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North Andover Scarlet Knights Boys Ice Hockey '18-'19

Sun, Jan 06, 2019 05:00 PM @ North Andover
Team 1 2 3 Final
Haverhill 0 0 0 0
North Andover 0 2 2 4

Special teams help red-hot North Andover top Haverhill

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Sunday, January, 06 By Jeff Hamrick
Staff writer

NORTH ANDOVER — For the second time in less than two weeks, Haverhill kept high-flying North Andover from finding the back of the net until the second period. 
 
But just like the day after Christmas, the Scarlet Knights exploded once their special teams kicked in.

North Andover scored twice with a man advantage and another while short-handed Sunday evening in a 4-0 victory over Haverhill at
Merrimack College in the third annual Matthew Harty Scholarship Night. 
 
The Knights are 5-0-1 in their past six while outscoring opponents by a combined 26-5.
 
“Both times playing Haverhill, we’ve only scored one five-on-five goal,” North Andover coach Peter Marfione said, referring to the Knights’ earlier 7-2 victory. “And on the two power-play goals (on Sunday), both the first and second units scored.”
The Knights (4-1-1 MVC/DCL, 6-2-2 overall) scored the game’s only full-strength goal 40 seconds into the second period when Kyle Hooley pushed the puck through the five-hole after taking a great centering pass from fellow senior TJ Fredo, who was skating down the right-side boards.
North Andover upped the lead a little more than 2 minutes later when sophomore Dario DiBlasi connected off a pass from Shaun McKay.
Despite having a couple power-play opportunities itself, including a five-on-three situation, Haverhill (0-5, 1-6-1) was unable to get anything past Knights goalie Jack Walsh, who is settling in behind the net after sitting the early part of the season as a two-way star on North Andover’s state championship football squad.
“It was tough watching those first couple games and not being out there with the boys,” Walsh said. “Now that I’m back, it’s a great feeling. I’m putting everything out there I can do to help my team get a win. It’s good to be back.”
A pair of youngsters hooked up for the prettiest goal of the night early in the fourth while short-handed. With the puck in Haverhill’s zone, freshman Charlie Dean muscled his way into a steal in the left circle before calmly finding sophomore Adam Heinze streaking down the slot. Heinze found the top shelf for a 3-0 lead.
“Charlie had a hard forecheck because he saw the puck was not taken by a Haverhill player,” said Heinze, who scored his third goal of the season and added two assists. “No one was covering me, so he gave me a great pass, and then it was just a good shot.”
For Dean, who played eight years with Heinze on the Valley Junior Warriors, it was his team-best 11th point of the season.
“We have a lot of young guys out there this year, but we also have our older guys producing when we need them, too,” Walsh said. “But it’s good when our younger guys get going. A lot of teams don’t know what’s coming because we have so much depth.”
Fredo capped the scoring on a power-play goal with 3:02 remaining, pounding back a rebound off a Jake Sitak shot.
Haverhill managed only nine shots on net, while Billy St. Amand made 28 saves.
“We’re struggling putting the puck in the net,” Hillie coach Joe Roberts said. “But our goalie is playing really well, and our team defense is actually doing OK. There was only one five-on-five goal, which has been the case. (The Knights’ first goal) was the sixth (full-strength goal allowed) all year. If we stay out of the (penalty) box, we’ll be fine.”

Game Statistics:

Goals: Kyle Hooley, Dario DiBlasi, Adam Heinze, TJ Fredo

Assists: Heinze 2, Fredo, Keegan Hughes, Shaun McKay, Charlie Dean, Jake Sitak

Saves: Haverhill — Billy St. Amand 28; NA — Jack Walsh 9

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