Saugus (3-2-0, 2-1-0 NEC) used a little grit and determination to get the game tied early in the second as freshman Ralph Pagliucca picked up his first varsity goal off a Matt Fraser assist at 4:25.Showing character beyond their 0-4 record, the Headers took the counterpunch and delivered one of their own with 5:36 left in the second just after a Saugus power play.Eric Fader got behind the defense on a line change and had a breakaway against Essery. He went to the backhand and was able to beat the Sachem netminder to give Marblehead the lead once again through two.Fader, however, would be a party to the game-tying goal early in the third as his roughing penalty gave Saugus a power play less than a minute into the period.Steve Strangie needed only 10 seconds to take a Craig Cooper pass and beat Reny with a shot under the crossbar to tie the game at 2-2 just 64 seconds into the third.Strangie’s goal gave an indication that the Sachems might be ready to break the game open, but Marblehead was going to have none of that notion and caught a break just 4:32 later.Cohn was at the right point when a loose puck came to him at the blue line. He wound up and drilled a shot that a screened Essery never saw until the puck was behind him and Marblehead had taken the lead back.Saugus carried the play in general for the final nine minutes and nearly stole a point in the final minute with Essery off for an extra attacker. Defenseman Derek Stretton had a wide-open net and Reny down in the final 20 seconds, but the Header goalie was somehow able to throw up his right pad and make a spectacular kick save to preserve the win.”Aaron made a couple of tremendous saves at the end. He played really well,” Jackson said.