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Published: February 10, 2010 12:44 am
The Blue Line Report high school hockey column: Numbers have added up for Headers
By Phil Stacey
Sports editor
The Blue Line Report
Phil Stacey
Have you noticed what's been going on over at Marblehead this winter? In case you've somehow missed it, here's a quick primer at some of the numbers that have jumped out at your faithful puck pundit:
The Headers are currently on an 11-game unbeaten streak (8-0-3) and haven't lost since skating under the lights at Fenway Park against Winthrop 32 days ago.
With an overall record of 14-2-3, the Headers sport a .816 winning percentage with three regular season games remaining. That's the best for an MHS team in 30 years, since the 1979-80 club finished up at 19-3-1 (.848 winning percentage).
In his first year on the job, goaltender Tony Cuzner has surpassed all expectations. The junior has a dozen wins, a goals-against average of 1.06 and has stopped 94.2 of the shots he's faced — which would break the school's all-time single season mark held by Scott Sumner (93 percent) for the last 44 years. With six shutouts, he's also two away from tying Sumner's 1967 mark for most in one season.
Defenseman Jake Kulevich leads his team in assists (18) and total points (28). He's already rocketed up to eighth all-time in career scoring among Header defenseman with 17-29-46 totals thus far, and should easily surpass second place Dennis Laing (63 points) before he's through. Barring a catastrophe, he should topple Tim Howes (34 points in 1973) as the school's single-season points leader among D-men.
Fellow blueliner Anders Gundersen, with four goals and 10 assists this season, is already perched in a third place tie with Craig Murray for all-time scoring at 55 points. The senior captain has 22 goals and 33 assists to date.
Five different players have better than a plus-20 plus/minus rating: Kulevich (+28), Gundersen (+27) and the all-junior first line of center Chris McLeod (+27), right wing Alex Whitmore (+24) and left wing Ryan Dempsey (+24). As a team, Marblehead sports a ridiculous +214 rating.
Dempsey, McLeod and Whitmore are getting hot at the right time. To date, they've combined for 31 goals and 70 points, with the majority of those coming in the second half of the season.
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