BEVERLY — The Saugus boys hockey team played a great first period against Beverly, but a poor second period spelled disaster for the Sachems in a 7-0 loss at Raymond J. Bourque Arena Wednesday. Tied 0-0 after the first period, Saugus gave up four goals in the second and couldn’t recover.
“We’re a young team and we just couldn’t sustain the effort we were giving in that first period,” said Saugus coach Jeff Natalucci. “We have to play a certain way if we want to compete in these games, and allowing a team to continuously shoot the puck on our net is not how we’re going to win.”
Brayden Clark led Beverly offense, notching three goals and two assists. Gavin Doyle and DJ Bachini each had one goal and one assist, while Jeff Hallinan and Cameron Avila each scored one goal. Cameron Cook and Jaxon Thomas each had two assists, while Danny Morency, Matthew Mezza, Aiden Foley, Austin Bernard and Matthew Capachetti each had one assist.
“We’ve been involved in so many close games that haven’t gone our way this year, I think these guys knew that this was a big one,” said Beverly coach Greg Fonzi. “When you allow a good young team like Saugus to hang around, all that needs to happen is for them to score one goal and you could lose. Our guys knew that and they really worked for this win.”
For Saugus, goalies Jack Devereaux and Nick DiVola combined for 31 saves.
The first period was just about as even of a game as could be. Each team had a couple scoring opportunities, each team had a chance on the powerplay and each team got solid play from its goaltender. After one, the score remained at 0-0.
But in the second, Beverly turned it on.
The Panthers spent the majority of the second period in the offensive zone, sending shot after shot at Devereaux. Of the 16 shots that Beverly sent on goal, four of them found the back of the net. The first came off the stick of Clark, who sent a low wrist shot from the blue line that found its way through traffic. Just over one minute later, after being awarded a power play, Bachini netted one to make it 2-0. Doyle cleaned up a rebound in front of the net to make it 3-0 Panthers with six minutes to play, then Clark scored his second of the game to give Beverly a 4-0 lead going into the final period.
“It was just a breakdown on our end,” said Natalucci. “We were doing a good job in the first period, but we got away from the game plan. We couldn’t get out of our own zone in the second, and Beverly just kept hammering away.”
“We started moving the puck around a lot better in the second,” said Fonzi. “Our guys have been frustrated this year because they’ve had a lot of opportunities but haven’t scored much. But once the lid came off, the guys were able to get some goals in and help us pull away.”
The third period was played evenly until the final three minutes, when Beverly put in three more goals. Clark capped off his hat trick to make it 5-0, then Avila and Hallinan each scored their first career goals to round out the scoring.
Next up for Beverly (2-4-2) is another Northeastern Conference battle against Danvers Saturday night (7:30).
Saugus (1-6-0) travels to Peabody Saturday afternoon (4).
