GLOUCESTER— Time has officially ran out on the Gloucester High School hockey team.
The Fishermen entered Wednesday's Northeastern Conference North tilt with Winthrop in a desperate spot needing a tie or win to keep their postseason hopes alive. The Fishermen played with urgency, but they could not crack the Vikings defense en route to a 2-0 loss at the Dorothy Talbot Rink. The loss moves Gloucester's record to 6-8-5 on the season and eliminates them from state tournament contention with one game remaining on the schedule Saturday at home against Danvers (6:00 p.m.).
"The effort was there tonight we just didn't get enough quality shots on net," Lowe said. "Winthrop is one of the best teams in the conference and they showed it. It's tough (being eliminated from postseason contention) because the seniors worked really hard this year."
The Fishermen battled with inconsistency all season and in the end it came back to haunt them. Gloucester played its best against the best teams but at times struggled with teams it should have beat leaving points on the board in disappointing ties with Swampscott and Winthrop and being shutout by Marblehead in what was essentially a must win game.
Ultimately what did Gloucester in Wednesday night was Winthrop's perfectly executed neutral zone trap as they had no answer for it. Known for peppering goalies with countless shots, the Fishermen were held to just 16 shots on goal Wednesday. Gloucester had trouble skating through the neutral zone that was clogged by Vikings forwards and defensemen which led to very few scoring opportunities. When Gloucester did get the puck into the offensive end, Winthrop would not let them anywhere near the middle of the ice.
Gloucester's best chance to score came late in the third when Pete Mondello had a good look at the goal from the slot just off a faceoff, but the shot was turned away by Winthrop goalie Steve Waites. Other then Mondello's chance, the rest of Gloucester's shots were either from a distance, or disrupted by a Winthrop defenseman.
"We take pride in playing defensive hockey," Vikings head coach Dale Dunbar said. "We didn't have our legs tonight so our strategy was to make Gloucester play the whole 200 feet of the ice and we wanted to play just half the ice. I thought we did a good job of that. We also trapped well, the trap is difficult to play against, you really need to practice against it a lot to figure it out."
The Fishermen came out of the gates with some hop in their step as expected as they carried the play in the first frame outshooting the Vikings 8-4, but it was Winthrop that came out of the frame with a 1-0 lead. With five minutes to go in the period Winthrop's Chris Page took advantage when Gloucester had a tough time playing a bouncing puck in its own end while on the power play. Page gathered the puck and beat Fishermen goalie Jesse Glidden to make it 1-0.
Winthrop took that momentum into the second period as they dominated play and pretty much eliminated any offensive opportunities for Gloucester, who has just one shot in the period. The Vikings made it 2-0 with two minutes to play in the period when Page put home a centering pass from Mitch Paulson that deflected off a Gloucester defenseman and sat in the slot.
In the final frame Gloucester showed the needed desperation but the Winthrop defense proved to be too strong.
Glidden played well in net for Gloucester with 21 saves including a doozy of a sprawling blocker save robbing Page of a third goal early in the third period.
The Fishermen now turn their attention to Danvers on Saturday night as it will be senior night at the Talbot Rink. Gloucester can also play spoiler as the Falcons are tied with Winthrop for first place in the NEC North.
Winthrop 2 Gloucester 0
at Dorothy Talbot Rink, Gloucester
Winthrop 110—2
Gloucester 000—0
1st Period: W, Chris Page (Matt Todiseo) shg, 9:16.
2nd Period: W, Page (Mitch Paulson) 12:53.
3rd Period: no scoring
Saves: W, Steve Waites 16; G, Jesse Glidden 21.
Records: W, 11-5-2; G, 6-8-5.
