Saugus hockey ready to take shot at title

After climbing to the peak of Division 2 hockey in the early part of the millennium, the Saugus hockey program came crashing back to earth after three straight trips to the state finals.Several seasons of mediocrity followed and last year gave no indication that a big change was in the air under first year coach Jeff Natalucci. But change fortunes is exactly what the Sachems did.Returning to its place as one of the elite teams on the North Shore, Saugus lost only once in the regular season, finishing 12-1-7 before marching to the Division 2 North final where they lost to Tewksbury.The Sachems now are set to perhaps go one step further as they return nearly every starter from that North final, giving Natalucci plenty to be excited about.”We have to show up and work every game,” Natalucci said. “Last year we were doing the hunting. Now we are the ones being hunted. But we have a lot of guys back and they want to get to that next level.”The Sachems success will begin and end in net, where senior Nick Hegarty looks to build off a phenomenal performance in the state tournament, where he surrendered six goals in 13 periods of hockey.”He is the backbone for us. We are looking for a lot out of him,” Natalucci said of Hegarty.Up front, the dynamic duo of Drew Oxley and Kurt Rodrigues return to give opponents fits. They are joined on the first line by Guy Capillo.The second unit will be comprised of Saige Tait centering Steve Kay and Tyler Stretton with Steve McKinney, Nick Taylor and freshman Anthony Cieri making up the third line.On defense, senior Dan Groark returns as one of the top blueliners in the area. He’s joined by Nick DeSimone, Steve Russo, A.J. Guthro, Nick Sweeney and Anthony LoPresti to comprise a solid backline.”Everyone but Cieri played for us last year so experience certainly should be a strength for us,” Natalucci said.The Sachems jump right into the fire as they play Gloucester, Danvers and Winthrop right off the bat in league play. They then take on Wakefield in the Kasabuski Christmas Classic and will play either Lynnfield or the Falcons on day two.”The NEC is so tough. Every night, someone can step up and get you,” Natalucci said.One thing that will be a driving force for Saugus will be how their season ended a year ago.”We got back to where we wanted to be last year. Now it’s a matter of sustaining it and staying there,” Natalucci said. “Everyone remembers the feeling of coming up short. And with all the guys we have back, we hope we learned from that.”