Headers Boys Hockey Ready For Pembroke

The equation for boys' hockey team is simple, win against Pembroke Tuesday night and they will get the chance to play for the Division III state hockey championship on Sunday at the TD Garden in Boston.

The Headers will square off tomorrow night at Harvard University's Bright Hockey Center at 7:30 p.m. with Division III South champions the Pembroke Titans.

Pembroke finished in second place behind North Quincy in the regular season. The Titans finished 11-5-4, and have blasted through the south sectionals with five straight wins, improving to 16-5-4. The Titans have been solid on the offensive side of the puck and stingy on defense, outscoring their opponents in the playoffs 32-4 and registering two shutouts.

Pembroke dumped Somerset 10-1, Nantucket 5-0, Bishop Feehan 9-0 and Medfield 5-1, making it to the championship round against Westwood. That was when the Titans played their closest game of the postseason, winning 3-2 in overtime to claim the Division Three South title.

The Titans came into the tournament as the 11th seed, upsetting the third seed and the sixth seed to get to the Marblehead game.

Pembroke will likely come into the game with a chip on their shoulder, after being knocked out in the opening round of the tournament in 2010, falling to Ashland 2-1 in overtime.

Marblehead conquered the Northeastern Conference South with a 15-4-3 regular season record. Wins over , and the top-seeded put the Headers in the state semifinals. Marblehead avenged a 2009 playoff loss to Shawsheen with a 6-2 win on Saturday night for the Division III North crown.

Marblehead is averaging more than 40 shots a game and scored 16 times in their three playoff wins. Senior goaltender Tony Cuzner has been a wall in the net over the past two weeks, with a mere 2.00 goals against average.

After winning the Division Three North crown in 2010 with a 4-2 win over Concord-Carlisle, the Headers fell to Scituate 3-2 in the state semifinals. The Skippers dumped Marblehead 8-2 in the state semifinals in 2008.

“We schedule strong teams out of our league during the regular season, and it really helps us come playoff time,” coach Bob Jackson said.

“Ryan (Dempsey), Ben (Koopman), Chris (McLeod) and I take our captaincy duties very seriously,” senior defenseman Jake Kulevich said Monday afternoon. “It’s important for us to lead and set a good example for the other guys on the team.”

Co-captain Ryan Dempsey has six goals in the playoffs after leading the team in scoring during the regular season.

“We've  just got to keep it going, keep taking shots, keep making good passes and going to the net hard whenever we get the chance,” Dempsey said.

The Alexander H. Bright Hockey Center is located on the east side of the Charles River at 79 North Harvard St., adjacent to the football stadium. Quite a few of its 2,850 seats will be filled with people wearing red and black when the puck drops Tuesday night at 7:30.

The winner of Tuesday’s game will play the winner of the Hudson-Westfield game for the state title on Sunday (TBA) at the Garden.

Remember to check Marblehead Patch for updates during the game tomorrow night.

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