Lady Bulldogs tie Marblehead

SALEM – Spending the majority of the final period playing a man down is not how you want your hockey team to play. Yet you almost don’t seem to mind when you have a strong goalie between the pipes.The Lady Bulldogs girls hockey squad was whistled for six penalties (and nine overall) in the final period, yet killed off each and every one of them to deadlock Marblehead, 1-1, at Rockett Arena on Saturday. Goalie Katie Burt, who turned aside 39 shots, was a virtual acrobat in that final stanza, making a plethora of stops.”Katie is so poised back there, you almost forget that she’s only 12,” said Lady Bulldogs coach Anthony Martucci, who saw Burt make over 40 saves in the team’s scoreless tie last week with Beverly. “She’s been well-coached throughout the ranks, and she’s had to carry a lot of weight on her shoulders (due to the penalties against the Lady Bulldogs).”Right from the early moments of the final period, Burt was busy. She stonewalled forward Lexie Laing’s wrist shot from in front less than a minute into the stanza, then continued to thwart the Headers (1-2-1) at every opportunity. Marblehead had a two-man advantage minutes later, but Burt turned aside a 40-foot blast by forward Keelin Fallon. She then halted a chance by forward Rachel McKay (on a faceoff coming off the goalie’s left), then stopping forward Kelsey Maguire midway through the period. This was when Maguire picked up a rebound off the near boards, and Maguire, who was stationed to Burt’s right, tried to stuff the puck into that corner.Perhaps the best save came with just 1.7 seconds remaining in the contest. Defenseman Eliza Quigley picked up a loose puck just 10 feet away from the net, and fired. Like she had done with the other shots, Burt held her ground to keep the tie intact.”She sees the puck well,” said Marblehead coach Emily Hudak. “We put bodies in front of her to screen her, but that didn’t work. A large percentage of the game, the puck was in their end, and we were able to move the puck well out of the corners, but couldn’t get that second goal.”Both teams had good opportunities early in the game. Quigley’s slap from the blue line was kicked out by Burt, despite plenty of traffic in front of her. Caroline Hughes had a good chance to put the Lady Bulldogs on top less than a minute later, but her wrist shot was stopped by goalie Molly Depew, who also had to contend with the Lady Bulldogs’ Chelsey Bartlett, who was camped right in front.The Headers scored the game’s first goal midway through the period, when Maguire picked up a loose puck along the boards, skated in towards the net, and flicked a wrist shot past Burt for a 1-0 Marblehead edge.The Lady Bulldogs (2-0-2) evened the game midway through the second period. Winger Lindsey Barker collected a carom off the far boards, then fed teammate Taylor Brown, whose shot beat Depew for the game-tying score.Both goalies stopped every challenge the rest of the way, including Burt, halting both McKay and forward Ally Healy on back-to-back shots late in the stanza.