Three at the top: Saugus prevails, ties NEC North standings

SAUGUS – After playing five periods of lackadaisical hockey against Winthrop and Danvers, Saugus coach Jeff Natalucci’s message to his team was simple between the second and third periods on Saturday at Kasabuski Arena: His Sachems needed the best 15 minutes of their season or hopes of a league title would disappear.His troops got the message loud and clear as, despite managing only five shots through 30 minutes, they responded with three third-period goals to beat the Falcons, 4-1, and create a three-way tie atop the NEC North standings.The Sachems, Falcons and Winthrop now each have 20 points in league play with two games apiece remaining. Beverly sits four points behind but has a game in hand and dates with the Sachems and Vikings next week.As for Saugus, Natalucci was overjoyed with how his team answered the bell Saturday.”We needed that third period,” Natalucci said. “We had to come out and work harder than them for 15 minutes and that’s what we needed. This is huge for us.”The Sachems (10-5-2, 9-2-2) had lost twice to the Falcons this season and a third would have effectively handed Danvers (12-4-0, 10-3-0) a league title. And Danvers looked like it was ready to make that happen after it came out swarming around Nick Hegarty. But missed chances would haunt the Falcons.”We had some opportunities missed and in a game like this, those can hurt you,” Danvers coach Kevin Brown said.Danvers had the game’s first nine of 10 shots before Tyler Stretton forced a turnover and sent Saige Tait in on a breakaway. He beat Seth Kamens clean at 7:10 and the Sachems headed to the first intermission with the 1-0 lead.The Falcons answered by coming out and hemming the Sachems in their own zone for long stretches in the second period. And it took less than five minutes for third-liner Jay Calcagno to snap a shot past Hegarty to tie the game.Danvers then began to swarm in search of the go-ahead goal, but Hegarty stood tall between the pipes to keep his team alive.”Nicky made some big saves early. He, frankly, kept us in the game,” Natalucci said.The Sachems needed some jump and they came out playing hard in the third. The pressure eventually resulted in Danvers taking two penalties on the same shift to give Saugus its second power play of the game.The Falcons nearly escaped with the game tied but Kamens couldn’t corral Drew Oxley’s shot and allowed Tait to get three whacks at the loose biscuit in the crease, giving Saugus the lead with 8:32 remaining.”We knew it was going to be about second effort and we were able to drive to the net when we needed it,” Natalucci said.Suddenly bolstered, the Sachems turned up the heat, and the Falcons cracked for the first time.Kamens couldn’t hold on to Guy Capillo’s shot as it bounced out of his glove and right on the stick of Chris Sanderson, who gave Saugus a two-goal lead with 4:26 left. Seconds later, freshman Anthony Cieri finished off a 2-on-1 with Kurt Rodrigues and the Sachems had their much-needed win.”We had played three or four bad periods but (Saturday) we came out and battled,” Natalucci said. “We wanted a shot at the conference and now we have it.”