Hockey Roundup: Marblehead boys earn postseason trip with win over Salem

Three weeks ago, you might have gotten good money on a bet that the Marblehead boys hockey team wouldn’t qualify for the Division 3 state tournament. And with the Headers sporting a 4-8 record, that might not have been far off.Well, on Wednesday, Marblehead made good on booking that ticket for the postseason.Eric Fader, Mike Cohn and Chris McLeod each had a goal as the Headers beat Salem, 3-1, at Rockett Arena to pick up their sixth win in seven games.”These kids have stuck together and they accomplished their goal,” Header coach Bob Jackson said.Fader gave Marblehead a 1-0 lead with his 10th goal of the season, assisted by Chris Donahue and Anders Gundersen. Cohn increased the lead to 2-0 early in the second, assisted by Andrew Bates.The Witches (4-17) cut the lead in half midway through the second before McLeod, a freshman, scored his first varsity goal, assisted by Alex Whitmore and Justin Levine, with 3:00 left to put the game away.G’ster 7, Peabody 2At McVann-O’Keefe Rink in Peabody, the Fishermen (11-4-2, 10-2-2 NEC) clinched the NEC North championship, scoring five second-period goals to dispatch the Tanners (13-5-0, 9-5-0 NEC) and avenge a 7-1 loss to Peabody two weeks ago.The line of Marc Buotte, Conor Ressel and Dylan Morrissey was the thorn in Peabody’s side. Morrissey had two goals and an assist; Ressel added a goal and three assists; and Buotte had a goal and an assist.Jeremy Fanning and Andrew Fulford had a goal and an assist for the Fishermen. Peabody got goals from Chris Lavoie and Zack Brown.Minuteman 7, Tech 1At Assabet Valley, Jim Hannaford scored for Tech as the Tigers dropped to 6-11 with one game remaining.”He (Hannaford) played excellent on defense,” coach Tim Serino said. “It was the best I’ve seen him play.”Serino was also happy with the play of backup goalie Jared Greel.The Tigers did pick up a couple of nice honors this week. Brian Provost was named to the Commonwealth Conference All-Star team and goalie James Wall received the Sportsmanship Award.Winthrop 3, Revere 3At Winthrop, the Vikings led 3-2 with two and a half minutes remaining, but the Patriots came up with the equalizer. Winthrop (4-9-4) defeated Revere (8-6-3) earlier in the season. The Patriots need one point to qualify for the state tournament. Bob Martino, Joe Casey and Nick Clewer scored for the Vikings.”Our third line played great,” Winthrop coach Dale Dunbar said. “They scored two of the three goals.”Trinity Cath. 3, Fenwick 2At Watertown, the Crusaders (10-6-1, 5-2 Catholic Central League) needed a win to keep their hopes of a CCL title alive but let a 2-0 third-period lead slip away.Dale Crispin scored in the second period and Mark Sparaco scored early in the third, both goals assisted by Pat Doliber, to give Fenwick a 2-0 lead. But the Falcons responded with two goals in 15 seconds to tie the game and won it with an empty-net goal with seven seconds left after Fenwick had pulled Craig Forrest in an effort to win the game.Danvers 5, Beverly 1At Rockett Arena in Salem, Troy Thibodeau recorded a hat trick for the Falcons (10-5-2) and Steve Kontos added three assists against the 7-9-2 Panthers.Thibodeau now has 18 goals and 30 points for the season while Kontos leads the NEC in assists with 23 and is third in points with 35. Steve DeRoche and Jay Sabino also had assists for Danvers.Alex Baker scored for Beverly, which must win its final two games to make the tournament.GIRLS HOCKEYAlgonquin 5, English 4At Algonquin, English’s Ashley Fiandaca scored with 43 seconds remaining to tie the game, 4-4, but Algonquin answered with the game-winner with 19 seconds on the clock.English (4-10) outshot Algonquin, 39-20, but goalie Carly Murphy stood on her head to keep her team going.”She was their backbone,” English coach Ric Aylwin said.Fiandaca finished with two goals with the others coming from Ashley Petrillo and Madison Molea.Milton 3, M’head 1At Milton, the Magicians lost a back-and forth game. In the first period, Ashley White tied the sc