BEVERLY — In what is already shaping up to be a wide open Northeastern Conference boys hockey race for the top spot this winter, every league battle takes on added importance.
So while victories are certainly preferred, games that end in a tie — such as Danvers’ 4-4 overtime draw with Beverly Saturday night at Bourque Arena — shouldn’t be scoffed at.
There were four different lead changes on the night, with neither of these age-old rivals gaining more than a one-goal edge before their opponents squared things up again.
“We’re happy to get a point out of this,” Danvers (2-4-1) head coach Bill Sheehan, whose club was led offensively by senior left wing Cooper Dunham’s hat trick. “For two-thirds of the game I thought we played the style we want to play: we got to the net and we scored down low. We possessed the puck, carried it well, won a lot of neutral zone battles, and basically did the things we’ve been working on.
“We also slowed things down in the neutral zone, which you have to do to be successful against a kid like (Beverly captain) Logan Bowen. We had a lot of layers, especially in the second period, that slowed them down.”
This was Danvers’ annual J.J. Rosato Memorial Game, played in memory of the young hockey player who would’ve graduated with the DHS Class of 2025. He tragically passed away in 2015 when he was eight years old from SUDC (Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood). The Falcons wore special jerseys with “JJ 91” patches on the front and “Rosato” on their backs.
Beverly, which led by a goal (3-2) after 15 minutes but trailed (4-3) after 30 minutes, got the tying marker just 29 seconds into the third period when captain Mikey O’Leary knocked in a Bowen rebound. After being outplayed in the middle stanza the Panthers controlled most of the third, but couldn’t beat Falcons netminder Evan Morey again.
The Orange-and-Black — who have gone 11 straight meetings without a win over Danvers — had a golden opportunity to break the tie when it was awarded a full 2-minute, 5-on-3 power play with just over five minutes left in regulation. But they could manage just two shots on Morey against a stifling Falcons’ penalty kill.
“That’s what I’ll have nightmares about. Those missed opportunities are what haunt you,” Beverly head coach Andy Scott admitted. “But it’s also tough to be disappointed if you’re getting the chances. If we bore down and buried those chances, we probably win.”
Both Morey (22 saves) and his counterpart, Beverly junior Tyler Chin-Aleong (26 saves) had their moments of brilliance, particularly in OT. Morey made the stop of the evening when he thrust up his left leg after turning aside a Bowen rush to rob O’Leary’s rebound bid; Chin-Aleong shut the door on back-to-back Falcon chances in tight with just under a minute to go.
“I don’t know how (Morey) got that. He looked like (Tom) Barrasso kicking his leg up to make that save,” said Scott, referring to the old Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins’ netminder.
Five goals singed the twine in the first period, with Danvers defenseman Aiden Hockney lighting the lamp first. O’Leary responded for Beverly, Dunham buried the first of his three to make it 2-1, and the Panthers tied it again on an Alex Alexeyev glove-side shot, then grabbed their only lead when Coby Malionek ripped a shot from the far circle cleanly into the DHS cage.
Dunham, though, cashed in twice in the second period to put the Falcons back up, 4-3. With his team outshooting Beverly, 14-4, Dunham snuck in the back door and converted a pass from Anthony Sheehan (the freshman’s first varsity point) to knot things up once more. His man-up tally with three minutes until intermission put the Oniontowners back on top.
“Driving to the net, that’s how we’re going to score our goals,” said Sheehan. “We’ve been missing that and ran some drills lately in practice on going hard to the net. We’re not going to be a pretty team that scores tic-tac-toe goals; we need to grind and attack the net.”
“We didn’t win because of that second period,” Scott stated. “We responded well in the first period, and I really liked how we ended that period. As a coach you think you’re going to continue that into the second period, and it’s frustrating when we didn’t.
“If I’m being honest, we’ve underperformed a bit. We all know it,” he added. “We could’ve been better tonight. The skill is there, but the three-period effort needs to be more consistent.”
Sheehan singled out junior wing Colby Medeiros and defenseman) Jake Langlais for their shot blocking while down 5-on-3, as well as third liners Keegan Crowley, Connor Dembowski and freshman Brady Swanton.
Beverly 4, Danvers 4 (OT)
at Bourque Arena, Endicott College
Beverly;3;0;1;0;4
Danvers;2;2;0;0;4
First period: D, Aiden Hockney (Thomas Fish, Colby Medeiros), 2:03; B, Mikey O’Leary (Logan Bowen, Ryan Everett), 5:21; D, Cooper Dunham (Drew Godfried), 5:46; B, Alex Alexeyev (Casey Chirco, Coby Malionek), 10:22; B, Malionek (un), 11:25.
Second period: D, Dunham (Anthony Sheehan, Owen Swanton), 7:28; D, Dunham (Godfried, O. Swanton), ppg, 11:58.
Third period: B, Bowen (O’Leary), :29.
Overtime: No scoring.
Saves: B, Tyler Chin-Aleong 26; D, Evan Morey 22.
Records: B, 3-2-1; D, 2-4-1.