Peabody boys hockey clinches share of NEC North title

SALEM – On Saturday at Rockett Arena, it was simply a matter of a deeper Peabody team finding a way to outlast a gritty and tough Beverly team, 5-2, in a game that put the Tanners on the precipice of an outright league title for the first time since joining the Northeastern Conference.”Beverly played so hard,” Peabody coach Mark Leonard said. “But I think they just ran out of legs a little bit at the end ? Now we’ve got an opportunity to clinch the title on Wednesday and these guys deserve that.”Thanks to Danvers’ late rally to tie Winthrop, 2-2, the Tanners (13-2-1) will take the ice against the Falcons on Wednesday at McVann-O’Keefe Rink knowing they already have at least a share of the NEC North title in their back pocket. And even Leonard is surprised his team has been this good.”We lost a lot from last year,” Leonard said. “But a lot of kids have really stepped up and matured.”For 30 minutes on Saturday, the Panthers (8-7-2) were more than equal to Peabody. But in the third period, the Tanners finally took advantage of their chances to score three times and take the win.”They are as good a team as I’ve seen this season,” Beverly coach Bob Gilligan said. “They move so well without the puck and when you’re playing a team like this, you can’t let them get loose.”Peabody might have had even more goals, but it had what looked like a goal in the first not called ? and then two more in the third that looked to have crossed the line.”Thank God it didn’t come down to those,” Leonard said.The Tanners came out flying in the first period, pelting Tony Walsh with six shots in the first two minutes of the game. But the Panther netminder stood tall and let his team get its bearings and control the play for most of the first period.And late in the first, the Panthers were able to jump in front as Troy Cabral netted the rebound of a Jack Liacos shot with 2:30 left to give Beverly a 1-0 lead.Peabody’s response at the start of the second? Turn to its trio of stars to get things going.And Andrew Bucci, Matt Rodgers and Derrik Pereira did just that. It took only 124 seconds for Peabody to tie as Bucci netted his 25th goal of the season, assisted by Pereira and Eric Muise.Beverly, though, came right back as Ryan Lally’s heads-up play around the net resulted in the Panthers pushing back in front. That lead lasted all of 16 seconds as Pereira finished off a Rodgers pass to tie the game once again.”These kids never panic,” Leonard said. “They’ve been down before this season and have found their way back.”Late in the period, Bucci had a chance to give Peabody the lead on a breakaway but Walsh came up with a sterling stick save to keep the game tied heading to the third.The third, though, would be all Tanners.After missing on an early power play chance, Peabody got a lift from its third line as Rob Houghton broke the tie at 4:18 finishing a 2-on-1 with Eric Costa to make it 3-2.Just over a minute later, Pereira scored for a second time, assisted by Bucci and Rodgers, to give Peabody a little bit of insurance.Bucci completed the shocking outburst a little less than two minutes later as he netted a power play goal to make it 5-2.