SALEM – The emotions were quite evident on the face of Peabody coach Mark Leonard on Wednesday night at Rockett Arena after the Tanners’ 4-1 defeat to Wilmington in the Division 2 North semifinals.The Tanners had done everything but throw the kitchen sink at Wildcat goaltender Mike Cabral over the final two periods. But the all-Cape Ann League netminder, as well as a big, strong defense, put the clamps on Peabody’s high-powered attack.”We gave it a heck of a try,” Leonard said. “I had a good feeling after the second period because we were starting to play and I thought that we could tie it up. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.”Peabody’s (17-6-0) frustrations were nothing new for Wildcat opponents, who have now experienced those thoughts on 16 of 23 occasions this season. But Wilmington coach Steve Scanlon was just happy to get out of Salem with the win.”Peabody does a lot of things to disrupt you,” Scanlon said. “But Mikey made a lot of big stops and that’s what he’s done for us for three years.”The standing-room only crowd, which filled up the lower seating and most of the balcony inside Rockett, was treated to offensive fireworks from the outset.The two teams combined for 24 shots on goal in the first period (13-11, Wilmington), but it was the Wildcats who did the damage against a slow-starting Tanner squad.A.J. Parker was called for boarding at 3:16, putting the Wildcats on the power play. And the ever-dangerous Ernie Mello took advantage with two seconds left on the penalty when he hacked a Mike Enwright rebound past Jon Camara for a 1-0 lead.”I thought that (Camara) had the puck tied up and he whacked at it three times. But there’s not a lot you can do in that case,” Leonard said.Just under three minutes later, Wilmington struck again. This time, the goal came from a very unlikely source.Defenseman Andrew Goosens lofted the puck out to center ice, where Jared Ravagni outraced the Peabody defense to the blue line to corral the pass. The sophomore broke in alone and piggybacked the puck between Camara’s pads for only his second goal of the season and a 2-0 lead after one.”Those two goals certainly were big,” Scanlon said. “It’s huge anytime in the tournament to go out and take the lead.”Desperately in need of something positive, the Tanners got it almost immediately in the second when Elijah Cohen finally penetrated the heart of the Wildcat defense and fed James Noftle on the doorstep. But Cabral quickly flashed the left pad to make the save.But the tone had been set for the period, which belonged to Peabody.The Tanners’ non-stop pressure finally paid off just one second short of the 7:00 mark when Noftle did a spectacular job of cycling the puck behind the Wilmington net. He dished to Matt Rodgers in the high slot for a bomb over Cabral’s shoulder that cut the lead to 2-1.Eight second later, however, Zack Brown was sent off for hooking to take away some of the momentum. Cabral took even more away at the end of the Wilmington power play when he stopped Brown on a breakaway out of the penalty box.”We were flying in that second period,” Leonard said. “We just couldn’t get it in the net.”Peabody continued to punish Cabral in the third, putting seven shots on goal in the first six minutes, but again having nothing to show for it.Enter Wilmington’s hero from the quarterfinals – Eric Siegel.The senior delivered a crushing blow to Peabody’s hopes when he picked off a Taylor Shalin pass behind the net and simply outwaited Camara before shoveling his shot under the crossbar to make it 3-1 with 8:37 to go.”Eric is just an animal,” Scanlon said. “He can play all night long.”Siegel would also come back to haunt Peabody later in the period when the Tanners had a 5-on-3 advantage as the Wildcat forward was 4-for-4 on faceoffs during the penalty kill.Despite putting 14 shots on net in the third, the Tanners simply began to run out of time, even with Brian Svensson off for interference at 13:56 and Camara pulled for an extra attacker.Fit