Nothing tastes sweeter than a mouth-watering falcon dinner for the Gloucester Fishermen, who cooked the Danvers Falcons 2-1 Saturday night in a difficult NEC hockey matchup.
Goals were scored for the Fishermen by assistant captains Brett Cunningham and Chris Karvelas. Assists on Karvelas’s goal went to Chase Sargent and Will Lowthers.
With 4 minutes left in the first, Cunningham was skating down the ice on a breakaway before a Danvers defenseman hauled him, resulting in him spiraling into the net. The assistant captain was awarded a penalty shot, skating around the Danvers goalie and backhanding into the goal to make the game 1-0.
The second period was quiet for the two teams, with the score remaining 1-0 for the entire 15 minutes. However, both teams totaled a number of shots on each other’s goalies. The Falcons were aggressive with their checking, but Gloucester fought back equally aggressive.
A heart-stopping goal by Danvers’s Seamus Cary scored 6 minutes into the third, tying the game up. Both teams’ play was back and forth with each other and both fan groups were expecting a tie or overtime from the two rival teams. However, Karvelas came riding in fast, burying a goal into Danvers’s net with around 80 seconds left in regulation. Danvers couldn’t bounce back to tie the game, ending the gritty match with a 2-1 Gloucester win.
Jackson Hakes created many scoring chances for the Fishermen throughout the game, playing like a machine out on the ice. A difficulty for the Fishermen, despite the important win, was the absence of their 2nd top scorer and assistant captain Colby Jewell, who is currently out with a shoulder injury. It is unknown the exact date he will return to the ice, but Gloucester is awaiting his return back patiently.
Danvers dominated Gloucester’s zone for most of the game, totaling 25 shots in total. Without the brick wall of senior goalie Nick Tarantino between the pipes, Gloucester would have been doomed. Tarantino was a beast in the net, saving 24 total shots and destroying the Danvers forwards’ chances left and right.
The boys have snapped their losing streak with this tough match after losing their last 4 games both at home (1 loss) and on the road (3 losses). “Our team really needed that win to get back on track.” Karvelas detailed post-game. “Obviously we were in a slump, so to be able to score that goal for my team felt really good. Hopefully this win will give us some good momentum that we can hold onto for the rest of the season.”
The team is now 7-5 leading into their home game against the Marblehead Headers this Wednesday at 6 p.m. Make sure to support the boys as they hope to continue their domination of D2 hockey.
