Things are starting to come together for the Gloucester girls hockey team.
With his group now winners of two of their last three games, head coach Rob Parsons feels it was actually a loss — a competitive one at that — that’s served as somewhat of a turning point. That setback came in overtime on the road last week at Arlington, and since then, the Fishermen have steamrolled Newburyport (6-1), fell in narrow fashion to a tough Winthrop team (2-1), and beat that same Arlington opponent in an overtime rematch this Monday.
Melanie Earl netted the game-winner in the extra frame of the latest clash, giving her team a 5-4 triumph in thrilling fashion at Talbot Rink.
“It really feels like we’ve turned the corner and I think it started with that Arlington game last week. Even though it was a loss, we put together three good periods for the first time in a quite a while,” said Parsons, his team now 4-9 on the year and still holding a top 25 seed in the Division 2 MIAA power rankings.
“And then to come back a week later and beat the team that just beat us in overtime, that was great.”
There’s no doubt that Gloucester has talent — enough to not only qualify for the state tournament, but make a real run.
There biggest area of struggle in the early stages of the season was putting enough goals in the back of the net to come out on the winning side of games. But in recent weeks, they’ve flipped the script.
Monday’s win was the epitome of a team victory, especially on the offensive end. Gloucester got five different goal scorers on its five goals (Emma Krawcyzk, Kaya Collins, Tayah Fleming, Fiona Black and Earl), with Keagan Jewell adding a pair of assists and Elliana Parsons, Joss Twombly, Lexi Francis, Avery Benjamin and Fleming adding single helpers.
Fleming’s give-and-go with Earl to seal the deal in OT was the icing on the cake.
“It was a back and forth game the whole way and it felt like we were playing catch up a little bit but we pushed it to OT,” explained Parsons. “You don’t always get enough time in practice to work on 4-on-4s as you would like, but the girls (executed) a beauty of a give-and-go from Melanie (Earl) off the point to Teyah (Fleming) who gave it back to Melanie, and she took the perfect amount of time to find the opening and put a shot through.”
According to Parsons, he and his staff look at Arlington’s successful girls hockey program as a great model for what they’re trying to build in Gloucester. So to get a quality win against a Division 1 opponent like that was certainly a step in the right direction in that regard.
“Arlington just produces a great public high school hockey program and that’s always been the case,” said Parsons. “I always thought about (Arlington) as a place that Gloucester could try to live up to. They’ve got a great youth program that pushes good local talent through and that’s a really important part of the process as you’re moving up in the hockey world.”
Gloucester certainly takes pride in their youth programs, too, and it was fitting that Monday’s game against Arlington also served as a Cape Ann Youth Hockey night, with a number of eight, nine and 10-year-olds taking the ice prior to the varsity action.
“Those are girls that will be the face of the program some day — it was certainly a good night for it,” added Parsons.
With seven games to go in the regular season, GHS is in a great spot as they make their playoff push. The grind will continue on Saturday against Masconomet (home at 4 p.m.), with looming tilts at Stoneham and Marblehead following in the coming weeks.
“We’re at 4-9 right now with seven to play but we had a tough first half schedule and we knew that going in. Would it be better if we were 6-7? Sure,” said Parsons. “But we have seven remaining games and five are conference games and the (NEC) Lynch division is wide open. So every game from here on out is winnable and it’s just a matter of playing each game like it’s do or die.”
BOYS HOCKEY
Dracut 6, Rockport 1: The Vikings dropped their second straight game, with Matt Heath recording his team’s lone goal on a feed from Grayson Minich. Rockport (now 3-8) will look to bounce back on Wednesday when it hosts Cambridge for an 8 p.m. puck drop.
BOYS BASKETBALL
North Reading 63, Rockport 40: The Vikings hung tough against a strong opponent, making a great run to get back within 10 late in the game. Jasper Eck splashed four more threes while Deion Kasera turned in his best performance of the year with nine points. Freshman Anthony Ferrari also played well, chipping in four points off the bench. Rockport (now 3-11) plays at Manchester Essex on Friday at 6:30.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Newburyport 50, Manchester Essex 27: The Hornets struggled offensively in Monday’s setback, falling to 3-6 on the season. Next up is a clash at Danvers on Wednesday evening (6:30 p.m.).