DANVERS — It was history for the Somerset Berkeley ice hockey team on Sunday.
The 12th-seeded Raiders pulled off the upset by defeating Essex North Shore 6-0 in a Division III Sweet 16 contest at the Essex Sports Center in Danvers, advancing to the Round of 8 for the first time since the 2003 season. The company expanded to
SBR (17-2-2) will play West Springfield at Loring Arena in Framingham on Thursday at 5 p.m.
“Our players played hard,” SBR head coach Kevin Snyder said. “They play for each other, they play for the coaching staff and they play for the school.”
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The Raiders scored the eventual game-winning goal in the first period when Jack Rothwell took a feed from Nate Melo, giving SBR an early 1-0 lead. Adin Markos scored on an assist from Kien Stafford and Mason Sullivan scored off the back of Gabe Gonsalves' net to extend the Raiders' lead to 3-0 after two periods.
Stafford added an unassisted goal early in the third period, and Gabe Goncalves and Brayden Pimentel (unassisted) also added goals during the period. Sullivan and Cam McKenna each had an assist on a second-half goal.
Senior goalie Brandon Silva had a great job finding the back of the net, making 34 saves en route to the shutout.
Steven Sanchez, sports editor for the Herald News and Taunton Daily Gazette, can be reached at ssanchez@heraldnews.com. You can follow him on Twitter @Chezsports.