Sports
Ten Count, Swampscott Drops St. Joseph 10-1
Swampscott slugged St. Joseph, 10-1, in the North Div. 3 quarter-finals; Marblehead is next up in the semi-finals Wednesday.
Cory Carmody's Hat Trick topped the scorecard as Swampscott buried St. Joseph's Prep 10-1 in Division 3 North quarter-final action Saturday at Stoneham Arena.
With Marblehead topping Rockport 4-2 in Saturday's other quarterfinal, another bout between the North Shore neighboring rivals is set for Wednesday night, 5:10 pm at the Chelmsford Forum.
Olympic star Nancy Kerrigan learned to skate at Stoneham Arena, but her ice hosted little finesse Saturday, as officials whistled 22 penalties and doused a near-brawl late in the third period. The chippy Phoenix, though, were no match for the Blue, and never were able to rise from the ashes after falling behind 5-1 at the end of one period. Swampscott ran away with three more in the second, and added two for good measure as they eased through the third period.
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Trevor Massey got things rolling for Swampscott at the 6:24 mark of the opening period, taking a Rob Serino feed to put Swampscott up 1-0. Barely a minute later, Joey Silva made it 2-0.
Rout in the making? Not quite. Just 17 seconds later, St. Joseph's Ryan Fullum made it a 2-1 game and both teams wide-open style and aggressive skating hinted that a scorefest was brewing.
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It was, but only on one side. Carmody scored his first goal at 10:55, assisted by Noah Maercklein and Nunzio Morretti to make it 3-1, and before the period was out Massey added his second and freshman Devon Wall sent the Blue to the locker room with a 5-1 lead.
It was all over but the shouting--and the pushing and shoving--at that point. Swampscott swarmed in front of goaltender Tristan Bradley, who was unbeatable on the few tries that reached him the rest of the night. Bradley made a nice save on a third period breakaway by St. Joe's Kevin Keeley.
Carmody, Chris Carman, and Morretti pushed the Blue out to an 8-1 lead after two. After Maerklein scored his second goal and Carmody grabbed his Hat Trick to make it 10-1, the Phoenix smoldering tempers flared with 5:06 remaining; officials handed out four penalties--two roughing penalties to each team--and threatened to end the game. Not that it wasn't over already.
Wednesday's semi-final match against Marblehead starts at 5:10 p.m. at Chelmsford Forum. Swampscott lost twice to their northern neighbors during the regular season, including a 5-0 shutout.
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