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Fishermen set for tourney after rout of D-Y

Thursday, February, 21 By Nick Curcuru
Correspondent

Throughout the season the Gloucester boys hockey team's Achilles heal has been their power play.

The power play unit has struggled with consistency and even let up a number of short-handed goals.

In last night's contest against Division 1 Dennis-Yarmouth, however, the power play was the difference in the game. The Fishermen were able to score four power-play goals and carried the play throughout the game in a 6-2 win at the Dorothy Talbot Rink in the regular season finale "Our power play has been inconsistent, but tonight we were able to put it together and get four goals," Gloucester captain Andrew Fulford said. "We still have a little work to do but (the power play) won't be a problem come tournament time."

Gloucester was able to carry the play all three periods. The Fishermen outshot the Dolphins 29-22 and took advantage of most of their scoring opportunities.

The Fishermen opened the scoring late in the first period when Brett Biondo fought off a Dolphin defender and put a wrist shot past goalie James Coughlan to make it 1-0, where it would stand after one period.

Gloucester broke the game open in the second with three goals. A Fulford power play goal made it 2-0 when he banged home a rebound in traffic. Dylan Morrissey would make it a three-goal game six minutes later when he finished a wrist shot from the slot. Salah would give the Fishermen a four-goal lead just over a minute later when he put in a rebound on Jeremy Fanning's shot that hit the post.

The Dolphins would cut the Fishermen's lead to three late in the second on a goal from Alex Theoharidis, but that's as close as they would get.

Fulford and Biondo would each add another power play goal for the Fishermen and Theoharidis would add another goal for the Dolphins.

The Fishermen offense was led by the foursome of Fulford (two goals, two assists), Salah (goal, two assists), Biondo (two goals) and Fanning (four assists). Fulford's four-point performance gives him 123 points for his career, making him the fifth leading scorer in school history.

"We came out and controlled the play for three periods," Fulford said. "We didn't get as many shots as we would like but we were still able to score."

Despite the victory, Fishermen head coach Don Lowe still thinks his team needs work, particularly in the intensity department. Lowe thought his team came out flat and cautioned that a lack of intensity could lead to an early tournament exit.

"We had no intensity tonight," Lowe said. "We can't play like that in the tournament. We need to pick up the emotion and it starts at practice (today)."

With the win, the Fishermen finish off the season with a 14-4-2 record. They will now wait to see who they play in the first round of the Division 2 North state tournament, the pairings will be announced this weekend.

Gloucester will enter the tournament with a lot of momentum. The Fishermen have won their last four games by a margin of 23-6.

Fulford believes that the team is ready to make a splash in the tournament.

"We have had a few bumps in the road but this team is ready," Fulford said. "The last two weeks we have played some good hockey and it's good to take that momentum into the post season."