Offensive Awakening For Tewksbury High Hockey Team

Just when you thought that nobody with a last name other than Petti was ever going to score another goal for the Tewksbury High hockey team, five different Redmen lit the lamp at the , sparking TMHS to a 7-1 thumping of Concord-Carlisle High School.

tallied twice to spark a five-goal, second period outburst by the Redmen, while senior forward Dan Ladderbush and sophomore forward Jack Cash scored a goal apiece. The seven-goal breakout was the biggest offensive explosion of the season for TMHS, which came into the game having scored just 12 goals in its last six games.

"We came out like a ball of fire in the second period and we played very well," said TMHS coach Derek Doherty. "We've had a couple of weeks of not-so-great hockey but I thought the second period broke everything open tonight. We didn't rely on Derek Petti to score all the goals tonight, it was a bunch of guys contributing."

of course, got his share, scoring one in the second period and another in the third as the junior sharp-shooter raised his season totals to 21 goals and five assists. Little brother Ryan Petti, a freshman, stayed hot as well, scoring his fourth goal over the last three games. The younger Petti got the whole scoring fest started when he stole the puck in deep and flipped it home just 17 seconds into the second period. It was his fifth goal of the season.

Cash made it 2-0 (Ladderbush assisting) with his fourth goal of the season just over a minute later, and school was out. Doherty netted his fifth (Geoge Kuegler assist) and sixth (unassisted) goals and Derek Petti notched his 20th of the season (from Mike Casey) before the second period horn had sounded, and the Redmen had set a season's best mark with five goals in a single period.

Ladderbush scored his second of the year (from Kuegler) and Derek Petti popped his 21st (Casey assisting again) before Concord-Carlisle broke the shut out with seven minutes to play. But the Redmen finished with their highest goal-scoring output (seven goals) and largest margin of victory (six) of the season.

"It was a solid all-around game," Doherty said. "We had a good week of practice where we went back to basics. We talked about what we were doing at the beginning of the year and tried to get back to it."

made several strong saves over the first two periods while handled the goaltending duties in the third period.

The defending Division 2 state champion Redmen are now 10-3-4 with just three games left to play in the regular season, and Doherty is hoping that Saturday night's outburst is an indication that his team is starting to play some of it's best hockey as the 2012 state tournament approaches in two weeks. The team has already qualified for state tournament play.

"Your win/loss record doesn't matter, it's the team that peaks at the end," Doherty said. "We talk about that all the time. And you know what, we're going to go through some growing pains during the course of a season, but it's going to make us better. Hopefully, as the end of the season comes, we start to peak. I think that's what we did last year."

The Redmen have not switched their focus to post-season play just yet, however, as Saturday's win improved TMHS to 4-0-4 in Merrimack Valley Conference/Dual County League Division 2 play. Tewksbury still has a shot at winning the MVC/DCL Div. 2 title this year.

"We have to win out and we need Lincoln-Sudbury to beat Boston Latin (on Wednesday) to have a shot," Doherty said. "A tie between them would eliminate us, so we'll see what happens."

Tewksbury plays at Haverhill Wednesday night and hosts Lincoln-Sudbury on Saturday.

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