After press time:
North Reading defeats Pentucket 7-1 (Jan. 12)
North Reading defeats Everett 8-0 (Jan. 11)
North Reading falls to Lynnfield 3-1 (Jan. 8)
By DAN ZIMMERMAN
TEWKSBURY — With only six of their 19 scheduled regular season hockey games behind them, there is ample opportunity for North Reading to right the wrongs of the past few weeks, which includes a tough 5-2 loss to Triton on Saturday night. But as the Hornets have fallen into a win-loss pattern, the lack of consistency is certainly concerning.
North Reading is currently 3-3 overall, 2-1 in the Cape Ann League Baker, and ranks in the middle of MIAA Division 4, 25th of 51 teams. The team, scoring an average of 2.66 goals per game, is not quite competing to expectations.
“Some of our guys need to play up to their capabilities,” said North Reading coach Brian McAuliffe, after what he felt was a winnable game. “A lot of our guys haven’t yet stepped up but, as a team, I don’t think we’ve played our best hockey so far.”
On Saturday night, Triton arrived at the Breakaway Ice Arena fresh off a shootout win over Chelmsford. The 4-2 Vikings controlled the tempo from the outset. But it was the Hornets delivering the first blow, capitalizing on a first period power play. Tommy Gazda knocked in his third goal of the season, taking advantage of Vikings goalie Gavin Marengi, who was slow to transition after stuffing an initial bid from James Nelson. Nolan Pierce also added a helper on the go-ahead goal, at 9:51.
A minute later, Triton evened it on a shorthanded tally from Luke Sullivan soon followed by Josh Hersey, who beat Hornet netminder Steven DeLisle for a 2-1 Viking lead.
DeLisle turned aside 15 shots in a scoreless middle frame, frustrating the territorial dominant Vikings. The senior goaltender, facing a near-relentless attack, seldom had the opportunity to catch his breath.
“Steve stepped up tonight,” said McAuliffe. “He was making great saves on odd-man rushes and breakaways. We have to do a better job tightening up in the defensive zone but it’s great to know we can now rely on two goalies, both Steve and Charlie (Cooper).”
During the break, McAuliffe and his staff challenged their skaters to go out and score first in the third period. Nelson delivered with a backhander, unassisted, for his team-leading seventh goal.
“We were feeling good after that game-tying goal and enjoying a momentum swing,” said McAuliffe. “But then we were trying to play catch-up hockey against the brass of the league. Triton was able to execute and we weren’t.”
McAuliffe was referring to a gut-wrenching third period which featured three North Reading penalties and resulted in a pair of Viking power play goals. Hersey wrapped up the scoring for the visitors with an empty-netter.
“We’ve tried to prevent things like this from happening and it’s just too bad that it did,” said McAuliffe. “Our players know there’s a really low threshold for these kind of mistakes. But it’s a long season and hopefully we can build off of this.”
North Reading squared off against rival Lynnfield Wednesday night (results in after press time) and will travel to face a winless (0-8) Everett club on Saturday night at 6 p.m.