2011 - 2012

Varsity Final Record
16 - 6 - 0

Prior Game
March 2, 2012
Danvers 0
North Andover 1

Next Game
December 2012

2011 - 2012
JV Final Record
8 - 4 - 3

February 13, 2012

Missed opportunity by Danvers hockey creates three-way tie atop NEC standings

It's going to be a fight to the finish — and one, quite frankly, that the Danvers High hockey team never wanted to be part of.
 
But they're smack dab in the middle of it now — it being the Northeastern Conference North title chase.

Having previously controlled their own destiny in regards to chasing their first league crown since 2002, the Falcons have seen, in order, their 10-game winning streak snapped, a two-game losing streak begin, and sole possession of the league's top spot now become a three-way logjam.
 
The Falcons surrendered four goals on just a dozen shots to an opportunistic Saugus team Saturday night at the Kasabuski Rink, falling 4-1 before a packed house.
 
Danvers (12-4 overall) is now 10-3 in NEC play, good for 20 points. Saugus, which beat Danvers for the first time in three tries this winter (including one non-league game), also has 20 points with a 9-2-2 conference mark, same as Winthrop. All three squads have two conference games remaining this week.
 
Those three teams, along with red-hot Beverly (8-4 NEC, with three league games remaining) will make for a four-team chase for the brass ring in this, the final week of league play.
 
"It was an opportunity missed," said Danvers head coach Kevin Brown, whose team could get only one of 26 shots past Saugus' all-star goaltender, Nick Hegarty: a second-period wrister from the near circle from third line winger Jay Calcagno, which tied the score at 1-1.
 
"A high school game is only 45 minutes, and your opportunities are far and few between. They took advantage of theirs, and we didn't."
 
After being outplayed for large stretches of the first and second periods, Saugus (9-5-2 overall) displayed the speed, tenacity and knack for cashing in that opponents have learned to fear. Saige Tait's second goal of the game, a power play strike that he jammed under Danvers keeper Seth Kamens' pads on a second rebound attempt, gave the Sachems a lead they wouldn't surrender (2-1) with 8:32 to score.
 
The hosts salted the contest away with two goals in 12 seconds as Chris Sanderson pounced on a fat rebound and deposited it home glove side on Kamens, and Anthony Cieri buried a Kurt Rodrigues pass off the ensuing faceoff.
 
"We knew coming in that they make it really tough to get shots," Saugus coach Jeff Natalucci said of Danvers, "and that they like to pack it in down low (defensively). They like to make it difficult, so we had to drive to the net. We knew we'd have to outwork them — and we did."
 
The Falcons, whose earlier 10-game winning streak began with a late-December win over Saugus in this same building, certainly had their opportunities to score. Sophomore Kevin Hodgkins, playing perhaps his best game in a DHS uniform, had two sparkling chances in the slot, but Hegarty was up to the challenge by catching one of Hodgkins' shots in his left armpit and flashing out his right skate to deny another attempt.
 
"Nick came out and really challenged their shooters," said Natalucci, whose team has another big contest this Wednesday against Beverly at Salem State. "He's tough to beat when he's like that."
 
For Danvers, which wraps up its NEC slate this week with games at Peabody (Wednesday) and Gloucester (Saturday), this is no time to panic, Brown said. Rather, it's about addressing what went wrong, correcting those mistakes and ensuring they don't crop up again.
 
"The message (in the locker room) is 'We,'" Brown said. "We stick together, we are a good team and we'll get back."