Tanners punch ticket to program’s first North Final

NORTH BILLERICA – The Peabody hockey team made itself a little bit of history on Monday at the Chelmsford Forum.Led by a spectacular goaltending display from Derek Savage in the third period, the Tanners held off No. 2 Winthrop to claim a 3-2 win and the program’s first trip to the Division 2 North finals on Friday (7) at Salem State against defending state champ Newburyport.”Derek was just tremendous. He’s been that way all year,” Peabody coach Mark Leonard said. “We’ve never won three tournament games before and he’s a big part of that now.”The No. 3 seeded Tanners (18-3-2) headed to the third period with a 2-1 lead. Less than 90 seconds into the third, the top scoring trio on the North Shore struck gold.Matt Rodgers fought off a check along the board to get the puck to Derrik Pereira. The leading assist man in the area then made a perfect pass to Andrew Bucci for his 31st goal of the year and a 3-1 lead.Bucci, who was goal-less in Peabody’s first two tourney games, knew that was a big tally.”It was nice to finally get one,” Bucci said. “I had kind of been pressing a bit and it was a big relief.”Typical of their season, though, the Tanners didn’t make it easy for themselves as Winthrop (18-3-3) fought back late.Pulling Pat Feeley for an extra attacker on a power play with 2:41 left, Winthrop closed within one when Kyle Cummings fired home a Chris LeBlanc centering pass to make it 3-2 with 2:28 left.”We never, ever make it easy on ourself,” Leonard joked. “But Winthrop is a great team and I got worried when they cut it to a goal.”Winthrop pushed hard for the equalizer in the final minute but Savage came up with three huge stops in the last seconds to preserve the win.”Derek has done that all season,” Bucci said. “He makes the big saves when we need him to.”Winthrop came out flying, banging any body wearing a blue jersey while seriously testing Savage.The Tanners held firm and managed to push their nose in front just past the five minute mark.Off a Winthrop turnover, Bucci was stopped by Feeley. Rodgers followed the play and tipped the rebound through Feeley’s legs for a 1-0 lead on his 24th goal of the season.Peabody continued to swarm around Feeley but couldn’t put a second goal home. Late in the period, Winthrop went on the power play when Steve Hatchouel was called for tripping.The Vikings would then be given a rare penalty shot when Bucci was called for closing his hand on the puck in the crease with 14.6 seconds left. But Savage came up with a huge blocker save on LeBlanc to keep it 1-0 after one.The Vikings didn’t need long to draw even in the second as defenseman Jake Rand’s shot at the end of the power play tipped off Savage’s glove and tricked across the goal line 48 seconds in.Despite having the territorial advantage in the second, Winthrop would be outshot 10-5 and left trailing 2-1 when third line winger Eric Costa beat Feeley short side at 12:37.