Dempsey’s two goals lead Marblehead over Swampscott

SALEM – The last time the Marblehead and Swampscott hockey teams took the ice at Salem State College’s Rockett Arena, the Headers scored an overtime goal to knock the Northeastern Conference South champion Big Blue out of the Division 3 North tournament.On Saturday, the archrivals met again on the same ice surface. And while it was only a regular-season game, the emotion of a postseason contest was there.Led by two goals from Ryan Dempsey and 14 saves by senior Aaron Reny, the Headers knocked off their previously unbeaten rivals, 2-0, in front of a packed house.”(Swampscott) has a really good team,” Marblehead coach Bob Jackson said. “We made some changes to the lines after the Revere game and this was the first true test of that. And they played really well.”Playing its fourth game of the week, the Big Blue (6-1-0, 3-1-0 NEC South) ran into a bit of penalty trouble and a rock-solid goaltender in Reny.”We knew that it would be a battle going in, and for the most part, they outplayed us and outworked us,” Swampscott coach Gino Faia said. “They won the 1-on-1 battles and got a couple of their usual rebound goals.”After both teams renewed acquaintances with several hard hits in the opening minutes, the Big Blue’s penalty problem began to surface when Anthony DiPietro was called for tripping at 4:45. But that chance went by the boards.Swampscott got a power-play chance of its own midway through the first when Anders Gundersen was called for interference at 8:30. The Big Blue then looked to have a 1-0 lead coming when A.J. Zarinsky found himself with the puck and a wide-open net to shoot at.But Reny somehow dove across the crease and got a glove on Zarinsky’s bid from the top of the crease.”That was an amazing save,” Jackson said. “I don’t know how he got that. I thought it was going to be a goal.”Reny’s save proved pivotal. Marblehead killed the penalty and then took the lead seconds later when Mike Cohn’s shot deflected off a skate and right onto the tape of Dempsey for a tap-in and a 1-0 lead with 4:38 left in the period.For most of the second period, both defenses kept quality chances to a minimum. Swampscott had a chance to tie the game early in the period, but Reny made a slick pad save on Tom Ball’s chance. Then, late in the second, the Big Blue finally got its wakeup call, pelting the Marblehead netminder with five shots over the final 60 seconds of the period.But any momentum Swampscott might have had entering the third disappeared thanks to two penalties in the first three minutes of play.”Those really hurt,” Faia said. “We couldn’t keep the momentum that we had at the end of the second going.”The Big Blue kept plugging away and began to put pressure on Marblehead, but with just over five minutes left, Swampscott turned the puck over.Chris McLeod picked up the puck following the turnover and created a 2-on-1 with Dempsey. McLeod’s initial blast was kicked away by Tyler Gallagher, but Dempsey fired home the rebound with 5:12 to go.