Peabody boys hockey falls to Tewksbury

STONEHAM – It was probably one of the crazier final five minutes of a state tournament game in recent memory. And it wound up leaving a bitter taste in the mouths of Peabody fans at Stoneham Arena on Tuesday.The Tanners saw three players dispatched to the locker room over the final five minutes of play as No. 6 seed Tewksbury survived a gallant comeback from Peabody in the third period to take a 4-2 win and move on to the second round.”We had a lot of chances and just couldn’t put them in the net,” Peabody coach Mark Leonard said. “These kids never gave up. It was just a shame it had to end the way it did.”Long will Peabody fans remember the scene of Ryan Noftle and Connor Purcell being sent to the locker room for misconduct penalties with the Tanners down a goal despite having three breakaways stopped by Tewksbury goalie Nico Cunha in the second period.The Tanners (11-6-4) saw the Redmen (15-5-1) control the play for most of the first 30 minutes and lead 3-1 entering the third period. Just past the midpoint of the final frame, Rob Houghton made things very interesting thanks to some brilliant cycling of the puck, which resulted in the senior’s 19th goal of the season.Not long after that, things took a detour into the world of the bizarre. Noftle was called for an interference penalty with 5:28 remaining and then was sent to the dressing room for the game with a misconduct.The teams would trade penalties with just over three minutes left before Purcell was called for a double minor and a game misconduct that resulted in Tewksbury having a power play the rest of the night.”I’ve never seen anything like that,” Leonard said. “But take nothing away from Tewksbury. They are a good team and are very solid.”Peabody got Derek Savage out for an extra attacker with just over a minute to go but Derek Petti iced the win with a 180-foot backhander into the vacated net with 58 seconds left.”I thought that we played a really good game,” Tewksbury coach Derek Doherty said.The Redmen dominated most of the first 15 minutes and were able to convert at 11:31 when defenseman Rob Pruyne unleashed a blast from the right point on a power play for a 1-0 lead after a period.Desperately in need of a boost, Peabody got it early in the second when Mike Chiappini deflected Nick Salalayko’s shot from the blue line past Cunha at 3:32 to tie the game.Less than a minute later, however, the Redmen delivered what proved to be a big blow to Peabody’s psyche. Third liner Dan Ladderbush crashed the net and was able to shovel home a rebound 49 seconds after Chiappini’s goal to make it 2-1.”To get the goal like we did and then to give one right back to them was just a killer,” Leonard said. “That really hurt us.”A turnover in the defensive zone would be even more harmful to the Tanners as Frank Mazzei converted off it at 9:58 to give the Redmen a 3-1 lead after two.