SAUGUS— With wins over Winthrop and Shawsheen Tech last week, it seemed as though the Saugus boys hockey team was finding its stride in the early stages of the season. Tuesday afternoon’s game against Lynnfield in the Kasabuski Christmas Classic was a setback the Sachems were hoping to avoid.
The Pioneers featured five different goal scorers, including two who found the back of the net in the waning seconds of the first period, for a 5-1 win over Saugus at Kasabuski Rink. With the victory, Lynnfield remains undefeated this season at 5-0 while Saugus falls to 2-2-1.
“We weren’t ready to play from the start tonight,” Sachems coach Jeff Natalucci said. “It cost us. We’re not good enough to show up on the ice without being ready. We’ve seen that through our first few games and now we have to correct it.”
A pair of late scores powered the Pioneers to a 2-goal lead in the first period. Saugus came within 21 seconds of going into the locker room knotted in a scoreless tie, but Lynnfield changed those plans quickly. Jack Hammersley fired a shot past Saugus goalie Nick Sanderson for the 1-0 Pioneers lead with 21 seconds on the clock. Six seconds later, on the ensuing face-off, Cooper Marengi sent a wrister that deflected off Sanderson’s pad and into the back of the net for the 2-0 Lynnfield advantage.
“That was huge,” Pioneers coach Jon Gardner said. “I think we carried the direction of play in the first couple minutes and then Saugus started to turn it around. We couldn’t get any shots off. Just to get on the board and then extend the lead with that type of goal is deflating for them.”
“It’s almost like once they scored the first goal we kind of quit on ourselves,” Natalucci said. “The second goal was a backbreaker.”
Things got tougher for the Sachems when the Pioneers carried their momentum into the second period. Lynnfield stretched its lead to 4-0 with a pair of goals in the first three minutes of the period. First it was Tyler Murphy who made it 3-0 and then Sean Robbins followed suit.
“We always talk about the dreaded 2-goal lead, in terms of not using that as a safety net,” Gardner said. “We always talk about extending leads. To get the next one, that was huge for us. From there it was just playing our system and keeping it simple, not just hanging on but when we got that fourth goal we felt pretty good.”
Saugus had a chance to crawl back into the game with a 5-on-3 but the Sachems couldn’t get anything going. The Pioneers led 4-0 through two periods of play.
With 9:52 to play in the third period, the Pioneers bumped their lead to 5-0 as George DeRoche joined in on the fun to cap the Lynnfield scoring for the afternoon. Saugus finally found the scoreboard when John Torres punched in a goal with 9:15 remaining for the 5-1 final.
“We always have great games with Saugus,” Gardner said. “It doesn’t matter if we’re down or they’re down. It’s always good games. The kids all know each other, they play youth hockey together so it’s always a battle. Even when the score’s lopsided, it’s always a battle.”
Pioneers goalie Aidan Kelly, a junior, finished with 18 saves in the winning effort.
“Aidan’s been phenomenal,” Gardner said. “He was making big saves, even in the first period he made a couple big saves from the slot. He makes it look easy.”
Both teams are back on the ice today at Kasabuski. Lynnfield battles Winthrop while Saugus hopes to get back on track with a win against Triton.
“I’m hoping we’ll respond,” Natalucci said. “We lost to Beverly earlier in the season and tonight was another tough loss. I’m hoping we’re up to the challenge. Points are at a premium at this time of the season and we need to grab them.”
