SAUGUS — The Saugus boys hockey team skated to a 7-1 victory against Northeastern Conference foe Peabody Saturday at Kasabuski Arena. The win ended a four-game slide for the Sachems.
“We had to come into this game and get the points and score some goals,” Saugus coach Jeff Natalucci said. “We had lost four in a row so it’s great for us to respond. Points are at a premium right now so anytime you can get them you have to capitalize on it.
“We just had to get back to simplifying things,” Natalucci added. “We had to get pucks to the net and crash the net. We’re not going to be a cute team. We have to grind it out and get pucks deep, get rebounds and keep it simple.”
The Sachems spread the wealth on offense with six different goal scorers. Senior captain Adam Rodrigues led the way with two goals.
“It was great to see,” Natalucci said. “Guys going to the net hard, crashing the net and making things happen. That’s the way we are going to score our goals. It was good to see everybody working. We need all the lines going if we are going to be a good team and make a push. We need everybody. Everybody has to be pulling in the same direction.”
The Tanners struggled to produce any offense, even on three power play chances, with junior James Guiry adding Peabody’s lone goal.
“Saugus worked really hard today,” Peabody coach Mark Leonard said. “I don’t think we had our best effort today. There was a lot of standing around and waiting for things to happen instead of trying to make things happen. It’s been a tough year for us, but credit to Saugus they worked really hard.”
The Tanners saw the the first scoring opportunity of the game early on when Michael Zarro stole a puck out front, but Sachems goalie Jack Devereaux (21 saves) held strong on the play.
“He’s been terrific,” Natalucci said of Devereaux. “Jack goes out and he competes and gives you a chance every night. He’s been excellent all year.”
From there it was all Saugus. Dante McGrane slid a nice pass from behind the net to Richie Mauro in the slot who found the back of the net to put Saugus ahead 1-0 in the first period.
The Sachems extended their lead in the second. Dom Paolo made a nice play to keep the puck in the Peabody zone and Lorenzo Keegan ripped a shot that was shot that was blocked but Nick Aiken made a quick play on the rebound to extend the Saugus lead to 2-0.
Five minutes later the Saugus penalty kill created another scoring opportunity. Ronnie Paolo drove to the net on his back hand and put on a low shot that Rodrigues crashed the net to finish and put the Sachems ahead 3-0.
Saugus piled it on early in the third. Joe Cross buried a wide open shot in the slot less than a minute into the third period and Keegan added another goal 20 seconds later to put the Sachems ahead 5-0.
Guiry broke the shutout midway through the third period but it wasn’t enough to spark a comeback for Peabody.
Rodrigues added his second goal on a shorthanded breakaway and C.J. Graffeo ripped a slap shot from the point for a goal to ice the game for Saugus.
Both teams are back on the ice Wednesday. Peabody (1-11-1) will travel to Gloucester (6) while the Sachems (5-6-3) hope to continue their push to qualify for the state tournament at Medford (7).
“We just have to keep simplifying things and play our game,” Natalucci said. “We just need to stay within ourselves and not try to do too much out there. We have to grind it out the rest of the way.”
