Tanners come back for seconds

SAUGUS – Playing the morning after Christmas is never easy, and the task proved no different for the Peabody boys hockey team, who met Bishop Fenwick on Thursday in the first game of the annual Christmas tournament at Kasabuski Arena.Once the Tanners (1-3) woke themselves up to the situation at hand, however, they put together a dominant four-goal second period en route to a 6-0 victory. Peabody will play Wakefield in the National Division Final (Friday, 4).After a scoreless first, the Tanners came out firing in the second period, sending 22 shots on net and effectively putting things out of reach for Fenwick (0-3), who will play tournament host Saugus in the consolation game (12).?I thought we played OK in the first but we kind of sat back and waited for things to happen,” explained Tanners coach Mark Leonard. “I?m sure the guys were a bit tired after the long day yesterday, but we woke up for the second and really started to play.”Just 26 seconds into the frame, Reed Foster broke the ice, beating Crusaders goalie Bobby Lombardi to the far side. The netminder was knocked over by Foster moments before the goal, but the referees deemed the contact accidental.Peabody doubled the lead at the 5:27 mark after Andrew Bisconti finished on a one-timer from the slot. Aaron Dollin got the puck to Ryan Carney, stationed on the goal line to the left of Lombardi, before Carney?s feed to Bisconti was fired just inside the right post.Then, 4:16 later, the Tanners added another, as Carney handled a Bobby Caproni pass before burying his shot over Lombardi?s left shoulder, after a pressure-filled shift. Bisconti was credited with the secondary helper.The final goal of the period came with 2:20 remaining. Derek DeMild used a power move to get to the net after a long rush down the left side before his one-handed backhand bid found its way. Cam Smullen picked up an assist.Peabody had a 29-11 shot advantage through the first 30 minutes.?The kids played an all-around good game from the second period on,” said Leonard. “We broke the puck out well and our defense did a good job in shutting them down in front of (goaltender) Freddy Robitaille, who made the big stops when he had to.”Mike Vadala would tack on two more goals for Peabody in the third period, the first on a rebound following a DeMild wrister. Vadala finished the scoring with an unassisted shorthanded goal after fighting through two defenders before a nifty move on Lombardi.?This was absolutely a must-win game for us,” said Leonard. “You can only stay positive for so long. We hadn?t played like an 0-3 team to this point, so it?s nice to see everything come together today.”In the opening game of American Division play, Danvers defeated Lynnfield 4-1, advancing to the finals to play Melrose (Friday, 2).The Pioneers led 1-0 after one period following a goal from Alex Ganter, with 50 seconds remaining, assisted by Cam Rondeau. The Falcons would respond with four unanswered tallies, three coming in the middle frame.Sean Lundergan opened the scoring early, tipping in a Steve Ganley shot before Danvers (2-3) took the lead at the 6:30 mark on a Tyler Dustin tally, following a faceoff win from Jay Calcagno. The Falcons? third tally came on the power play as Ryan Cassidy fired home a shot from the point.Rob Tibbetts closed out the scoring just 55 ticks into the third, seconds after Peabody killed off a power play. Lynnfield (0-2-1) will play Winthrop in the consolation game (10).