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Rivet, Daccord save tie for North Andover

Wednesday, February, 15 By David Willis
Staff writer

NORTH ANDOVER — Even with his front-row seat for the action, the final seconds were a blur even to North Andover goalie Joey Daccord.

“Dan Rivet made a great play on the backcheck and I don’t know how he blocked that pass,” said the goalie. “Then I somehow got my leg out to block and shot and the buzzer went off.”

For a moment it looked as if Masconomet was set for a breakaway with just under 15 seconds to go in the game.

But Rivet, a forward playing defense, raced back and dove to block the pass to slow the rush and Daccord kicked away a final shot just before the buzzer sounded in a 2-2 tie with archrival Masconomet last night.

“Rivet is always willing to play defense when we need him,” said Scarlet Knights head coach Peter Marfione. “He came back and got just enough of the puck to slow it. And Joey has been saving us all season, and did it again.”

The game marked the final matchup for the Knights and Chieftains as CAL rivals.

“This rivalry has always been very important to me and the whole town,” said tri-captain Ryan Sweeney. “This is a huge rivalry, and this game was exciting.”

Sweeney gave the Scarlet Knights the lead just 52 seconds into the game, taking a pass from Ricky O’Connor and blasting it into the net from the left faceoff circle. Masco then took a 2-1 lead early in the third, but back came the Knights.

Nick Pino scored one of the coolest goals of the season, firing a slap shot that hit the post, hit the back of the Masco goalie and found the net 3:46 into the third period.

North Andover dominated the rest of the period, outshooting the Chieftains by a whopping 20-8 margin in the third, but could not beat Masco’s Matt Cardillo again.

“We had a lot of scoring chances,” said Daccord. “But we just couldn’t put them home. Their goalie was great.”

The Scarlet Knights finished the game with a 38-23 shot advantage.

“I thought we had the edge the whole game,” said Marfione. “We were getting pucks on net but we weren’t finishing. We aren’t scoring goals right now. We did show some good things coming back, but we have to get a better full effort for the entire 45 minutes.”

Daccord turned in a few key saves, especially in the second period when he made a stellar glove save and turned in another stop in which he blocked a shot with his body in traffic.

“We are feeling very confident right now looking at the tourney,” said Sweeney. “We’re working so hard, but we need to finish out chances. But we keep fighting.”

It is currently unknown if the two squads will meet next season, with the Knights moving to the Merrimack Valley Conference. But if this was the finale, the players will miss the rivalry.

“It’s been awesome over the years,” said Daccord. “It seems like we split it down the middle every season. We love playing them, and I think they love playing us.”