Maag, Bates boost Marblehead, 4-1

NEWBURYPORT – Played to a standstill by a gritty Amesbury/Whittier club fighting for its postseason life, NEC South champion Marblehead rallied for three third-period goals and a 4-1 win in the Gulazian Division semifinal of the 18th annual Newburyport Bank Classic at Graf Rink Monday afternoon.Ty Bates first set up Ian Maag for the game-winner, breaking a 1-1 tie at 5:06 of the third period; then provided separation with his fifth goals of the season with 8:03 to play. Junior Tom Koopman added an empty net power play goal in the closing seconds, capping a three-point night with his 20th goal.Marblehead, now 16-4-0, will meet Haverhill for the Gulazian Division championship Wednesday night (7). Amesbury/Whittier (8-9-2), which lost scoring leader Anthony Licciardello to a season-ending knee injury last week, must defeat Hudson in the consolation to secure its first postseason berth in nearly a decade.”We didn’t skate yesterday and we’ve been a little lackadaisical in games the day after not skating,” said coach Bob Jackson. “We got off to a nice start in the first period but they outplayed us in the second period – we didn’t match their intensity. We talked about coming out strong in third period and we did that.”On Maag’s game-winner, Bates settled the puck and delivered a pass from behind the net to a closing Maag, who snapped a 20-footer from the slot over the blocker of Indians goalie Jeff Bucyk (26 saves), the grandson of Bruins Hall of Famer Johnny Bucyk.Approximately two minutes later, Koopman won a neutral zone wall battle and delivered the puck to Bates, who shielded an Indians defender, shifted left to right through the slot and beat Bucyk high to the blocker side.”Ty went shoulder to shoulder with their guy and won the battle – 3-1 makes such a big difference at that point in the game, especially against a team playing that hard,” Jackson noted.Marblehead controlled pace and tempo throughout the first period and took a 1-0 lead at 7:32 when defenseman Liam Gillis created space for himself and put a shot on goal. Bucyk made the initial stop but Trip Franzese popped in the rebound for his team-best 22nd goal.Amesbury/Whittier countered early in the second period when flashy sophomore Tabor Smith pulled away from a neutral zone pack, broke in clean and sniped a 20-foot shot over the glove of Marblehead goalie Harrison Young (13 saves) for his 11th goal of the year. Smith nearly buried an identical bid a minute later but missed by inches to the left.”We knew they’d beaten Newburyport, a very good team, and knew they’d be fighting to get into the tournament. I think it came down to we were going with three and a half lines and they had two and a half. It came down to a 14-minute game and we wore them down,” Jackson said.North Andover 3, Saugus 2At Newburyport, the Sachems (2-15-2) couldn’t climb out of a 2-0 first-period hole and fell in the semifinal round of the Bresnahan Division of the Newburyport Bank Classic. Chris Sanderson scored a pair of third-period goals for Saugus.”Our guys fought hard tonight and just came up short,” said coach Jeff Natalucci.Saugus concludes its season Wednesday at 5 p.m. in the consolation game against Matignon (7-10-3), a 4-0 semifinal round loser to Cape Ann League champion Newburyport.