WOBURN – Marblehead?s depth and speed were on display Wednesday night in its 6-2 win over Somerville in the first round of the Division 2 North tournament.
?Good to get the first one,” said Marblehead coach Bob Jackson. “It?s going to get tougher. We did a nice job working it in, wearing them down.”?That is a very, very good skating team,” Somerville coach Max Gratchev said of Marblehead. “We had some good opportunities early, we were only using two lines, and they just kept coming.”
Marblehead (15-5-1) got on the board first, with P. J. Roy banging one home with 8:05 left in the period first period. Braden Haley made it 2-0 just a minute later.
But Somerville got a break when junior Igor Verkhoturov tossed the puck at the net and it bounced off the leg of teammate Steven Sampson for a goal, cutting Marblehead?s lead to 2-1.
Andrew McGurrin put Marblehead back up by two before the first period ended.
Both goalies were solid in the second. Somerville senior Alex Zakirov kept Marblehead off the board until Danny Gienieczko tucked one home with less than two minutes left.
But just 23 seconds into the third Somerville?s Vladimir Verkhoturov had a centering pass go in of his leg. But that deflection was the last puck that would get behind Marblehead goalie Mark Scribner.
?I don?t know, maybe I was a little rusty,” Scribner said. “It was a long time between shots. That happens sometimes. You don?t see any action for a long time and then they get a goal on a crazy bounce. They got a couple tonight.”
Marblehead?s Tim Kalinowski scored twice in the third for the 6-2 final.
?Hey, you have to give them — especially their goalie — a ton of credit,” Kalinowski said. “He stood on his head for them. We just kept skating, kept shooting and they finally went in for us.Kalinowski said. “The good thing is, we didn’t get frustrated when things weren?t going our way, we kept skating kept shooting, and five different players scored for us.”
Marblehead will play Masconomet in the Division 2 North quarterfinal game Saturday night in Woburn at a time to be determined.Scot Cooper can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @bscooper60.