GLOUCESTER— All season long the Gloucester hockey team has been waiting for a dominant performance against a quality team. The Fishermen have given some good teams fits this year, but there hasn't been a game where the team came out from the start and dominated against a quality opponent.
In Wednesday's 5-1 win over Peabody, the Fishermen picked a good time to put forth one of its best efforts of the season as they dominated from start to finish in a game that they essentially had to win to maintain a realstic chance to make the tournament. More importantly, the win moves Gloucester back to the .500 mark at 6-6-5 on the year and they now need three points in its final three games to qualify for the tournament starting with Beverly on the road Saturday (4:30 p.m.). The loss was a killer for Peabody, who was also a game under .500 coming into the game but moves to 6-8-1 with the loss.
"This if the first time all year we have come out and dominated like that," Gloucester senior captain Vinny Terranova said. "We have had a lot of strong game plans coming into games but haven't executed. It was nice to execute tonight and not look back."
It took Gloucester about 10 minutes to get going with the game opening to a stalemate with no quality scoring opportunities for either team, but the next 35 minutes of ice time was all Fishermen.
Mike Russo made it 1-0 on an outstanding individual effort late in the first period where he took a pass from Ben Favazza in the neutral zone, reversed ice twice and darted up the middle through the Peabody defense and beating Tanners goalie Joe Powers with a wrist shot.
Just 1:18 into the second period Gloucester's leading scorer struck again when a Johnny Interrante pass deflected right to him in the slot, Russo finished the job for a 2-0 Gloucester lead.
Seven minutes later Favazza made it 3-0 on a wrist shot from the slot but it was quickly answered by a Tanners goal from defenseman Nick Salalayko on a shot through a screen from the point.
Peabody then had a goal disallowed because the net came dislodged. The play was fairly controversial as the Tanners snuc the puck through the side of the post that became dislodged, the call kept the score at 3-1.
With 1:44 left in the frame Gloucester essentially put the game away when Peter Mondello won a one-on-one battle behind the Tanners net, moved the puck to the front of the net and scored on a wrist shot to make it 4-1 after three periods. Coltyn Rivas added a third period goal when he shot, that was going wide of the net, deflected off of a Tanner defenseman's stick and into the goal.
Russo led the scoring with two goals, Favazza and Rivas each had a goal and an assist. Goalie Jesse Glidden also played well for Gloucester with 24 saves, his best coming in the middle of the second when he made a sprawling pad save on Peabody's Mike Chiappini followed by a sprawling glove save on the rebound.
"We passed the puck well tonight and kept moving our feet," Lowe said. "Russo had another good game and Glidden played well in net. It's huge to get back to .500 but we still have important games left to play."
The Fishermen now have a three game fight to qualify for the state tournament. At the moment the team's attention is on Beverly, who they meet Saturday at Salem State. The Fishermen finish off the season with a pair of home games against Winthrop on Wednesday and against Danvers next Saturday.
"We need to take it one game at a time," Terranova said. "We have to move on from this win quickly and start to focus on Beverly."
Lowe echoed his sentiment.
"The next game is the most important game and right now that's Beverly," Lowe said. "But it doesn't matter who we play, we need to come out and work hard for 45 minutes just like we did tonight."
Gloucester also got a bit of bad news in the win as junior defenseman Mike Muniz was taken off the bench on a stretcher in between the second and third periods with a hip injury.
"Mike has been playing great for us and he plays a ton of minutes," Lowe said. "It's a big loss, we are going to have to find somebody to replace those minutes."
Gloucester 5 Peabody 1
at Dorothy Talbot Rink, Gloucester
Peabody010—1
Gloucester 131—5
1st Period: G, Mike Russo (Ben Favazza) 13:36.
2nd Period: G, Russo (Johnny Interrante) 1:18; G, Favazza (Coltyn Rivas) 8:18; P, Nick Salalayko (Mike Chiappini, Eric Costa) 9:05; G, Peter Mondello (un.) 13:16.
3rd Period: G, Rivas (Alex Webb) 6:05.
Saves: P, Joe Powers 28, Chris Ciampa 2; G, Jesse Glidden 24.
Records: P, 6-8-1; G, 6-6-5.
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