MIDDLETON — The No. 3 Essex Tech boys hockey team had just enough left in the tank to outlast a pesky No. 19 Hopedale-Milford squad 4-3 in the MIAA Division 3 Boys State Tournament Saturday at the Essex Sports Center.
The win punched the Hawks’ ticket to an Elite Eight matchup against No. 6 Bedford (TBD), which advanced with a 5-0 win over Wakefield.
The Hawks were led by the Peabody trio of Ted Tsoutsoris (2 goals), Anthony Bisenti (goal, assist), and Brady Leonard (goal, assist), who notched his 150th career point.
The Hawks looked to be on easy street with a 4-2 lead with a little more than three minutes left in the game. But the Blue Raiders made things interesting when David Fleming scored on a power play at the 11:48 mark, making it a one-goal game at 4-3.
It wasn’t exactly the kind of ending that the Hawks’ Coach Mark Leonard had in mind, but he’ll take it.
“Each time they scored, we responded, but that last three minutes was a little nerve-wracking, I’m not going to lie to you,” the Peabody resident and Peabody Athletics Hall of Famer said. “I like how we kept the pressure up and didn’t give them any real opportunities. We never make it easy. We’ve been that way all year. Shot-wise, we just can’t seem to find the back of the net. We had so many chances to put this game away. It was a great effort. I thought that the team played us very hard. It wasn’t our best game, but we got it done.”
The Hawks came out flying, outshooting the Blue Raiders 12-1 in the first period but held just a 1-0 lead going into the middle period, thanks to a Tsoutsoris goal at the 13:22 mark. Ben Rehal and Cam Casey picked up assists.
The second period was chock full of action – and goals.
Tsoutsoris doubled Tech’s lead to 2-0 about two minutes in, taking a pass from Brian Delisio on a two-on-one and burying it.
Hopedale-Milford’s Ricky Nashawaty put the Blue Raiders on the board a couple of minutes later to make it a 2-1 game. A minute later, Brady Leonard answered with his 150th point. He flew down the left wing along the boards, then cut to the net and buried a backhander (from Bisenti and Liam Waterman).
Six minutes later, Josh Balzarini cut the Blue Raiders’ deficit to 3-2. Once again, Essex Tech responded quickly and bumped the lead to 4-2 on Bisenti’s second goal. He pounced on a Brady Leonard rebound and buried it. Mason Sutcliffe of Peabody was also credited with an assist.
Tech goalie Teagan Moreau was under fire late in the third period, making several key saves to keep the Blue Raiders at bay. Fleming finally broke through late, firing a slap shot from the right point that trickled past Moreau.
Hopedale-Milford pulled the goalie with about 45 seconds left, giving Moreau all he could handle, surviving three tense faceoffs and a couple of dangerous scrums.
“Teagan made some nice saves at the end,” Leonard said. “He’s been doing that for us all year.”
Mark Leonard credited the third line rotation of Jake Swencki, Tyler McHugh, Michael Cann, and Brett Granger for grinding it out.
“Those four make up our third line. Honestly, talk about unheralded, but we’re not winning without them,” Mark Leonard said. “Most teams play two lines against us. We’ve had a ton of third-period goals because we just wear them down because of our third line and also the third line has done a tremendous job not giving up many goals. The whole team played well. They (Hopedale-Milford) made it tough for us but we stuck with it and didn’t get frustrated.”
Mark Leonard also highlighted the contributions of Tsoutsoris, Bisenti, and Casey.
“Ted played great today. Leonard said. “He is all over the place. He had two great snipes today – two low shots that beat the goalie and that’s why he got the player of the game today.
“Anthony goes hard every game. He’s very good at finding the open space and Cam was tremendous today. He’s not very big, but he plays every other shift so he plays a lot. He’d play every shift if we let him. He’s smart and one of our top defensemen for sure.”
Leonard said he thought the Blue Raiders could have pulled their goalie earlier when the puck was in the Hawks’ defensive zone. But Moreau wasn’t surprised.
“Our team is incredibly aggressive so, no, I wasn’t too surprised,” he said. In a lot of situations like that we are able to chip it out of our zone and we are almost guaranteed a goal if they pull the goalie. Our group is just so talented. They always give it all they have. It feels good moving on to the next round.”
Mark Leonard said he’ll be watching Bedford game films all week.
“We didn’t even talk about the team we were going to play after the game today – we just worry about us,” he said. “I know they have some speed and some skill. I haven’t seen them live but I’ll see them a lot in the next couple of days as I’m sure they’ll be watching us. When you get this deep in the tournament, you’re going to play a good team. Hopefully, we’ll be at our best.”
