PEABODY — The Peabody boys hockey team put forth one of its best performances of the season Wednesday night, outlasting Northeastern Conference foe Swampscott in a 4-2 win on Senior Night at McVann-O’Keefe Memorial Rink. The Tanners, who only have 12 skaters on the roster, battled through the fatigue and finished the job on their home ice.
Prior to the game, the Tanners honored their group of nine seniors — Lucas DeMild, Matt Devin, Jager Ingham, Anthony Bettencourt, Cameron Silva, Nathan LePage, Luke Buckley, Brandon Perry and Tristan Ell — for their contributions to the program over the years.
LePage led Peabody with two goals in the win, while Devin and freshman Michael Ryan each had one goal and Perry notched one assist. DeMild earned the win in net with 13 saves.
For Swampscott, senior Jake Sweeney and sophomore Liam Herlihy each scored one goal. Sophomore Aidan Sprague and freshman Anthony Nichols each had one assist, while senior goalie Ian Roddie made 19 saves in net.
The Tanners got off to a bit of a slow start following the Senior Night ceremony, and Swampscott took advantage. Less than five minutes into the game, the Big Blue won a faceoff in the offensive zone and immediately got a shot on net. While DeMild turned away the initial shot, the rebound bounced right onto the stick of Sweeney, who buried the shot to give Swampscott a 1-0 lead.
But the goal seemed to shake Peabody awake, as the Tanners started to push and eventually earned a powerplay opportunity with just over five minutes to go in the first. On the powerplay, LePage cleaned up a rebound in front of the net to tie the score at 1-1. Just over two minutes later, Perry picked up the puck behind the Swampscott net and found Devin in the slot. Devin buried a quick wrist shot to give Peabody a 2-1 lead going into the first intermission.
The score remained at 2-1 through the entire second period, despite Swampscott earning two powerplay opportunities in the frame.
But in the third period, Swampscott came right out and knotted the score at 2-2 on a goal from Herlihy less than four minutes in. The Big Blue held onto that momentum for the next several minutes, earning their third powerplay of the game and getting a number of shots on DeMild.
Then, with less than two minutes to play in the game, LePage picked up a loose puck at center ice, deked around a defenseman and got into the offensive zone all alone. He made one quick move and slipped the puck between Roddie’s leg pads to give Peabody a 3-2 lead in the final minutes. Ryan added an empty-net goal at the buzzer as the Tanners secured the victory.
Peabody (2-6-1) plays on the road at Saugus Saturday night (7).
Swampscott (0-10-1) now has a full week off before hosting Saugus next Wednesday (12:40).
