RallyNorth.net

Marblehead icemen come together, find selves in North title game

Friday, March, 07 By Matt Williams
Staff writer

How many teams begin a season winless in their first four games, then wind up two games away from winning a state championship?

The Marblehead High hockey team doesn't know the answer | and you'll forgive them if they don't really care. That the Headers have managed to turn the trick themselves is enough to keep them occupied.

The latest chapter in 12th seeded Marblehead's improbable story will be written tonight when the Headers (13-10-0) challenge No. 2 Concord-Carlisle (16-5-1) in the Division 3 North championship game at the Chelmsford Forum (5:10 p.m.).

"From the beginning, we talked about playing in March (as a team goal). We've been able to improve in every game and really jell as a team recently," said Marblehead's Bob Jackson, who has led the Headers on their longest postseason run since 1985 in just his second season as head coach.

The Concord-Carlisle Patriots might come in as the favorites tonight, and they're certainly firing on all cylinders after racking up 15 total goals in two easy postseason wins.

But don't expect the Headers to be intimidated by the underdog role. It's one they embraced a long time ago.

"Teams might've overlooked us a bit, but we're getting the job done with a lot of hard work," said sophomore forward Ellery Smith, the Headers' leading playoff scorer with two goals nd three points.

Indeed, Marblehead didn't beat archrival Swampscott in the first round with a lot of flash, nor Boston Latin Academy and Trinity Catholic in the subsequent rounds. Instead, they used strong defense and a relentless backcheck to pressure their opponents into mistakes and kept dangerous chances to a minimum.

That sort of style simply doesn't work unless the players buy into the system and fully trust each other. That might not have been the case early on, as Marblehead integrated seven freshmen onto a team with just two seniors.

But the Headers came together midway through the year and gathered enough steam to sneak into the playoffs with a 10-10 mark before busting up the Division 3 North bracket.

"There were a couple of turning points, like when we lost to East Boston (5-0 on Jan. 28) or when we came back to beat Bishop Fenwick (2-1 a week later). As coaches and players we'd changed some things up," said Jackson. "We'd accepted the young talent and really started to develop chemistry with some team dinners and things like that."

A Header assistant coach before taking over the top spot from Tom Colby (who remains as an assistant) before the 2006-07 season, Jackson has a keen awareness of the program's history. The squad even has a poster featuring each year the Headers have qualified for the state tourney as a reminder of the their ultimate goal.

"You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don't have the heart it means nothing. We're trying to get these kids to love the game and see that's what it's all about," said Jackson. "That's what the Marblehead teams in the 1960s and '70s were all about, and that's what we've been trying to bring back."

The Dual County League co-champion Patriots pose an interesting challenge. The Patriots and Headers have just one common opponent | Danvers, which they both lost to (5-2 and 4-0, respectively).

Success for Marblehead will likely come from the likes of Anders Gunderson and Mike Cohn in the defensive end. Junior goalie Aaron Reny is a two-year starter with plenty of big-game experience, with four postseason starts under his belt. Offensively, the Headers need more production out of their top line of Andrew Bates (the team's leading scorer with 12 goals and 24 points), senior Jackson Barber and Colby Bates, Andrew's twin brother. The unit has generated plenty of odd-man rushes and could get going by putting more shots on net.