[ad_1]
Getting back on the ice and playing hockey in a varsity setting was the goal over at Peabody High, which was unable to field such a squad last winter.
Now the Tanners, with some help from their friends in Saugus, are back for the 2022-03 campaign, which begins Friday night against Northeastern Conference rival Danvers at the Essex Sports Center in Middleton (8:30 p.m.).
Under new head coach (and program alum) Jason Marshall, the Tanners will be a co-operative team this season with players from both Peabody and Saugus on the roster. New uniforms have been added to incorporate both school’s colors — white-and-blue home jerseys, red-and-black roadies, both with an interlocking ‘P’ and ‘s’ as the jersey’s crest — and optimism is running high.
“We had 38 kids come out on the first day of tryouts split almost evenly between the two schools, which was great,” said Marshall, a 2015 Peabody High graduate who played under long-time Tanner bench boss Mark Leonard, then served for three seasons as an assistant coach for Christian Wright, who preceded him as head coach. “A lot of the young guys on the team are from Peabody, which the majority of the upperclassmen are from Saugus.
“The guys are getting along well,” added Marshall, whose team will play its home games in Peabody. “Some of them skated together growing up or played on Select teams together, and (Peabody’s) Andrew Sousa — who would’ve been a captain last season had we been able to field a team — worked as a go-between, having skated with a lot of the Saugus guys growing up.”
Peabody had gone 6-13-1 in 2019-20, then 5-6-1 in the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 campaign. With low numbers and many of the players who had signed up being eighth graders (requiring a waiver to play), the decision was made to step up away from varsity status in 2021-22 and for the Tanners’ to play a junior varsity schedule. This way, the younger players could still hone their skills while skating against more their own level, both physically and competition-wise.
Saugus, a state powerhouse not long ago while won three state titles in a six-year span from 1999-2004, has also fallen on low numbers in recent years and not had a winning record over the last five seasons. The decision to partner up with Peabody to form a co-operative squad appears to be win-win for both schools.
The team captains will be senior Dante Mauro of Saugus, a left wing; senior goalie Ashton Sousa of Peabody (Andrew Sousa’s cousin); and junior center Michael Ryan of Peabody. Michael Capone, another senior rom Saugus, will likely play right wing on the team’s top line with Mauro and Ryan.
There are a number of other talented players on the squad, including senior winger Joe Soares (Saugus), junior defenseman Trevor Pacheco (Peabody), junior center Ryan Jones (Saugus), and sophomore blue liner Andrew Pinto (Peabody). Other 10th graders who could make big contributions include forward Nathan Palhares, center Tyson Higgins, and defenseman Zack Hartnett, all of Peabody; and rearguard Larry Burrows of Saugus.
“It’s a slow build, but I think we have the ability to get to where we want to be: the state tournament,” said the 26-year-old Marshall, who will be assisted by two other former PVMHS players, Donnie Shaw and Aaron McDonald (with Sousa serving as a volunteer). “With a regular 20-game schedule and the way the power ranking system is set up, it’s not unrealistic to think we could make it. That’s our goal.”
Contact Phil Stacey
@PhilStacey_SN
[ad_2]
Source link
