Gloucester wasn’t able to defend its title at the 17th annual BankGloucester Holiday boys hockey tournament.
But the Fishermen still came through with a pair of terrific performances, stealing three points in two games to transition into the meat of their regular season schedule with confidence.
Late Thursday evening, Gloucester dropped a heartbreaking, down-to-the-wire decision to unbeaten Medfield in double overtime. Less than 24 hours later, they returned to the ice at Talbot Rink and responded to the setback in a huge way, erupting offensively in the second period against Medford and cruising to the finish line for a 6-0 victory.
“Obviously we wanted to defend the tournament but coming out with three points is a silver lining and sets us up well for the upcoming games,” said Gloucester head coach Derek Geary, his team now 3-1-1 after the tourney, with Thursday’s loss to Medfield going down as a tie for MIAA ranking purposes.
The offense certainly showed up in Friday’s win, but plenty of credit has to go to sophomore goalie Trey Marrone, who stopped all 27 of Medford’s shots and was the lone Fishermen to be named to the All-Tournament team. Marrone has been tremendous all season since taking over starting netminder duties, but this was his first clean sheet of the year and it came via a variety of impressive saves.
“He was clearly the standout for us in the tournament,” said Geary. “We just couldn’t ask for more than we’re getting from him early in the season; we’re very happy with his play.”
Marrone was particularly impressive in the second period, a frame that saw Gloucester balloon its lead from 1-0 to 5-0 heading for home. Whether he was snagging wristers with his glove, thwarting rebounds away with his stick, or positioning himself in the right spot to limit space for the opponent, Marrone was on his game.
“He just knows what he’s doing back there,” added Geary. His position is solid, and I’ve always loved his competitiveness which is what you want. You want a guy that really owns that net and breathes fire whenever he’s scored against and is ready for the next drop of the puck. We’re very happy with his play.”
While Marrone held it down on his end, Gloucester’s speedy attack went to work.
Luke Salah opened things up in the opening period, firing home a rebound on the power play off a shot from Cam Amero. It remained 1-0 heading into the second before Gloucester really opened things up with three quick goals in a two-minute-and-change span.
First it was Colby Warren ripping home a wrister on the power play, then Jackson Harnish joined the party by crashing the net after Cade Cooper had flipped one of Medford goalie CHarlie Duggan’s pads. Cooper then cashed in with a goal of his own just 42 seconds later and all of a sudden it was a 4-0 lead for the hosts.
Gloucester wasn’t done, however, with Sam Sanfilippo finding some space out front and letting loose on a wrister of his own that found the top shelf to officially put the proverbial nail in Medford’s coffin.
All said, Gloucester had six different scorers on its six goals, with senior captain Chris Dailey putting the finishing touches on the win with an early power play goal in the third.
“I think we’re at our best when we’re a well balanced team. Our motto this year is out of yourself and into the team,” said Geary. “We don’t rely on two or three superstars so when you see the offense spread like tonight and previous games I think that’s a good indication of who we want to be and who we are.”
Cooper finished with three assists to go with his lone tally while Amero, who scored his first career goal in Thursday’s double OT defeat, added a pair of assists. Dailey, Harnish, Warren and Lukas Albano also dished out one helper apiece in the win.
It was a feel good victory for a Gloucester team that’s well on its way to securing another Division 2 state tournament berth. But it’s still very early, and they’ll need to remain locked in moving forward as they embark on a challenging schedule in 2025, beginning with a New Years Day clash at Lynnfield.
“All our upcoming games are going to be tight, interesting battles,” said Geary. “Lynnfield, Winthrop, Triton … these are all teams that I think are similar to us and kind of pick-em type games. If we play the right way, with the right emotions and with our speed, we’re going to compete.”