PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
Winthrop’s Gene August does a split after being checked in front of his bench by Saugus’ Brendan Ronan.
By MIKE ALONGI
SAUGUS — It was a battle of top teams in the Northeastern Conference coming into Wednesday night at Kasabuski Arena, and it showed as the Saugus Sachems and the Winthrop Vikings boys hockey teams skated to a 2-2 tie in an exciting game.
“I thought both teams really played well tonight,” said Saugus coach Jeff Natalucci. “This game was a big test for us and I think we did a great job. We haven’t had a chance to play in too many big games like this lately, so it was good to see us perform so well.”
Saugus senior captain Brendan Ronan and junior Ryan Groark each scored a goal for the Sachems (5-0-2), while senior captain Jimmy Alcott recorded two assists. Junior goalie Nick Sanderson had 19 saves.
Senior Charlie Page scored both goals for the Vikings, and his first of the night was his 100th career point at Winthrop.
“I hate to say that we go as Charlie goes, but he’s the leader out there,” said Winthrop coach Mike Norris. “He’s a great kid, a great player and I couldn’t be happier for him on that accomplishment. He’s a great kid, a great leader and he works hard.”
Sophomore goalie Ryan Skoczylas had 14 saves for the Vikings.
Saugus got off to a quick start, with the Sachems putting a goal on the board within the first three minutes of the game. On what appeared to be a routine dump-in by Alcott from center ice, Ronan streaked into the offensive zone, took control of the puck after it ricocheted off the boards and fired one past Skoczylas to take a quick lead.
“We didn’t come out with enough intensity early in the game,” said Norris. “We were doing a lot of watching for the first couple of periods, but thankfully the guys were able to turn that around as the game went on.”
It took awhile for the Vikings to find their footing, but once they did they were able to respond. As time was winding down in the first period, Page took a pass from senior Gene August and flew into the offensive zone. He made a nifty move around a defender at the circle, found an open shot and slipped it under Sanderson’s armpit to knot the score at 1-1.
The second period was largely a stalemate, but Saugus was able to get a lot of pressure on the net. It finally paid off for the Sachems with 1:18 left on the clock, when Groark redirected a shot from Alcott in front of the net to take a 2-1 lead.
Winthrop tried to turn the tables in the third period, putting a ton of pressure on Sanderson from the opening faceoff. The junior goalie faced 10 shots in the period and made a number of great saves to keep Saugus ahead.
“Nick was awesome tonight as always, he’s a great player,” said Natalucci. “He made some huge saves for us, especially in that third period. We broke down a bit on defense late though, and you need to help your goalie in those late-game situations.”
But just as time looked like it was running out for the Vikings, Page came through again. With 3:47 remaining, he took the puck into the zone from center ice and let a quick wrist shot go from the top of the right circle, just barely squeezing it past Sanderson’s right shoulder to tie it up again.
For both teams, it was a great early-season matchup that will serve as a building block.
“There are certainly spots we need to get better at,” Norris said. “We’re a great skating team, but we’ve got to do it the whole time. We also took some untimely penalties and things like that, but they’re certainly things we can work on and clean up.”
“Certainly happy about the way we played tonight, but we need to keep building on it,” said Natalucci. “A game like this is what you’re going to get come tournament time, so we’ve got to keep getting better.”
The Sachems have another big game on Saturday afternoon against Danvers at Endicott College. Winthrop will host Beverly at Larsen Rink on Saturday afternoon.