PEABODY – The Peabody hockey team returned to the ice at McVann-O’Keefe for the first time in 11 days on Wednesday. And much like the weather outside, the Tanners offense was as cold as ice.Unbeaten Winthrop held Peabody to just 16 shots on net and used a pair of second period goals to upset the Tanners, 3-1, and take a firm step towards controlling the Northeastern Conference’s North division.”We were rusty for sure,” Peabody coach Mark Leonard said. “But give a lot of credit to Winthrop. They came out possessed and played good hockey.”The Tanners (3-1-0, 2-1-0 NEC North) did have plenty of chances to somehow steal a point out of their lackluster performance thanks to a boatload of scoring chances in the third period.But in a microcosm of their day, Peabody was inches off the mark.After failing to convert on an early power play chance in the third, the Tanners turned up the offensive pressure and began testing Winthrop goaltender Pat Feeley for the first time all game on a consistent basis.But nothing could find the mark, not even on a pair of glorious chances for the Tanners top two scorers – Elijah Cohen and Matt Rodgers.Cohen, who leads the NEC in scoring with 10 goals and 14 points, had the game-tying goal on his stick after Rodgers was robbed by a spectacular glove save from Feeley. But the senior slid the rebound tantalizingly wide of the left post.”We must have missed about four open nets,” Leonard said. “We just didn’t have any luck (Wednesday).”The Vikings (5-0-0, 4-0-0 NEC North) were in position to pull the upset because of playing two solid periods of hockey.In the first, Peabody’s 11-day layoff showed as the Tanners managesd only four shots and net and took the period’s only penalty. The bright spot in the first was the play of goaltender Derek Savage, who stopped all six shots he faced.”Derek just gets better with every game he plays,” Leonard said.The second period was a bit better for Peabody, who found their skating legs after failing to convert on a 2-man advantage late in the first. But it was the Vikings who finally broke the ice early in the second.Defenseman Rob Martino forced a turnover in the neutral zone to start a 2-on-1 with Chris LePore. Martino waited until the last second and fed a pass across to Lepore for a tap-in and a 1-0 lead.Just under two minutes later, the Tanners drew even thanks to a heads up play by A.J. Parker. Parker, who was playing his first game of the season after being granted a waiver by the MIAA to play as a fifth year senior, took an Eric Muise pass at the Winthrop line and took a crushing hit by two defenders.But Parker got a pass away to Derek Pereira at the last second and Pereira beat Feeley 5-hole to tie the game at 1-1.Winthrop shook off the sudden bolt by the Tanners and took the lead for good with 5:04 left in the second when Martino redirected freshman defenseman Mark Hamilton’s drive from the left point past Savage.”We never could get any momentum,” Leonard said.The third period turned into a goaltending clinic by Feeley. After robbing Rodgers once, he came up with another 10-bell save on the senior with 2:10 left on the clock, allowing the Vikings to hang on to the lead and eventually the win.