RallyNorth.net

Mon, Feb 18, 2008 02:00 PM @ Peabody

Team	1	2	3	Final
Bishop Fenwick	0	0	1	1
Peabody	1	4	3	8

Peabody rolls to seventh straight Carlin Cup title

Tuesday, February, 19 By Jean DePlacido
Correspondent

Their head coach, Mark Leonard, may have been on crutches after breaking his ankle during a game against the Bruins' Old-Timers this past weekend.

But the rest of the Peabody High hockey team was in tip-top shape | and they displayed that for all to see in yesterday's annual Carlin Cup contest against city rival Bishop Fenwick.

The Tanners dominated, winning their seventh straight Carlin Cup in convincing fashion with an 8-1 victory over Fenwick at the McVann-O'Keefe Rink. They broke the game open with four goals in the middle period and got a big performance from junior A. J. Parker, who recorded his second hat trick of the season.

In all, 11 different players figured in the explosive scoring onslaught for Peabody, which ended the regular season at 15-5.

"What a game," said Leonard, whose team finished the regular season with 91 goals. "It's nice to see it all coming together at the end, heading into the (Division 2 North state) tournament."

Peabody totally dominated the first period but only had one goal to show for it, thanks to the outstanding goaltending of Fenwick junior Craig Forrest. The Salem resident turned aside 17 shots in that 15-minute span and finished with 36 stops.

Parker finally slipped out past him with less than two minutes remaining when Parker beat him alone out front for a 1-0 lead.

"We controlled the game from start to finish, but Forest is such a good goalie (that) he can steal a game," said Leonard. "We wanted to keep pressuring the net."

The Crusaders, who only had five shots in the first period, put more pressure on Peabody goalie Jonathan Camara (18 saves) right from the opening faceoff of the second stanza. Fenwick had a 5-on-3 advantage for a minute-and-a-half early in the period, but came up empty. Tanner senior captains Luke Moran and Pat Yeo did a tremendous job on defense, breaking up scoring threats in front of Camara.

Soon after, Parker scored his second goal of the game after Taylor Shalin sent him in alone.

This game is extra special for Moran, whose uncle Doug McGuirk was awarded the first Charlie Carlin Award when it went to the game's best all-around athlete. In addition, his cousin Brian McGuirk of Danvers is the captain at Boston University.

"This is always an awesome game," said Moran. "Bucci did a an excellent job up front on the 5-on-3 while Yeo and I tried to block the shots before they get to Camara."

The Tanners struck three more times in that frame, using their speed and passing skills to dominate. Sophomore Matt Rodgers scored his 15th of the season, Brown his seventh, and Bucci his eighth.

"We were outplayed in the first period, but Forest kept us in it," said Fenwick coach Bo Tierney, his team now 11-7-1 with Thursday's regular season finale against Beverly (1 p.m.) still to play.

"I thought after we survived the (first period) storm we would be all right, but we didn't capitalize on that 5-on-3. That shorthanded goal right after that was a backbreaker."

Parker completed his hat trick early in the third period, and senior James Noftle scored a pair of goals to up his season total to 20, good for the team lead.

Fenwick's Dale Crispin spoiled Camara's shutout bid with four minutes remaining, scoring off of a Pat Doliber feed.