Connor Irving hits milestone as Beverly blanks Peabody

SALEM – After playing a key role in another Beverly victory Saturday, this time a 6-0 blanking of Peabody, Connor Irving was asked what he could do to improve his game.View Photo Gallery”My shot, definitely my shot,” the junior said. “I can’t really pick my corners too well.”An interesting answer for someone that became only the 11th player in Panthers’ history to record over 100 career points and was the NEC North’s MVP last year.”I’m always looking to improve,” the tri-captain said.Driven to become a better player – and with an impeccable pedigree with Beverly hockey legends in father Kenny and uncle Stu Irving, Connor scheduled an active offseason.”(The team did) work with the trainers at Beverly Athletic Club and I was working out on my own time,” Irving explained. “I played at Hockey Night in Boston in Haverhill and I played for Mass. Selects in Foxboro in a couple of tournaments as well. It’s good to play higher levels in the summer. It’s just such a big difference playing against prep school guys, and it helps my play (this winter).”One of Irving’s biggest improvements came in his mobility. Against the Tanners, several times he was able to slide through double-teams to either get off a good shot or set up a teammate on the other side of the net.”In my freshman or sophomore year, I’d try to do the same thing and I’d get knocked down. This year, I worked on using the boards to bounce off and get by them.”And that he can perform at a high level after playing monster minutes is a tribute to the 5-6 Irving’s stamina.”A man up, a man down – we play him a lot,” head coach Bob Gilligan said. “You can see what he can do. He has great hand skills, he protects the puck so well that it’s hard for big guys to get him off the puck. He has great awareness on the ice and plays an unselfish game. It’s the Irving gene.”Against Peabody, Connor Irving raised his career point total to 106 as Beverly moved to 3-0. He scored the game’s first two goals including a beautiful defensive zone steal leading to a breakaway where he deked Tanner goalie Joe Powers several times before tucking a backhander past the befuddled netminder.Powers (33 saves) was sturdy, making several strong stops in a scoreless first period, but waves of Beverly offense was too relentless to hold back.Graham Doherty (two goals and an assist), Andrew Irving (goal and two assists) and freshman Hunter Spencer kept a Panther attack cooking, giving the team 19 goals in their first three games.”Joe played great but Beverly’s a good team,” said Tanner head coach Mark Leonard. “We’re a young team and we might have given them a little too much respect, and penalties hurt. They’re too good to give power play chances to (four in all including a 5-on-3 late in the first period).”Tyler Gillespie rang a shot off the post and Mike Vadala tested Beverly goalie Bryce Mitchell (19 saves) as Peabody (0-1-1) suffered its second straight shutout.