Marblehead hockey hopes there’s magic today

After coming up short of reaching TD Garden twice in the last three years, the Marblehead hockey team finally got that monkey off its back on Tuesday against Pembroke in the Division 3 Eastern Mass final. Now the Headers would like to find a little luck on Garden ice.Back in the state finals for the first time since 1985, Marblehead will take on West champion Westfield, which upset defending state champion Longmeadow on its way to Boston, on Sunday (11:15).”We saw Westfield play when we were out playing Agawam earlier this year,” Marblehead coach Bob Jackson said. “They are a big and fast team. We will have a challenge with them.”The Headers (19-4-3) have seemingly been on a mission this season after the heartbreaks in the last three years. They stumbled out of the gates early but have been nearly untouchable the second half of the year.In winning three games to claim the North sectional title, Marblehead never trailed and outscored Latin Academy, Dracut and Shawsheen by a score of 16-6. On Tuesday, things were a little more difficult as Pembroke nearly overcame a 2-to-1 shots on goal gulf to break the Headers’ hearts again.”I think the difference for us this time was that we’ve been here before and remembered what it was like after those games ended,” Jackson said. “This group didn’t want to feel that again.”Marblehead has gotten contributions up and down the lineup as every skater on the team has at least one point and all three lines have been immense in the postseason.The Headers are led by senior Ryan Dempsey (24 goals and 46 points). It was Dempsey who notched the game winner late in the third period on Tuesday to get Marblehead back to the Garden.Fellow senior captain Chris McLeod has 36 points while Ben Koopman and Jake Kulevich team to form one of the best defense pairings in the state and each has 29 points to help the Marblehead offense.Alex Whitmore (27), Austin Haley (26) and Hunter Graves (20) give the Headers seven players with 20 or more points this season.