Saugus shuts down Lynnfield

SAUGUS – It was the 45 minute effort that Saugus coach Jeff Natalucci had been looking for out of his charges all season and it came in a very opportune moment on Wednesday at Kasabuski Arena.Putting three solid periods of hockey together, the Sachems claimed the Division 2 title in the Kasabuski Christmas Classic for the first time since 2004 with a 3-0 win over Lynnfield as Drew Oxley was named tournament MVP.Click here for a photo gallery.”We have been preaching 45 minutes since day one and we finally got that (Wednesday),” Natalucci said. “We never stopped working, even when we got the lead. And we did a lot of the little things it takes to win games.”Saugus took the Pioneers (3-2-0) out of rhythm from the opening faceoff, holding Lynnfield to only 12 shots in 45 minutes.”We made some mistakes that young teams make,” Lynnfield coach Vin Mirasolo said. “Saugus is a good skating team with some good skill. And they were well prepared. The better team definitely won the game.”Neither team could dent the scoreboard in the first period with Saugus’ Guy Capillo having the best chance against Pioneer goalie Craig Cataldo but he rang the crossbar with 4:10 left.The Sachems (2-0-3) turned up the juice in the second period and were able to get a pair of goals to show for their work.Mike Kotowski set up the game-winning goal at 6:36 of the second when he muscled past a defender and put a centering pass in front for a one-timer by Ralph Pagliucca at the top of the crease.Even more damaging for the Pioneers would be Saugus’ second goal with 21 seconds left in the period. Oxley hit a speeding Kurt Rodrigues in the neutral zone and he was able to get in and backhand a shot past Cataldo to send Saugus off to the dressing room up a pair.”We never stopped working, moving,” Natalucci said. “That was a great play by Drew to get the puck to Kurt there.”Early in the third, Rodrigues returned the favor to his linemate as he put a perfect pass on Oxley’s tape in front for a one-timer through Cataldo’s pads to make it 3-0. The rest of the game was controlled by the Saugus defense, which held Lynnfield to only three shots in the third period.”It was just a bad night for us,” Mirasolo said. “We will go back to the drawing board and get ready for Wilmington.”In the consolation games, Danvers rolled past Pentucket, 5-0, while Fenwick was shut out by Wakefield, 4-0.