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Marblehead stuns Swampscott in OT of tourney opener

Tuesday, February, 26 By Matt Williams
Staff writer

SALEM | Marblehead High hockey goaltender Aaron Reny stopped everything short of the kitchen sink last night against arch rival Swampscott in the first round of the Division 3 North tournament.

In overtime, he finally got his reward.

Freshman Chris McLeod snapped the game-winning goal past by Swampscott netminder Conor Barton with 3:29 to go in the extra frame, sending Reny and the underdog Headers into a frenzy as they upset the fourth-seeded Big Blue, 3-2, at Salem State's Rockett Arena.

"I thought I'd just won the Stanley Cup," said Reny, a junior who finished with 34 saves and skated from end to end to join his teammates' celebratory pig pile.

The 12th seeded Headers (11-10-0), who were shut out twice by Swampscott during the regular season, now advance to face No. 13 Boston Latin Academy (which upset third-seeded Shawsheen, 4-3, last night) Friday in Watertown at 5:30 p.m.

It was a vastly different ending than the favored Big Blue (12-5-4) had envisioned, especially after they'd seized momentum with sophomore Justin Massey's game-tying goal with 2:26 to go in regulation. The tally capped a third period effort which saw Swampscott pepper the Marblehead cage with 18 shots.

"Aaron played the best game of his career. He was the Rock of Gibraltar for us tonight," said Marblehead coach Bob Jackson, who enjoyed his first career postseason victory | and the Headers' first since 1991.

Marblehead's OT win continues a furious comeback in which the young Headers rallied to even qualify for the postseason after starts of 0-4 and 3-6.

With nine freshmen and just two seniors on the roster, there was little surprise in the Header locker room when a ninth grader, McLeod, scored the biggest goal of their season so far.

"They outnumber all of us, so that makes sense," Reny grinned.

Perhaps Reny's biggest stop of the night came just seconds after the Big Blue knotted the score in the third period. Northeastern Conference Small co-MVP Keith Morgan broke in all alone with a golden chance to win it, but Reny held the post against the Swampscott captain.

"That could've been lights out, but Reny stood tall," said Jackson.

Morgan, a career 100-point scorer, also had a point-blank shot in OT that Reny answered.

The Big Blue carried the play throughout the second half of the game with a jarring, physical style, but they couldn't muster the quality scoring chances they needed to beat Reny.

"Playoff hockey brings out the best in both teams," said Swampscott coach Gino Faia, whose squad was making its first postseason appearance in 11 seasons. "We fought hard and had our opportunities, but we just couldn't bury them."

Having been blanked in each of their previous two meetings had Marblehead coming in with a simple objective last night to win the battle early on.

"The first five minutes were going to carry over to the rest of the game. We had to come out and have the best five minutes of our entire season," said Jackson.

It might not have been that spectacular, but the early effort did yield a power play chance that stellar sophomore Anders Gunderson converted at 4:23 of the first to give Marblehead its first lead over the Big Blue all season.

That lead was short-lived, however, as Swampscott's A.J. Zarinksy tied the score less than three minutes later.

After the teams traded blistering, end-to-end action, Marblehead finally struck again when sophomore forward Ellery Smith lit the lamp from just above the circle to deliver a 2-1 advantage at 8:00 of the second.

The Big Blue came roaring back in the third, but Marblehead was determined to hang on. Led by a gutsy effort from Gunderson, the Header defense held strong. They stayed on the puck despite bone crunching checks from the likes of Jake Donahue and made sure Reny saw nearly every shot.

"We had shot after shot, but the goalie made some big saves," said Faia. "But then anything can happen in sudden death overtime | and it did."