Sports
Redmen Win Division 2 North Championship
Tewksbury High hockey team tops Saugus, 3-1, and will play for state title next weekend.
(Editor's note: Due to a technical difficulty, you may experience difficulty viewing some of the video highlights. We are working on the problem and will have it corrected as soon as possible.)
There's going to be a Garden party next Sunday, and the Tewksbury High hockey Redmen just got themselves invited.
Brothers Derek and Mark Petti scored a goal apiece to lead Tewksbury to a thrilling 3-1 victory over Saugus in the Division 2 North Sectional Championship game Friday night at the Chelmsford Forum, and the 2011 sectional champs will now play for the Division 2 state championship on March 20 at the TD Garden in Boston.
Find out what's happening in Tewksburyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
"We're going to the Garden!" screamed senior defenseman Rob Pruyne after the Redmen broke open a tightly contested 1-1 game with a dominating third period effort. "This is unbelievable. This is a dream come true as a high school senior. I can't believe this. Words can't describe it."
Tewksbury peppered Saugus goaltender Nick Hegarty with 15 shots in the decisive third period, and although it seemed at times that the Redmen would never find the back of the net, senior forward Mark Petti eventually came through, scoring the game winner with just 2:46 left to play in the game.
Find out what's happening in Tewksburyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
"Their goalie was great," Mark Petti said afterward. "He did an awesome job. But we just kept on pounding and pounding and finally it went in."
The Redmen came into the game knowing that goals wouldn't come easily, as Saugus had allowed only 34 goals in 23 games so far this winter. The Sachems had surrendered no more than one goal in each of their last seven games, two of which were shutouts.
But sophomore forward Derek Petti got the scoring started for Tewksbury with just 45 seconds left in the first period when he slid home a rebound in front of the Saugus net after Hegarty had stopped a Pruyne slap shot.
Saugus tied the game at one apiece when junior defenseman Dan Groark slid one home from the blue line during a 4-on-4 situation with just 21 seconds left in the second period. It appeared as though the Sachems had grabbed the momentum at that point, as Pruyne had been sent to the penalty box just 10 seconds earlier for elbowing.
Saugus went to the locker room looking confident, and the Redmen were facing a shorthanded situation to start the final period. But instead of letting down, Tewksbury came out fired up in the third period, killed off the remainder of the penalty and started an all-out assault on the Saugus net.
"We all knew we were playing strong hockey," Pruyne said. "We just had to come out and kill that penalty. We thought we'd be in good shape from there. We knew we'd be all set if we kept working hard."
Still, Hegarty had other ideas, turning away everything Tewksbury could throw at him, until Mark Petti finally lit the lamp in the closing moments of the game. The game winner came when Petti and senior forward Frank Mazzei attacked the net side by side, with Petti flipping home the rebound of Mazzei's initial shot.
"Mark Petti played a superb game tonight," said Tewksbury coach Derek Doherty. "It was good to see him finish at the end there to win the game."
Saugus pulled Hegarty in the final minute of the game, hoping an extra skater would help produce the equalizer, but Tewksbury senior captain Ryan Doherty scored an unassisted goal on an open net with 31 seconds left, and the North Sectional championship trophy belonged to Tewksbury.
"We finally did it," said Ryan Doherty, who played in a sectional final as a freshman when Tewksbury lost to Wilmington in a shoot out in March 2008. "This team is great. We wanted it so bad."
Defensively, it was another stellar effort for goaltender Niko Cunha and the Tewksbury defensemen. The Redmen have now outscored their four state tournament opponents by a combined total of 14-4.
"Our defensemen have played well all year long, and they don't get enough credit," Derek Doherty said. "Sean MacLeod, Rob Pruyne, Sean Taylor and PJ Mugford, they're the guys who have stepped up in this tournament and really, really helped us.
"We're only giving up one or two goals a game and that just doesn't happen because our offense is so good," Doherty added. "That's because our defense is playing so well. We've got guys who can handle the puck and we've got guys who are tough, and it's all good."
The Redmen now have a week to bask in the glory of their sectional championship, and to prepare for next Sunday's state championship game. Tewksbury will play the winner of this Sunday's South Sectional championship game between Franklin High and Plymouth South, next Sunday afternoon at "the Garden."
