Hockey teams ring in the new year with winning week

The lady Bulldogs had plenty to smile about in last week’s win vs. Franklin. (Mike Tureski)

The boys team continued its torrid start to the season while the girls broke into the win column in a memorable start to the new year for the Canton High varsity ice hockey squads.

The Canton boys, considered perhaps the runaway favorites for the Division 2 state title this year and a consensus top-10 team in all of Massachusetts, ran their season-long winning streak to five games last week with a pair of dominant victories over nonleague Milton and longtime rival Franklin.

Milton is among the higher ranked teams in Division 2 this year and the Bulldogs had to play them in their building, but it was frankly no contest as Canton rolled to a 5-0 victory. Three days later, the boys headed south to Franklin and embarrassed the Panthers with a barrage of first period goals.

Five of the team’s seven goals against Franklin came during the first few minutes as the Bulldogs broke the will of their rivals, capping things off with two more scores to make it a 7-0 final.

Including the two wins last week, the Canton boys have now outscored their opponents by a combined margin of 28-2 in five games, with no goals allowed in their past three contests. Senior goalie Matt Wright, who has drawn early praise from head coach Brian Shuman for his steady play and determination, has been perfect during this recent stretch, stopping the last 30-plus shots he’s faced.

The offense, meanwhile, has been lights out thus far, led by an emerging superstar in junior Ryan Elrick. Through the season’s first three weeks, Elrick has already racked up 13 points and has more than double the number of goals (9) as the Bulldogs’ No. 2 scorer, Cam Guerschuny (4). What’s scary is that the Bulldogs gladly share the puck, as evidenced again last week when seven different players found the back of the net in their wins over Milton and Franklin, including senior captain Andrew Gillis and talented sophomore Gavin O’Toole, who collected two apiece in the win over the Panthers.

The top D pairing of senior captain Teddy Shuman and sophomore Kellen Labanara have been two-way monsters thus far, with Shuman having a particularly big week highlighted by his first goal of the season and five more assists, giving him a team-leading 10 for the campaign.

As for the girls team, the vibe has definitely picked up over the past few days with the lady Bulldogs notching back-to-back solid wins at nonleague Nauset Regional and home against Franklin.

Leading the way for the Canton girls has been sophomore Rori Sasin, who broke out last week in the scoring department with a pair of goals in both games. Senior Abby Stock, who is also off to a strong start, added another one of her own in Canton’s 3-2 win out on the Cape versus Nauset, while juniors Caitlin Vicente and Lauren Raffetto also found the net as part of a 4-0 victory over the Panthers — marking the first shutout of the winter for sophomore goalie Charlotte Eagles.

Now 2-2-1, the lady Bulldogs had a chance to make it three in a row with Stoughton/Sharon scheduled to visit on Wednesday followed by a road game Saturday at Hopkinton. The boys team was also due to play on both of those days with a home game versus Taunton and a road match this weekend against Oliver Ames.

Both teams are then slated to travel to Duxbury to take on the Dragons next Monday, January 12, at the Bog Ice Arena.

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