Nicholas Shearer put the Dolphins on the board, with his first of two goals, 75 seconds into the first period. It was 3-0 after 20 minutes and the Dolphins doubled their lead in the second period.
"We jumped on them right away and kept carrying it through," Vandersleen said. "We kept our feet moving, stuck to the game plan and everybody stayed positive on the bench."
Caleb Haalstra, Jakob Marche, with his team leading 14th and Tyler Rennie, up from the Dorchester midget team, with his first goal, completed the scoring.
"That was our best first period in a long time. We sent a message after our two games on the weekend. We needed a big rebound game," Dolphins' head coach Mark Steele said. "I think the first two periods we dominated. We came out flying. Our second wasn't as good as the first and in the third, I thought we're going back to our old ways again."
Goalie Jackson Mailloux who made 36 saves for the shutout, faced most of the shots in the third period.
"It doesn't matter what the score is, you have to play the same way all of the time," Steele said. "We got to six by playing the way we were playing, then we stopped playing the way we were playing and we didn't get anymore."
Overall, it was likely the Dolphins' best game since a 2-1 overtime win at Mt. Brydges, Nov. 26. Back in October the Dolphins rode a seven game win streak to first place, but have been slipping down the standing over the past month.
"Everybody was playing well. We were getting to the puck and won the battles for a change. We've been letting other teams win the battles and tonight we won the battles," Steele said. "This is how we played when we went on our streak, then we got away from it. After we got thumped twice in a row, we (coaches) said, you guys had a seven game win streak for a reason and then you go play the way you guys want to play, not the way we've been showing you."
The Dolphins suffered two lopsided losses this past weekend to Lucan and North Middlesex, by a combined score of 17-5.
"I was lost for words. Both games were embarrassing," Steele said.
Marche continues to lead the Dolphins with 14 goals and 26 points. Vandersleen has a team high 14 assists. Haastra leads the blue-liners with 11 points.
Dorchester has three games remaining before the Christmas break, hosting Mt. Brydges and Thamesford, this Friday and Saturday, before a road game at Exeter, Dec. 21.
"We have to keep putting pucks on net and keep working hard and good things will happen," Vandersleen said. "Getting six points before the break would be awesome."
The Dolphins lost forward Josh Short, the team's second leading scorer, to a shoulder injury last Friday. Also on the sidelines with injuries have been forward Noah Small (foot) and defencemen Ethan Whitmore and Quinn Wenger.
rob@hometownplay.ca
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