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North Andover takes care of Hornets

Sunday, January, 30 By Kevin McDonald
Staff writer

NORTH ANDOVER — Hockey was played at Merrimack College last night, but inconsistency was the real name of this game.

After a torrid start, North Andover pulled out a 3-2 win over North Reading, but it was a tough night for both teams.

“(The Hornets) played well,” said Scarlet Knights head coach Peter Marfione. “We got some bounces in the first and we found a way to win when we didn’t play well.”

North Reading coach John Giuliotti expressed similar thoughts for his team and the opposition.

“We came out flat and they came out strong,” said Giuliotti. “We called a timeout and re-focused our guys and they started to battle after.”

The timeout was necessary after North Andover turned six shots into three goals over the first seven minutes of play.

The offensive explosion was created by the Knights top line of David Messina and Mike Cusack, who scored the first two with help from linemate Richard O’Connor.

“They had a great first period,” said Marfione. “The line scored on the first two shifts on the ice. It was our best line tonight.”

Daniel O’Connor scored the third, and winning, tally later in the opening period. 

Cody Carbone scored with 2:13 left in the first period to get North Reading on the board, and Eric Sokolski sliced the gap to one with 5 1/2 minutes left in the middle period.

From there, goaltenders Keith Linnane for North Reading and the Scarlet Knights’ Joey Daccord shut the door.

“Keith is a freshman who’s grown so much over the last couple of weeks,” said Giuliotti. “He’s playing big for us right now.”

Linnane turned aside 19 shots after North Andover’s early blitz, getting some key help from his defense in deflecting pucks away from the net.

“We let him down early on and he bailed us out,” Giuliotti said, “and he’s been a positive person for us all season.”

Daccord didn’t see a lot of action, making the 11 saves he had a good shot at making.

“He didn’t see many shots,” said Marfione. “But, the ones he did let in weren’t his fault. We had breakdowns that led to scoring opportunities for (North Reading).”

Now at 7-5-2, North Andover next plays Wednesday, weather permitting, against a Methuen team looking to rebound from a 5-1 loss to Tewksbury. North Reading (5-7-1) will face Triton the same day.