Both teams happy after Swampscott ties Marblehead

SALEM – It was another typical battle between the Marblehead and Swampscott hockey teams on Saturday at Rockett Arena.The Headers and Big Blue gave the capacity crowd plenty to cheer about as Chris Carman’s power play goal with 2:11 left in the game salvaged a 2-2 tie for Swampscott but also was enough to clinch the NEC South championship for the Headers.Click here for a photo gallery.Swampscott had entered the game needing a win to sweep Marblehead and earn a piece of the South division title. But Marblehead goalie Mike Harper wasn’t going to let that happen.The Big Blue had numerous quality opportunities to score, including four point-blank chances in the second period, but Harper made all the big saves when he had to in keeping his team in the game.”Mike really saved us (Saturday),” Marblehead coach Bob Jackson said. “The kids played hard on both teams. But we’re very happy to get the championship.”All was not lost for the Big Blue, though, as they were able to ensure a state tournament berth with the tie in their regular-season finale.”I liked the effort that we had (Saturday),” Swampscott coach Gino Faia said. “We had plenty of opportunities that we weren’t able to cash in. And Marblehead is such a tough team to score against with how they play.”It was clear almost immediately that there wasn’t going to be a lot of separation between these two bitter rivals as the bodies started flying off the opening drop. Swampscott got a power play just 71 seconds into the game but Harper came up with three critical saves to keep the game scoreless.Marblehead (7-9-2, 7-6-1) steadied itself and eventually went on the power play, turning it into a 1-0 lead at 8:41 when Trevor Jones tipped Liam Gillis’ point shot past a screened Patrick Sheehan.Neither team would score the rest of the opening period, which finished with the Headers holding a 7-6 shots on goal advantage.The Big Blue changed up their forecheck at the start of the second period and it caught Marblehead off guard as the Headers would be pinned back in their zone for nearly eight minutes.”We came out flat-footed there in the second period for a while and Swampscott did a good job of hemming us in and bottling us up,” Jackson said.Swampscott had chances to score four times in the opening five minutes but Harper stopped every piece of rubber thrown at him. But when Trevor Massey loaded the cannon on a power play, Harper never had a chance as the Big Blue tied it at 6:10.Funny enough, the goal served as the boost Marblehead needed to get out of its funk and three minutes later, Ty Bates went to the net and tapped home Ian Maag’s pass to give the Headers a 2-1 lead after two.”Harper really made some quality saves on us in the second,” Faia said. “We had a couple of good chances and couldn’t take advantage of them.”Marblehead turned on the defense in the third period as it suffocated Swampscott’s forwards in the neutral zone, not allowing them freedom to enter the attacking zone freely. But when Maag was called for roughing at 10:32, the Big Blue got a glimmer of hope.And when Massey won a battle with three Headers on the left wing boards to free the puck to Matt Videtta, that glimmer became a supernova when Chris Carman one-timed Videtta’s feed past Harper to tie the game.