METHUEN — When Ben Murphy took over as the North Andover boys hockey team’s coach, he inherited a five-win team that had just five varsity returners.
He knew and expects season long growing pains.
After starting the season out 0-3, the Scarlet Knights were able to withstand some of their inexperience on Saturday night and come away with a 5-4 victory over Algonquin Regional in the first round of the second annual Jersey Mike’s Holiday Tournament.
The win advances North Andover into Sunday night’s championship game against host Methuen (7 p.m.).
“I’m excited and told the guys that we want to play for a championship whenever the opportunity presents itself. We’ll have opportunities to do that and will have our first one (on Sunday night),” said Murphy.
After trailing 1-0 just 39 seconds into the game, North Andover scored the game’s next four goals and had a 4-1 lead with 9:55 to go in the second period.
North Andover had a difficult time putting the Titans away. Algonquin scored a late second period goal, before cutting the deficit to one just 3:10 into the third.
A power play goal by Shane Lawlor gave the Scarlet Knights some breathing room, before the Titans added another with 17 seconds remaining.
“Give (Algonquin) credit. They played hard and continued to compete and they didn’t quit on their effort,” said Murphy. “Nobody ever wants to let teams back in the game, but that’s part of the growth process with our program. We’re young and we’ll get there. Overall, I’m really proud of our guys and their effort. We’re executing better every day.”
Algonquin outshot North Andover, 33-25. Goalie Ben Woodford had another strong game in net turning away 29 shots. He was also able to relax a bit when his teammates Alex Cardaro, Zachary Steely (2) and Lawlor (2) found the back of the net. In the previous three games, North Andover combined to score three goals.
“We did a lot of good things offensively. We created a lot more opportunities for ourselves. Their goalie made some really big saves to keep it tight. I’m happy with our growth and with how guys continue to develop,” said Murphy.
North Andover 5, Algonquin 4
First: 1, AL, Gilbert Prepetit (Kyle Yusikones), 0:39; 2, NA, Alex Cardaro (Derek Lafond and Jayden Stetson), 1:10; 3, NA, Zachary Steely (Connor Carpenter), 13:37; 4, NA, Shane Lawlor (Joshua Kuberski and Gavin Raycroft), 14:00.
Second: 5, Steely (una), 5:05 (SH); 6, AL, Prepetit (Sam Yosca), 12:23 (PP).
Third: 7, AL, Thomas O’Leary (una), 3:10; 8, NA, Lawlor (Steely), 6:38 (PP); 9, AL, Prepetit (una), 14:43.
Saves: AL, Nicholas Robbins 20; NA, Ben Woodford 29.