A new game for rallying Beverly
The Beverly boys hockey team has been the “comeback kids” this season . . . in more ways than one.
The Panthers carried a 6-1-1 overall record into last night’s Northeastern Conference North showdown with Danvers, a halfgame behind the defending league champion Falcons. It’s a far cry already from last season, when Beverly bottomed out with a 1-19-0 overall record.
“They definitely used that as motivation last summer,” Beverly coach Justin Shairs said. “They put in the work in the offseason, hit the weight room.”
Shairs also knew he had good balance throughout his lineup entering the season, including eight seniors led by captains Tim McCarthy and Kenny Richardson. One of the biggest boosts has been provided by senior Paul Edson, who transferred from St. John’s Prep and, despite skating on the blue line there, has become an impact, top-six forward (8-11-19 totals) skating alongside McCarthy (3-1215) and sophomore Andrew Mezza (5-8-13).
“I thought in the summertime we could see the pieces starting to fall into place,” Shairs said.
Alternate captain Steve Hallinan (7-3-10) is part of the Panthers’ “1B” line with juniors Ryan Munzing (team-high 10 goals) and Conor Hanlon, while Richardson skates on the grinding third line with seniors Anthony D’Amato and Pat Cotreau.
Defensively, the Panthers have had a rotation of senior Aaron Carroll, junior Andrew Shea and sophomores Finn Crocker, Brayden Clark and Shane Cassidy in front of senior goalie Troy Doyle.
“A lot of the sophomores, especially the blueliners, got thrown in there last year as freshmen,” Shairs said of last season’s struggles.
It was immediately clear this season would be different as Beverly opened the season with wins against Swampscott, Saugus and Peabody before suffering its lone loss against NEC newcomer Medford. Then came last week’s Cape Ann Savings Bank Tournament in Gloucester, where the Panthers found themselves trailing Western Mass. power Westfield, 3-0, entering the third period.
But led by two goals from Mezza and the gamewinner from Edson, the Panthers struck four times in a span of 2:45 to pull out the 4-3 victory and advance to the tournament final against Gloucester. Not to be outdone, the next night the Panthers once again fell behind by a 3-0 score with 10 minutes to go. Then Edson scored twice and Hanlon added one to tie it, and even though Gloucester took a late lead again, Munzing struck with 15 seconds left and Doyle out for an extra attacker to snag the 4-4 tie. Gloucester would go on to win the tournament with an overtime goal, but not without nearly being foiled by another Beverly comeback.
“I joked with the kids after the Westfield game that we should start every game with a “3” on the opponent’s side of the scoreboard,” Shairs said.
Subsequent wins against Lynn and Marblehead set the stage for last night’s matchup with Danvers. Not bad for a Panthers program that had managed just four wins combined the past two seasons and is looking for its first tournament berth since the 2013-14 squad won the Division 2 state title.
“I usually have the kids set two or three goals, and the first goal was to get back to the tournament,” said Shairs, a 1999 Beverly grad who was an assistant on Bob Gilligan’s staff on the state title team before assuming the reins the next season. “Points-wise we’re on the way there. And you always want to compete for the league. (Danvers) will be a big test of that.”
Danvers might want to avoid taking a 3-0 lead in the third period, just in case.