Hockey: Pandelena’s goal sends Eagles past BC High

Nick Pandelena is better known for his defense, but on Saturday at Ristuccia Arena in Wilmington, the sophomore defenseman fired home a power play goal with 1:29 left to give St. John’s a 3-2 win over BC High in Catholic Conference action.”I think that we got the bounces (Saturday),” Prep coach Kristian Hanson said. “Earlier in the year, this team doesn’t win this game.”It was the third straight win over a conference foe for the Prep, which has gone from 2-5-1 to 5-5-1 thanks to wins over Malden Catholic and Xaverian before Saturday’s big win.”This has been a crazy last (eight) days,” Hanson said. “Last weekend we were 2-5-1 and on the ropes and now we’re 5-5-1 with wins over MC, Xaverian and BC.”The Prep found itself down 1-0 after one thanks to Nick Finn’s power play goal for the Eagles with 49 seconds left. Greg Tremblay turned the fortunes for the hosting Eagles 10 seconds into the second, assisted by Pete Cahill and Colin Blackwell.Two minutes later, Sam Kurker finished off a Blackwell rebound to give the Prep the lead. It stayed a one-goal game until midway through the third when Matt Sullivan tied it for BC.But the Prep got a late power play and Pandelena converted by blasting home a shot from the left point off a great hustle play by Blackwell to keep the puck in the zone.”The fact that we’ve been able to put together back-to-back-to-back games, give these guys a lot of credit,” Hanson said.Beverly 3, Saugus 2At Kasabuski Arena in Saugus, the Panthers (7-5-1, 3-5-1 NEC North) moved to 5-0-1 in their last six games by picking up their first win at Kasabuski in a decade.”They really had us hemmed in at the end,” Beverly coach Bob Gilligan said. “But our goaltender, Tony Walsh, really stood tall and we needed this to keep the momentum we have going.”The game was tied at 1-1 after the first thanks to goals from Beverly’s Jack Liacos and Saugus’ (3-8-1, 2-6-1 NEC South) Steve Groark. Neither team scored in the second before Tyler Albano and Troy Cabral scored 1:12 apart early in the third for Beverly.Dan Groark’s power play goal, assisted by Kurt Rodrigues and Drew Oxley, midway through the third cut the lead to one.Marblehead 2, Revere 0At Cronin Rink in Revere, Ryan Dempsey’s two third period goals were enough to boost the Magicians (8-2-2, 5-2-2 Northeastern Conference) to the win.Anders Gundersen and Chris McLeod picked up the assists on the game-winner at 4:28 of the third with McLeod assisting on Dempsey’s empty-netter with 40 seconds remaining.Danvers 5, Swampscott 3At Rockett Arena in Salem, the Falcons (7-2-1, 5-1-1 NEC North) jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first five minutes and then had to hang on as the Big Blue (5-8-0, 2-5-0) nearly came all the way back.”We weren’t ready at the start,” Swampscott coach Gino Faia said. “But we played very well after that.”Kyle Larson had a hat trick and an assist for Danvers. Chris Kontos added a goal and an assist while Peter Marshall had two assists for the Falcons.Justin Massey scored all three Swampscott goals with Sean Lannon, Gino Cresta and Trevor Massey picking up assists.GIRLS HOCKEYBeverly 11, Peabody 0At McVann-O’Keefe Rink, the Panthers (9-1-2, 6-0-2 North Cape League) clinched a tournament berth as Andrea Peterson, Courtney McTague and Liz Doherty all had two goals.