PEABODY — The Peabody/Saugus boys hockey team hasn’t had much luck when it comes to putting goals on the board, but Wednesday night at McVann O’Keefe Skating Rink, the Tanners (2-7–1) put it all together against Minuteman Regional, defeating the Mustangs 7-1.
Ten Tanners cracked the stats column with goals from seven players. Captain Trevor Pacheco led the party with a goal and two assists, while Brandon Berone (goal, assist) and captain Michael Ryan (2 assists) had multiple-point games.
Freshman defenseman Demetri Breton scored his first career varsity goal.
“It’s good to be on this side of it,” said Peabody/Saugus head coach Jason Marshall. “We’ve had a lot of games go against us in this same fashion, but we played an entire 45 minutes. We had a lot of guys working really hard. Up and down the lineup all 20 guys that I had dressed were all busting their butts the entire game. So that was good to see.”
Nate Palhs put Peabody on the board at the seven-minute mark of the first period, tipping a rebound off a Tristan Joyce shot past Minuteman goalie Alex Francione. Two minutes later, Tyson Higgins (from Ryan and Pacheco) doubled the lead to 2-0.
In the final minute of the period, Berone made it a 3-0 game when he picked up a loose puck at the blue line, walked in alone, and drilled a wrist shot into the back of the net.
The Tanners picked up where they left off in the second period, exploding for four goals in a little more than three minutes to put the game out of reach, 7-0.
O’Leary started the avalanche a little more than three minutes in (from Berone and Pacheco). Two minutes later, Pacheco made it 5-0 with a power play goal (from Ryan). Breton (from Palhares) and Dom Chianca added two more goals.
Despite the lopsided score, starting goaltender Evan Tybinkowski and backup Jayden Cunningham were tested several times, but repelled every shot but one.
“Evan’s been lights out for us this year.” Marshall said. “He’s seen so many shots, but even with that, he’s been really giving non-stop effort whether we’re up in the game or down in the game. He played fantastically throughout the game and we were able to get our other goalie, Jayden, in for about 12 minutes and he also did great and didn’t allow a goal.”
Marshall gave a shout out to several players, saying the second line of Chianca, O’Leary and Berone “have been fantastic for us the last few games. They have a lot of speed and they really push the pace and allow us to get a jump on other teams. The last three games since we moved Dom up to forward, they’ve been really good. They push the pace of all the other guys around them.”
Marshall also like what he saw from several others, including the third line of Breton, Palhares and Larry Barrows
“They were forechecking really hard and had a bunch of scoring chances and a couple of goals and pushed the pace the entire game,” Marshall said. “Ty Higgins is always working really hard. It’s hard to pick out individual guys in a good game like this. They all played great.”
Marshall wasn’t happy with the fact that the Tanners took nine penalties, but admitted the silver lining is that spending so much in the penalty box has given the penalty kill unit a lot of practice.
“Unfortunately, we’ve had a lot of experience on the penalty kill,” Marshall said. “We’ve gotten a lot of time with it, especially in a game like this when playing at a really high level. It stinks to spend that much time in the box. A lot of it is trying to keep our temperament and keep our heads straight and not letting our emotions get the best of us. We’ve been continually working on it all year. With so much in the box, they’ve gotten a lot better over the course of the season, so I guess it’s both good and bad.”
The Tanners’ next game is against Goucester at Talbot Rink Saturday night at 6 p.m. Marshall said he knows the team will be facing a challenge.
“It will be a very tough game as they are the best team in our league, so it won’t be easy, especially going up against Gloucester,” Marshall said. “Even in a down year for them, it’s never easy to play there, but I am hoping to keep building off this week. It’s been a fantastic week at practice and tonight, so we hope to keep building into that game.”
