NEWTON NORTH
Still alive in its pursuit for the first tournament berth in a decade, the Newton North boys hockey team scored a huge win, beating visiting Natick, 5-1, in a Bay State Conference game last night.
Senior Joe Penta (goal, assist) ignited a four-goal North run with his first career goal, taking a feed from sophomore Pat Leblanc 28 seconds into the second period. Charging up the right wing, Penta shifted to his backhand, then roofed a shot, galvanizing the Tiger bench.
``That was a highlight-reel goal,'' said North coach Jay Ferraro. ``The bench went crazy when he scored. He's such a popular kid among his teammates and he's been snakebitten a little bit in terms of scoring. But he works his butt off. Nobody on the team works harder.''
The Tigers tallied twice more in the second period as freshman defenseman Mike Sullivan buried a feed from Penta at 2:28 and junior Angelo Paolini knocked home a Ben Sauro pass at 10:49.
North posted two more in the third period as junior Brian Lopez (goal, assist) scored on a face-off play from sophomore Mike Asaley at 9:31. Natick cut into the lead at 10:27 on a power play goal, but the Tigers answered only 28 seconds later as Brian Lopez fed his younger brother Mike for a 5-1 lead.
Struggling defensively during a stretch in which North had lost six of seven, Ferraro moved Mike Lopez - the Bay State Conference's leading scorer with 17 goals, 13 assists - back to defense and had Brian Lopez shadow Mike Slattery, Natick's best player. Despite giving up eight inches and 40 pounds to the Though the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Slattery, Lopez held the Natick sniper without a point as the Tigers moved to 7-9 (5-7 BSC), surpassing last year's win total.
In order to make the tourney cut, North must win three of its last four games and will travel to Dedham (3-7-2, 1-7-2 BSC) next Wednesday (8 p.m.).
Girls Hockey
North 3, Natick 3
Senior captain Anna Jekel scored two goals to lead the Newton North girls hockey team but, host Natick answered one-goal deficits three times to salvage a 3-3 Bay State Conference tie at West Suburban Arena last night.
Jekel scored from Jessie Cochran at 5:06 of the first period, but Natick evened things at 1-1 with a goal with only 30 seconds left in the frame. North's Morgan Abbott put the Tigers on top with an assist from Hannah Jellinek and Rebecca Fleming at 7:34 of the second period, but the Redmen again knotted the score at 5:18 of the third period.
Jekel notched her second goal 25 seconds later, staking North to a 3-2 advantage, but Natick tallied the equalizer 28 seconds after that.
Junior goalie Leslie Kim saved 35 shots and ``kept us in it for the first two periods,'' said North coach Karen McCabe.
``We just didn't play well,'' added McCabe. ``We came out flat and we held the puck for too long and when you do that, you're going to lose it. We're in a little slump right now, but we just need to move on.''
The Tigers (9-2-3, 5-2-3 BSC) travels to Braintree Saturday (Ponkapoag Rink, 2 p.m.), hoping for a two-game season sweep of the Wamps. North won the first game, 8-1.
