Sports
Redmen Rebound, Oust Peabody, 4-2
Tewksbury High hockey team advances to the quarterfinals of the D-2 North Sectional.
If any fans were worried that their team had lost it edge in the days leading up to the start of the state tournament, those fans should worry no more.
The sixth-seeded Redmen hit and hustled as hard as they have in any game all season Tuesday night, and the end result was a 4-2 victory over Peabody that sends Tewksbury into the quarterfinals of the Division 2 North Sectional Tournament.
The Redmen, who had lost two out of their final three games after almost two weeks ago, looked nothing like the team , in their final regular season game last Wednesday. On the contrary, they out-hustled, out-hit and out-worked an equally determined Peabody team and came away with one of their biggest and most impressive wins of the season.
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"Our game plan was to come out and play physical and not let anyone push us around," said Tewksbury coach Derek Doherty afterward. "The Wilmington game was a humbling experience for us. We learned what it was like to be on the other end of a game like this, and we didn't want to go through that again."
"We all knew we were better than what we showed against Wilmington," said senior defenseman Rob Pruyne. "We wanted to prove that to everyone, especially ourselves."
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The Redmen came out blazing from the opening face-off and carried a decided advantage in time of possession throughout the game. Pruyne took matters into his own hands with 3:29 to play in the first period, blasting home a slap shot from the point on a power play. Ryan Doherty and Sean MacLeod assisted.
Peabody tied the game at one each with 11:31 left in the second period when Mike Chiappini redirected Nick Salalayko's slap shot past Tewksbury keeper Niko Cunha. But that only served to further motivate the Redmen, as junior forward Dan Ladderbush scored out of a scramble in front of the Peabody net just 49 seconds later, giving Tewksbury the lead for good.
"That hurt us," admitted Peabody coach Mark Leonard. "To tie it up and then give it right back to them, that really hurt us."
Tewksbury extended its lead to 3-1 five minutes later when senior forward Frank Mazzei stole the puck in front of the Peabody net and beat Tanner keeper Derek Savage with a wrist shot. The goal was unassisted.
Peabody attempted to mount a third period comeback when Rob Houghton scored on an assist from Ryan McManus midway through the third period, but the Tewksbury defense stiffened and shut down the Tanners from there. Frustrated, Peabody destroyed their own chances of evening the score by drawing nine third period penalties. Three were for slashing, three were for roughing and three were game misconducts.
"Our game plan was to play a physical game of hockey," Doherty said. "We wanted to get in their face and not let anybody push us around, and that's what we did."
In spite of being shorthanded in the closing moments of the game, Peabody pulled its goalie with just over a minute to play and sophomore forward Derek Petti made the Tanners pay, scoring an open net goal at 14:09 that sealed the win and helped the Redmen get their "mojo" back.
"Did we get our swagger back? I hope so," said Pruyne outside the victor's locker room. "We played Tewksbury Redmen hockey, that's for sure. We kept working hard and hustling, and good things happen for us when we play like that."
The Redmen have four days to prepare for their quarterfinal game. They play the winner of Thursday night's game between Boston Latin and Triton, on Saturday in Stoneham.
