SAUGUS — It’s no secret that growing pains have been the early theme for the Saugus boys hockey team this season.
But the Sachems still put up a good fight in a 5-4 loss to North Reading in the opening round of the Kasabuski Christmas Tournament Thursday.
Saugus’ effort wasn’t in question, with the Sachems showing some resiliency after trailing 5-2 in the third period. In the end, the Sachems simply couldn’t overcome their mistakes.
“I liked our effort,” Saugus coach Jeff Natalucci said. “If we just learn to execute a little better in certain areas and certain situations we’ll be better. We gave ourselves a shot. These guys stuck with it. We were down 5-2 in the third period. It would’ve been easy to just mail it in. We gave ourselves a chance to win this game right until the end.”
Goalkeeper Jack Devereaux was outstanding in net for Saugus with an eye-popping 61 saves on the day. Lorenzo Keegan led the offense with two goals and one assist. Jason Caron netted one goal and one assist. Massey Ventre scored one goal and Richie Mauro added an assist.
North Reading dominated possession time in the first period but Devereaux bailed the Sachems out on a number of occasions.
Midway through the first Mauro hit Keegan with a leading pass and he skated to a breakaway, scoring to put Saugus ahead 1-0.
North Reading finally cashed in on its chances in the final minutes of the first. The Sachems initially stopped a 2-on-1 chance but Sean Brown was trailing the play and ripped an open shot from the slot that found the back of the net to tie things up at 1-1.
Just a few minutes later in the final seconds of the period, Brown ripped another shot that was deflected out front for a goal by Storm Davis to give North Reading a 2-1 lead.
A 5-minute major penalty by Mauro that spanned the second and third periods proved to be a back-breaker for Saugus. The Sachems added a shorthanded goal from Ventre but North Reading’s Alex Vercolen was almost unstoppable during the man-advantage. Vercolen scored three goals over that span to give North Reading a 5-2 lead by the time Mauro was out of the box.
“(The penalty) hurt just from the simple fact that we’re a young team,” Natalucci said. “Our depth isn’t great, so we’re not built to be a man down or play 4-on-4 hockey. And Mauro is one of our better players too. He’s a captain, he’s a guy we need on the ice. We can’t have him in the penalty box for five minutes.”
Caron helped Saugus claw back into things midway through the third with a goal to cut the deficit to 5-3.
With Devereaux pulled Saugus scored again with 1:02 remaining on a goal from Keegan, but the Sachems fell just short of a comeback.
“It’s just about executing a little better with all of our systems,” Natalucci said. “We’re still learning as we go here, but we’re working hard and there’s things to build off for (Friday).”
Saugus (0-3) is still looking for its first win and is back at Kasabuski Friday (10) for a consolation game against Peabody.
