Saugus boys hockey salvages tie with Winthrop

WINTHROP – Playing close-to-the-vest games are nothing new for both the Saugus and Winthrop hockey teams and on Saturday at Larsen Arena, the two played exactly that type of game in their NEC North battle.The Sachems struggled to find their skating legs after having seven days off and were dominated for most of the first two periods by the hosts. Saugus, though, dug in and found a way to get a point as Dan Groark’s power play goal with 3:42 remaining salvaged a 2-2 tie.”In the third period we found something and were able to get kick started,” Saugus coach Jeff Natalucci said. “But we got outplayed for the first 30 minutes and that’s not how we want to play.”Things actually started swiftly for the Sachems (6-1-6) as they took a 1-0 lead just three minutes in when Nick Sweeney fired home a shot past Steven Waites. The rest of the period, however, would belong to the blue and gold.Guy Capillo was called for hooking at 8:43 and it took only 64 seconds for the Vikings (8-2-4) to convert as Chris LeBlanc took a Nick Clewer pass and lifted a backhander over Nick Hegarty’s shoulder to tie the game after one period.The Vikings continued the momentum into the second where they had an 8-4 shots on goal advantage and a distinct advantage in territorial control. Only the spectacular goaltending of Hegarty kept Saugus within shouting distance.Winthrop swarmed around the net in the first minutes but came away empty until Chris Page netted his second goal of the year at 5:56, assisted by Dan Eruzione and Bobby Clewer.Each team would have a power play late in the period but couldn’t convert and the Vikings left the ice up a goal and in control.”We just kind of hung around for two periods,” Natalucci said. “It certainly wasn’t our best effort.”The momentum began to change early in the third however as Dylan Piwinski was called for a tripping penalty at 4:32 for Winthrop. Saugus failed to convert there but got an even better chance with 5:10 left when it had a 42 second 5-on-3 advantage.The Sachems failed to convert up two men but Groark unleashed a rocket shot from the high shot with three seconds left on the second Winthrop penalty to tie things at 2-2.Saugus looked to have the game winner with 40.5 seconds left when Steve Kay batted a puck past Waites but the goal was nullified because it was ruled to have been kicked in by the skate blade.”Getting something out of this game was big for us. It keeps us alive in the league and now we can kind of get back on a normal schedule of playing two games a week,” Natalucci said.