Sports
Boys' Hockey Can't Slow Down Saugus
The Sachems bounced back from their first loss of the season, drubbing the Witches 12-4 at Salem State.
Coach Brian Adessa didn’t pull any punches after the Salem High School hockey game on Saturday, a 12-4 loss to Saugus.
“We played bad, that’s about it,” Adessa said.
The Witches team - made up of players from Salem High and Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School - plays in the Northeastern Conference South.
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The Witches (1-3-1) are currently in fourth place, behind Marblehead, Lynn and Revere, three points ahead of last place Swampscott.
Hamilton-Wenham’s Brett Harring was unable to make the start in net, due to a prior commitment, so his Generals teammate Grant Thompson made his first varsity start.
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The Sachems treated Thompson to a barrage of shots and four goals in the first period.
“Grant played well, we didn’t do a lot to make his job easier,” Adessa said. “It was a baptism by fire for Grant, this is a good Saugus team and they really peppered him.”
“There was not a lot of help in front of him, and we did not play very well in the defensive end,” Adessa said.
Saugus was up 7-0 before the Witches got on the board at 6:19 of the second period. Hamilton-Wenham’s Spencer Bergholtz shot the puck by Saugus goalie Anthony Allen’s stick side, off a pass from Eric Rosengren.
Saugus would make it 10-1 before Salem answered back late in the second period.
Bergholtz and Rosengren teamed up again to make it 10-2, with Bergholtz stuffing the puck past Allen from the top of the crease.
With 1:43 to play in the second, captain Zach Holt scored off passes from Spencer Collins and Rosengren to make it 10-3. Jesse Wilkins made it 10-4 with 47 seconds to play, Holt and Rosengren had the helpers.
There was no momentum carryover in the third period for Salem it was all Saugus. Tyler Stretton had two goals in the third period to close out the scoring. The Sachems, who play in the Northeastern Conference North, improved to 3-1-3 overall.
Rosengren assisted on all four Witches goals.
“We got a chance to play everybody and I thought we did a nice job,” Saugus coach Jeff Natalucci said after the game. “We came in off a tough loss Wednesday, (4-3 to Peabody) and we bounced back nicely.”
The Witches host Beverly Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. at Salem State. The Panthers beat Swampscott 6-1 on Saturday to improve to 6-2-1 on the season.
