PEABODY — Last year the Bishop Fenwick boys hockey team came out of Groton-Dunstable with a loss. But this season a red-hot Crusaders team flipped the script and got their revenge with a 5-2 win Saturday at McVann-O’Keefe Memorial rink.
Fenwick didn’t get off to the best start in this one, but a three-goal second period was the difference as the Crusaders improved to 3-0 on the young season.
“I think with our kids in the back of their heads, because they had lost to this team, they came out a bit nervous,” Fenwick coach Jim Quinlan said. “Then when we scored our first goal it was like the weight came off their shoulders.
“In the second period we played a lot better,” Quinlan said. “The first we were shaky, we weren’t playing our game and we were just kind of all over the place. But the second we started playing the way we were supposed to play. We started getting the momentum game.”
Groton-Dunstable capitalized on an end zone faceoff late in the first period. A quick shot was initially saved by goalkeeper Dillon Bloom but Mike Hamill finished the rebound and Fenwick was in a 1-0 hole.
But with 16 seconds left in the period Thomas Estella got Fenwick on the board and tied things up at 1-1. It was a much needed equalizer before the break and the Crusaders fed off the momentum in the second.
Gavin Belt got things going a few minutes into the second period when his shot from the point found the back of the net to give Fenwick a 2-1 lead.
Less than two minutes later Ian Worthley made a fantastic play, beating a defender down the right boards and scoring on a wrist shot to push the lead to 3-1.
Fenwick’s penalty kill, led by Cam Martin and Diego Alvarez-Segee was put to work in this one, killing off five penalties, and they came away with a big play midway through the second.
Martin blocked a shot and skated to a breakaway, scoring on a wrist shot to give the Crusaders a 4-1 lead.
“Cam is quick,” Quinlan said. “He can move and he’s smart. Him and Diego are two good playmakers. They can pass the puck and they work off each other. Cam came out and blocked a shot and got the puck and got out of there. He made a good play and that changed the game right there.”
Groton-Dunstable inched closer with a power play goal later in the second period but Fenwick held on from there and Alvarez-Segee added an empty net goal to cap off the win.
“I’m happy with the start, but we can get better,” Quinlan said. “There’s a lot of things we can work on all over the ice. Defensively offensively and in the neutral zone.
The Crusaders have a few days off before playing in the Catholic Memorial Christmas Tournament, where they will play a pair of teams from Colorado teams in Valor Christian and Regis Jesuit Friday and Saturday.
“We got Christmas off but we’re practicing the rest of the week, then we have a Christmas tournament with a couple Colorado teams and the Bishop Feehan (Sunday),” Quinlan said. “It’s good for us coming in 3-0. We haven’t played well the last three years in December so this is the first year we’ve been over .500. It’s good for us. We need the two points and we need all the points we can get.”
