Revere boys hockey handles Peabody

PEABODY – The Peabody hockey team entered Saturday’s game with Revere coming off the recent high from having knocked first-place Gloucester from the unbeaten ranks the week before, and the Tanners also came into the contest with three of the top scorers in the Northeastern Conference (Elijah Cohen with 29 points, James Noftle, 28; and Matt Rodgers, 23).Only Noftle (goal) and Cohen (assist) notched points, as the Tanners were belted around by the Patriots, 7-1, at McVann-O’Keefe Arena.Three reasons were evident for the setback. The first was that Pats goalie Nick Dimare literally stonewalled Peabody, stopping 44 pucks fired at him, including 16 in the final period.Another was that the Patriots were concentrating on stopping the trio.”We came in here with the idea that if we nullified them, we had a chance to beat Peabody,” said Revere coach Jim Palumbo.And the final one was that Revere (5-5-2) beat the Tanners to the puck throughout the evening, resulting in a pair of unassisted scores. Peabody also allowed three power-play goals and a shorthanded one.The Patriots didn’t waste any time in taking a 1-0 lead. Peabody (9-4) had attacked the Revere net right from the opening faceoff, but was caught when Revere made the transition. Forward Jay Sasso took an outlet pass from winger Rick McLaughlin, and beat goalie Jonathan Camara to the short side 62 seconds in.The Tanners had several good opportunities to tie the game, but ran into a wall in Dimare. Forward Zach Brown had a shot ricochet off a post less than a minute after Sasso’s score, and the goalie foiled a pass from Andrew Bucci to teammate A.J. Parker, positioned at Dimare’s right.The line of Cohen, Noftle, and Rodgers was continuously held at bay as well. Cohen had a great chance to even the game midway through the period, when he skated along the far boards, beat a defenseman, and fired a 15-footer. Yet Dimare made the kick stop. Moments later, Noftle was stopped on a breakaway, and the Tanners were kept off the board.”He’s one of the best goalies in the league,” said Palumbo. “He was the reason why we had tied Gloucester (on opening night), and why we have some of our wins.”Peabody coach Mark Leonard was no less impressed by he play of Dimare.”He was phenomenal, but their whole team outplayed us in every way,” Leonard said. “We had our chances to tie the game, but he just frustrated us throughout.”Both teams showed their strong intensity when the middle stanza began. They continued to attack the opposing end with force, but both Camara and Dimare came up with several big stops.Yet the Patriots increased their advantage midway through the period. Defenseman Nick Adrean fired a slap from the point, yet Camara came up with the stop. The puck bounced right to McLaughlin, positioned to the left of the goalie, and he stuffed it past him to increase the lead to 2-0.Dimare made an incredible save off a backhand by Cohen minutes later. Cohen, standing 12 feet to the goalie’s left, fired his backhand towards the open right-hand corner of the net. Dimare extended his right pad out as far as he could, making the stop.Sasso was whistled off at 11:29, giving the Tanners a much-needed power-play advantage. Yet it would be the Patriots who took advantage, with winger Paul Pelletier picking up a loose puck five feet away from Camara, and beating the goalie to the short side.”They beat us to the loose pucks all night long,” Leonard said. “We outshot them (45-30), but it was their special teams (power-play, shorthanded) that really did it to us. When they have the lead, they’re dangerous, and that’s how they were (Saturday).”The Tanners answered quickly when the puck was dropped for the final period. Noftle, standing in front of the Revere net, took a pass from Cohen (from in back of the net), and flicked it past Dimare just 12 seconds after the faceoff to bring Peabody to within 3-1.Revere improved its lead when McLaughlin again stole a pass at the side of the Tanners net, and walked in to b