WOBURN – It was probably one of the best periods that the Saugus hockey team has put together all season and it turned their Division 2 North quarterfinal against Lincoln-Sudbury into a one sided affair in a hurry.The Sachems scored five goals on 10 shots in the first period as Kurt Rodrigues’ hat trick and Saige Tait’s two goals pushed Saugus to a 7-2 win over the Warriors and into Tuesday’s semifinals against NEC North rival Winthrop.”We talked about building off of our first game (an OT win over Beverly) and we wanted to start fast,” Saugus coach Jeff Natalucci said. “And we were able to do that.”The two teams had played over February vacation in Newburyport and it took a shootout for the Sachems to get a 1-0 win over L-S. It was evident early that this game was going to be drastically different.Saugus took a 1-0 lead just under six minutes in when Rodrigues polished off a perfect pass from freshman Anthony Cieri at the top of the crease.Three minutes later, the Sachems would be shorthanded when Kyle Zabrowski was called for hooking at 9:40. Instead of it being a disadvantage, Saugus turned the penalty kill into a killer shift for the Warriors hopes.Off the ensuing draw following the penalty, Danny Groark sprang Tait for a breakaway and he beat Eric Kessler 5-hole for a 2-0 lead. Saugus was just getting warmed up though as a 65 seconds later, Drew Oxley set up Rodrigues and it was 3-0 Sachems.”We got aggressive with our penalty kill,” Natalucci said. “And it paid off.”Saugus nearly had three shorthanded goals on the same penalty but Nick Taylor’s marker came just after the power play expired as he made it 4-0 at 11:26.The Sachems went on the power play moments later and Tait didn’t waste much time in laying waste to the Warriors again as Rodrigues fed him perfectly to make it 5-0.”That first line has really come on in the last couple of games,” Natalucci said. “Oxley and Kurt have done it for us all year but Cieri is really starting to come into his own.”The Warriors didn’t quit as they came out strong in the second and netted the periods only goal when Colin DeFrancesco scored on a power play at 2:15 to make it 5-1.The Sachems got that one back early in the third as Rodrigues netted his fourth point of the night, setting up Oxley to make it 6-1. The senior then completed his hat trick at 12:56, assisted by Joe Grecco and Christian Patterson.Kyle Anderson scored on a DeFrancesco rebound with 91 seconds left to close the scoring.
