BEVERLY — Three games to go in Northeastern Conference play and currently tied for the top spot.
“We want the NEC,” admitted Beverly High senior winger Coby Malionek, who scored a pair of goals for the Panthers in Saturday’s 5-1 triumph over Marblehead. “We know it’s close and we know the job we have to do. We start with the little things and just continue on, going and going and going.”
Having not captured the top spot in the NEC standings since their state championship season of 2014, the Panthers (8-4-2 overall) are tied with Winthrop with identical 6-2-1 league marks. Danvers (5-2-2) and Gloucester (6-3) are both one point behind the front-runners, making for what’s going to be a wild finish for the conference crown.
“It’s just the energy of the guys in that room,” added the 18-year Malionek, one of 13 seniors on the BHS roster this winter. “We’re all fired up and have our eyes on the prize.”
Freshman second liner Colby Kaszynski added two goals of his own, with senior linemates Drew Murphy and Xander Alexeyev earning assists on both.
“We have 13 seniors and they want to make the most of their last season,” said Kaszynski. “We all want to get as far as we can for them. Our motivation is to play for them.”
Malinoek’s running mates, captains Logan Bowen and Mikey O’Leary, dished out three and two assists, respectively. Senior defenseman Ryan Everett added a power play tally.
“Those guys want the puck,” Marblehead head coach Brendan Locke — whose team had its three-game winning streak (and 4-game unbeaten mark) snapped — said of the Panthers. “They have a little more will to go get it and say, ‘I’m not letting anyone take this from me. They do a great job on the boards and in the neutral zone, stopping the puck and getting it back in. They’ve all bought in and have the right attitude.”
Junior Ty Chin-Aleong came 52 seconds away from turning in his third consecutive shutout before the Headers’ Ryan Frary beat him on a rebound. The Beverly netminder finished with 20 stops.
His counterpart, Marblehead senior Bowden Laramie, was constantly kept alert and busy, winding up with 38 saves.
This marked Beverly’s first two-game season sweep of the Headers in eight seasons.
“What I liked about this one was the commitment to be dogs on the puck in all three zones, wave upon wave upon wave,” said Beverly head coach Andy Scott. “We were good below the goal line, too, but we were also good at the hashes and six feet inside our own blue line, too.
“I really like the trajectory we’re on.”
It wasn’t just the guys who scored who made an impact for the Orange-and-Black, either. The third line of senior wings Matt Rex and Henry Millis, with junior Casey Chirco in the middle, continues to be a catalyst in terms of their intensity and drive.
The defensive structure in their own end of the ice from Everett, Nate Wheeler, Teddy Fisher, Zach Jones, Bryce Doherty and Adam Campos has also been evident, as the Panthers have allowed just two goals in their last four contests.
Locke said this game was a good learning lesson for his players, particularly when it comes to be stronger on the puck and along the boards while also needing to backcheck hard the entire game, not just in spurts.
“We didn’t get many pucks in the middle of their zone. The one time we did, it resulted in Ryan scoring,” he said. “We need to get the puck wide and to the middle of the net. A little more effort to get the puck to the house out front of the other team’s net.”
Beverly played the game not only in honor of their teachers by also Morgan’s Message, a non-profit which works within the student-athlete community at the high school and college levels to help end the stigma surrounding mental health. Many Beverly players wore teal (the color associated with Morgan’s Message) tape on their shin pads and sticks.
Beverly 5, Marblehead 1
at Bourque Arena, Endicott College in Beverly
Marblehead;0;0;1;1
Beverly;1;3;1;5
First period: B, Coby Malionek (Mikey O’Leary, Logan Bowen), 3:51.
Second period: B, Ryan Everett (Nate Wheeler, Bowen), ppg, 3:49; B, Malionek (O’Leary, Bowen), 5:16; B, Colby Kaszynski (Drew Murphy, Xander Alexeyev), 11:22.
Third period: B, Kaszynski (Murphy, Alexeyev), 1:27; M, Ryan Frary (JJ Downey, EJ Wyman), 14:08.
Saves: M, Bowden Laramie 38; B, Ty Chin-Aleong 20.
Records: B, 8-4-2; M, 3-9-1.