PEABODY — The Saugus boys hockey team kept its tournament hopes alive with a solid 10-1 win over the Peabody Tanners at McVann-O’Keefe Rink on Friday night. The Sachems now need seven more points to qualify with six games to go.
“It was good to get two points here tonight, we’re really starting to get down to crunch time,” said Saugus coach Jeff Natalucci. “We’ve been struggling to score goals a bit here lately, so it was good to get some offense going.”
As for Friday’s game, Saugus got two goals and one assist from Ryan Groark and two goals from John Torres. Nick Moore had one goal and two assists, while Drew Worthey, Lorenzo Keegan and Chris Heffernan each had one goal and one assist. Anthony Cogliano and Adam Rodrigues had one goal each, Dante McGrane and Nick Aiken had two assists each and Joe Cross had one assist.
Peabody’s lone goal came from Caleb Dollin on an assist from James Guiry.
“The guys worked hard out there and were in it for a while, but there were just too many mistakes out there,” said Peabody coach Mark Leonard. “It’s to be expected with so many young guys, but I liked the way they fought the whole game.”
The Sachems jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, scoring within the first two minutes of action when Moore made a nifty move around a defender and found the back of the net. The Tanners continued to fight hard throughout the rest of the first period and into the second, eventually tying the score early in the second. After getting awarded a five-minute power play due to a Saugus boarding penalty, the Tanners snuck one in when Guiry made a great move to wrap around the net and send a pass out front to Dollin, who knocked it home to tie the score.
But from there, things started to turn in Saugus’ direction. The Sachems earned a five-minute power play of their own and cashed in on Groark’s first goal to take the lead back before extending the lead even further when Groark scored again. After Rodrigues found the back of the net, Saugus took a 4-1 lead into the second intermission.
After Torres scored his first goal early in the third period, the Sachems were 3-for-3 on the power play.
“Getting our power play going was good to see, because we’ve struggled with that all year,” said Natalucci. “This gets the guys some confidence going in that department, which we’ll need going forward.”
Worthley, Keegan, Torres, Cogliano and Heffernan all netted goals in the third period to seal the win.
Now at 5-6-3 on the year, the Sachems are pushing hard for a tournament spot. But there are still plenty of tough games on the schedule, including matchups with Danvers, Swampscott, Medford and Winthrop.
“We’re going to have to beat some tough teams if we want to get in, there’s no doubt about it,” Natalucci said. “We’re just taking it 15 minutes at a time and trying to grind out games. These two points went a long way for us, but we’ll need to keep winning.”
Saugus will try for two more points on Wednesday when they host Medford at Kasabuski Rink.
Peabody is in a different situation, still searching for its first win. But it’s a building year for the Tanners, who are showing signs that things are slowly coming together.
“The guys are kind of learning on the fly out there, but there are definitely some good things we see,” said Leonard. “We’ve just got to find a way to not give up so many goals and finish opportunities when we have them. Once we fall behind by so much, it’s hard to get any consistency going. But it will come.”
The Tanners (0-12-0) will host Swampscott on Wednesday.
