HAVERHILL — With just under four minutes left in the second period, Jack Sullivan decided that enough was enough.
And, man, did he mean it.
Up to that point it hadn’t been the cleanest game for his Newburyport team, which trailed CAL rival Pentucket, 3-2, after allowing two power play goals and — even worse — a shorthanded tally. But almost in a blink, the sophomore forward decided to remind everyone that he’s arguably the most dangerous scorer in the league.
In a span of six game minutes: Boom, boom, boom, boom.
Sullivan just absolutely took over, scoring four goals during that stretch to help Newburyport ultimately pull away for the 6-4 victory over Pentucket at Veterans Memorial Rink. He poured in 13 goals during a highly-successful freshman campaign a year ago, but is now already up to 16 this season with still at least 10 games remaining.
“He’s a hard worker and he’s loaded with skill,” said Newburyport coach Paul Yameen, his team now 7-5-1. “He can skate like the wind, and he’s been burying them lately. Obviously he’s a dangerous player, and it makes us that much better when he’s playing like that.”
Here’s a quick play-by-play on how it all went down.
–3:37 left in the second period: Sullivan finds the back of the net off a feed from Henry Waddell and Owen Mongeau.
–0:11 left in second period: Sullivan sends home an off-angle look from nearly below the goal off a deflection from a Waddell shot.
–0:55 seconds into the third period: Sullivan buries one top-left corner after a nice stretch-pass from Charlie Tramontana led to a rush.
–2:30 into the third period: Sullivan takes a pass from Jagger Gudaitis and flips his fourth home to make it a 6-3 game.
It was quite the display to watch.
Unfortunately on the other side, though, that’s kind of been the story of the past couple of weeks for Pentucket defensively. The Panthers (5-8-1) haven’t had too many issues finding the back of the net, but have now allowed 23 goals over their last five games — a stretch where they’ve gone 1-4-0.
“We seem to get beat a little bit individually, 1-on-1s, 2-on-1s,” said Pentucket coach Dan Bly. “Our D-zone is okay, but a lot of the times it’s coming off the rush. So if we could lock that in, we could be tough to beat.”
Offensively, though, it’s been a different story.
The Panthers have scored 14 goals over their last four, and despite their recent skid, are still in position to host a first-round playoff game at No. 16 in the latest Division 4 rankings. Senior captain Chase Pelletier scored for the Panthers two minutes after Tommy Gagnon broke the ice for Newburyport, then John Racki countered a Waddell goal to make it a 2-2 game after the first period.
Then when Pelletier scored again early in the second, it was a 3-2 Panther lead.
“Offensively we’re going okay right now, we had a good effort tonight,” said Bly. “It was nice to get back to having a good effort after our last few games were not played very well by us. So it was good to get back out there and play hard, and to have a fun game tonight.”
But Sullivan proved to be too much.
And in general, Newburyport settled down and played a solid final 25 minutes of hockey. The two teams combined for an absurd 17 penalties, and fellow senior capptain Mac Cole would net a third power play goal for the Panthers with just over six minutes left. But behind defensemen Gudaitis, Tramontana, Weston Puleo, Mason Varay and Tyler Bergeron, the Clippers made sure that sophomore goalie Sean Murray could pick up another win.
The surging Clippers have gone 4-1-1 over their last six, and are currently at No. 21 in the latest Division 2 rankings. And the one loss during that stretch was to a state powerhouse Canton team that is No. 2 in the division.
“We gave up two power play goals and a shorthanded goal today, so that’s kind of discouraging,” said Yameen. “But I thought we played okay. They’re definitely a much-improved Pentucket team, they play hard. They’re a rival for a reason, so it was another good CAL game.”
Newburyport 6, Pentucket 4
Newburyport (7-5-0): 2 2 2 — 6
Pentucket (5-8-1): 2 1 1 — 4
Goals: N — Jack Sullivan 4, Tommy Gagnon, Henry Waddell; P — Chase Pelletier 2, John Racki, Mac Cole
Assists: N — Owen Mongeau 2, Waddell 2, MacIsaac, Sullivan, Jagger Gudaitis, Charlie Tramontana; P — Caleb Coppo 2, Pelletier, Sam Escobar, Brody LeCoist
Saves: N — Sean Murray 20; P — Josh Yoon 19