Chiappini’s last-minute strike lifts Peabody

PEABODY – While a roster laden with underclassmen learns on the job, the Peabody High hockey team has turned to its small core of senior veterans to provide leadership this season. They delivered in a big way Saturday night as senior captain Mike Chiappini’s second goal with 35 seconds to play pushed the Tanners to a 3-2 come-from-behind win against Swampscott at McVann-O’Keefe Rink.”Our seniors played very well. Swampscott kept coming at us and for my money Gino (Cresta) is as good a player as there is around here but we were able to contain him,” said Peabody coach Mark Leonard. “It’s nice to be able to lean on those seniors and I thought Joe Powers made some really nice saves in the second period to keep us in it.”The decisive sequence began at the Peabody defensive blue line when an open-ice hit left the Big Blue’s senior sniper Gino Cresta (two goals) dazed on one knee with just under a minute to play. The Tanners turned to the attack with senior wing and captain Tom Burns eventually forcing a turnover and shuttling the puck to Chiappini in the high slot. Chiappini closed to within 25 feet before snapping a low shot that broke through Swampscott keeper Pat Sheehan (25 saves) for the winner.Peabody leveled its record at 4-4-0 (3-3-0 NEC North) although Swampscott (5-4-1; 3-3-1 NEC South) controlled large stretches of play and held a 36-28 edge in shots. Peabody’s junior goalie Joe Howard proved equal to the task with 34 stops.”It’s definitely a disappointing loss because I felt we controlled the play and had the better scoring opportunities. There’s no doubt the effort was there but we had a couple of turnovers that led directly to goals for them,” said Big Blue coach Gino Faia. “We had the opportunity to clear the puck on the winning goal but their kid made a nice play on the turnover and then our defense backed in and gave (Chiappini) too much room and he scored a nice goal.”Little of note occurred until the latter stages of a first period during which the Big Blue were a bit quicker to the puck and the aggressor on the forecheck. Their diligence paid off with 3:55 left in the period when Cresta positioned himself in the mid-slot and re-directed Nunzio Morretti’s slap shot from above the left circle between’s Howard’s wickets for a 1-0 lead.Defense was a rumor throughout a free-wheeling second period in which the teams combined for 33 shots on goal. Sheehan preserved Swampscott’s lead at 4:07 when he slid to his left to swat away Andrew Bisconti’s doorstep backhander with his glove. That kicked off a sustained stretch of Peabody pressure and the Tanners drew even at 7:38 when Chiappini banged home his own rebound off a 2-on-1 rush. The Tanners’ Mike Vadala found iron to Sheehan’s right seconds later, then Sheehan scrambled to his right to deny Eric Costa’s re-direct with 6:37 left in the period to keep it tied.Peabody’s surge was blunted by penalties 40 seconds apart to Costa and defenseman Ryan McManus. Howard piled up eight saves but the Big Blue regained the lead two seconds after the 5-on-3 portion of the extended advantage expired when Cresta tucked in a Matt Videtta rebound at the left post, making it 2-1 with 4:54 left in the period. It was Cresta’s 13th goal this season and 100th point of his career, making him the sixth Swampscott player to reach that plateau.The Tanners drew even with 1:45 left in the period when Burns was perfectly positioned for a right side tap-in after Derek DeMild’s shot from the left side broke off Sheehan’s glove and dropped into the crease.Both teams had chances to regain the lead early in the third. Swampscott’s Chris Finlay rang the post at the 1:40 mark and the Tanners’ Bisconti had a penalty shot attempt poked off his stick by Sheehan at 4:32, awarded after being hooked by Swampscott defenseman Trevor Massey on a clean break-in. That left it for Chiappini to deliver.