LOWELL — The Marblehead boys hockey team put together a solid effort, for the most part, Thursday afternoon, but a disastrous second period in which it allowed four unanswered goals led to a 6-4 loss to Lowell Catholic on the road at the Tsongas Center.
Hayden Leveroni led the way for Marblehead with two goals, while Aidan Ryan had one goal and two assists in the loss. Carter Laramie added one goal, while Connor Jalbert had three assists and Eli Feingold had one assist.
The first period was a back-and-forth affair, with Marblehead getting plenty of chances on the offensive side of the ice. But it also gave up a number of chances to Lowell Catholic, forcing Winter into a handful of nifty saves to keep it scoreless.
After an unsuccessful powerplay chance and a breakaway opportunity that also came up empty, Marblehead finally cracked the deadlock when Leveroni took a pass at the top of the right circle and fired a wrist shot under the armpit of Lowell Catholic goalie Vincenzo D’urso to make it a 1-0 game heading into the first intermission.
But the second period was a disaster for Marblehead. It all started just 18 seconds into the frame, when Alexander Pescatore ripped a shot from outside the blue line that found its way home to tie the score at 1-1. Less than two minutes later, the Crusaders jumped ahead when Patrick Drew stole a loose puck in the Marblehead zone and roofed it. And two minutes after that, Lucas Rego knocked home a rebound to make it 3-1 and cap off a disastrous five-minute stretch for the Marblehead defense. After Daniel Kierce scored with six minutes to go in the period, Lowell Catholic took a 4-1 lead into the final frame.
But still, Marblelhead wasn’t done fighting. After the first nine-plus minutes of the third period went by with no change in score, Marblehead eventually broke through when Ryan found the back of the net to make it 4-2. A little more than a minute later, Leveroni’s second goal of the game all of a sudden made it 4-3.
But just as Marblehead fans started to get their hopes up, Lowell Catholic dashed any hope of a comeback when Matthew Cabral scored with 2:13 to play to make it a 5-3 game. Cabral added an empty-net goal 30 seconds later to make it 6-3, before Laramie closed out the game with a goal in the final seconds of play.
Marblehead (0-3-0) travels to Gloucester Sunday night (8) to play in the Cape Ann Savings Bank Christmas Tournament.