Marblehead Boys' Hockey Crowned Division III State Champs

Marblehead residents are going to have to buy new tee-shirts to go along with the “Marblehead Superfan” shirts they purchased by the thousands earlier this week.

Now everyone is going to have to go out and buy commemorative tee-shirts that say “Division III State Champions” on the front.

The Marblehead High School boys’ hockey team brought the Division III ice hockey championship back to town Sunday, defeating Westfield 6-3 before a raucous crowd of more than 1,000 local residents. 

The Headers have made appearances at the classic Boston Garden, but Sunday was their first game at the “new” Garden. The Icemen did not disappoint the horde of fans who got up bright and early to cheer them on, blasting home four goals in the second period to knock out the Bombers.

42-14 would make an ugly football score, but when you’re tallying shots in a hockey game, it’s even worse. Marblehead got stifling play from their talented defense and goalie Tony Cuzner made several key stops as Marblehead improved to 20-4-3 on the season.

Marblehead picked a great time of year to run the table, going undefeated in February and March, which is always a desirable way to claim a title.

The Headers haven’t lost a game since they fell to the Danvers Falcons in late January.

The keys to Sunday's win were the same as they’ve been the entire tournament. Marblehead was able to out-shoot the opposition, grind them down in the defensive zone and wait for one of their talented lines to put the puck in the net.

The question, as it has been all season, wasn't whether or not the Headers would score, but when. Marblehead has averaged close to 40 shots on goal in every playoff game and opposing goalies need to search for the puck around the two or three Headers forwards constantly in front of the net.

Westfield sophomore goalie Nick Liberto was peppered with shots right off the bat, and Chris McLeod got a great chance to score the game's first goal just 18 seconds into the game.

Nick Sabilia scored for Westfield at 5:12; at that point Marblehead had a 13-3 advantage in shots on goal but found themselves trailing early. The goal came after one of the few mistakes Marblehead made Sunday afternoon, when a defenseman made a costly turnover at the blue line.

Austin Haley tied the game with 7:37 left in the first period, knocking in a rebound past a prone Liberto from the top of the crease. Chris McLeod passed the puck out high in the slot to Tyler Gelineau who fired the puck on Liberto. The sophomore net minder couldn’t control the rebound and Haley buried it.

Westfield went up 2-1 at the 14-minute mark, when defenseman Matt Gagnon made a long pass up the middle to Kyle Levere who flew in alone on Cuzner. The senior goalie came out of the crease and made a great poke-check on Levere, but the puck dribbled to Connor Laraway who knocked it in to put the Bombers back on top.

The Headers were up 16-7 in shots at the end of one period, with only the strong play by Liberto keeping the game close.

“We were down for a while, but we knew we would keep attacking until we got the puck in,” senior co-captain Jake Kulevich said.

Westfield co-captain Nate Barnes hit the penalty box at 1:36 of the second and it took only 32 seconds for McLeod to tie the game 2-2. Co-captain Ryan Dempsey took the puck halfway behind the net and instead of going all the way around the cage, he slipped an incredible backhand pass to McLeod, who buried his 22nd goal of the season into an open net.

The Headers got down to business after tying the score and showed why they were the NEC South and Division III North champs, moving the ahead 4-2 on two quick strikes.

Defenseman Ben Koopman scored at 3:50 from the right point, assisted by McLeod and Gelineau. The goal was the senior co-captain's fourth of the year.

Just 50 seconds later, on the power play, Jake Kulevich knocked one in from the right side of the net. McLeod was involved again, pushing the puck to Hunter Graves in tight. Graves took a shot that was stopped, and Kulevich put the loose puck in for his seventh of the year.

Kulevich found the back of the net again at 11:09 on a wrist shot from the left point. Sophomore Ian Maag won the face-off cleanly and slid the puck back to Kulevich, who took three strides in and wristed the puck past Liberto.

Westfield cut the margin to two goals with 1:09 left in the second, on a Matt Gagnon goal. Cuzner stopped a shot by Sean Spohr, but the puck ended up on Gagnon’s stick just inside the face off circle and the senior slapped it in.

Any momentum from the late goal in the second for Westfield was washed away when Hunter Graves scored just 58 seconds into the third period. Graves came in on the right wing, faked the left defenseman to his knees with a great move, and fired a shot by Liberto’s glove side. Hunter Whitmore assisted on the goal, the last for the Headers in the 2010-2011 season.

“We never give up, never, and this is a great way to end our season,” Chris McLeod said after the game. McLeod had a four-point morning for the Headers.

“I couldn’t be happier for these kids,” coach Bob Jackson said. “Marblehead is rich in hockey tradition and this is great for the players, the coaching staff and the folks in town who have really come out to support us.”

Marblehead will lose ten seniors at the end of this season, but will have half the team coming back next year to show the new kids coming into the high school hockey program what it takes to skate off with the hardware at the end of the season.

No practice on Monday, no game on Tuesday, just time to enjoy being Division III ice hockey champions.

“It’s the most incredible experience, it’s the greatest way that I can Imagine to end my Marblehead hockey career,” Hunter Whitmore said. “This was a total team effort, I’m so proud to be a Marblehead High hockey player right now.”