STONEHAM – Senior goalie Robert Prentiss stopped all 32 of No. 6 Marblehead’s shots, backstopping his No. 10 Danvers team to a 3-0 win in the quarterfinal round of Division 2 North Friday night in Stoneham.
Prentiss gave credit to his teammates, who made it difficult for Marblehead all night, blocking shots with their arms, legs and feet, just about everything they had to keep Header shots from reaching the Falcon goal.
“We’ve got great guys on this team, we’re not the team we were earlier in the year, everybody on this team will do whatever it takes, make a check, block a shot, whatever it takes,” Prentiss said.
Danvers got the only goal the Falcons would need on a power play in the first period, when Calvin Mansfield roofed one just under the bar with 6:30 left. Cody Plaza picked up an assist on the only goal in the opening 15 minutes, to go along with 10 saves by Prentiss.
Marblehead coach Chris Wells said it was not his team’s night despite a solid performance from the Magicians. When Marblehead needed a bounce the Magicians simply couldn’t get it, including two shots off the crossbar from winger Collin Hart.
“It’s one of those things, we played well, the guys stepped up tonight, we really played a good game, I just told the boys that it’s just one of those things, some nights you don’t get a bounce, and that’s the way it went tonight,” Wells said. “Sometimes you need a little puck luck, if we could have just gotten one goal, I think that would have gotten us going, but we never got it.”
Friday night’s contest was the third meeting between the Falcons and Magicians. Wells said Danvers is a much-improved team and a lot different than the one Marblehead defeated in the regular season.
“That’s definitely a different team, they’re always well-coached, but they’re playing much better now than when we faced them before,” Wells said. “It’s unfortunate for us that we just couldn’t put one home, and now our season has come to an end, we played well, but give Danvers credit, they played really well tonight.”
Senior Jared Mscisz made it a 2-0 lead when he stole the puck about 20 feet in front of Marblehead goalie Peter Santeusanio, who made several huge saves for his team Friday night when the Magicians were killing off penalties, deked to the right and tucked one home with 3:15 left in regulation.
Marblehead lifted Santeusanio with just under two minutes left, but couldn’t get one by Prentiss, despite having several good chances in the Falcon end. Mscisz fired one into the empty cage with 25 seconds to go from center ice, sealing the 3-0 Danvers victory .
“I can’t say enough about what these guys have done this year, just outstanding,” Danvers coach Steve Baldassare said. “Everybody fed off Robert (Prentiss) in the Gloucester game (double overtime win) and that carried over into tonight’s game.”
Marblehead finished the season at 15-5-3, while the Falcons improve to 12-8-2, with two solid playoff wins under their belts.
