Dolphins on upward swing
Won three of past four game, only losing one in a shootout
DORCHESTER, Ont. - The Dorchester Dolphins are on a upward swing. On the road October 23-24, the Dolphins won at Paris, 2-1, Saturday, after a shootout loss, picking up one point, at Norwich Friday.
Dorchester has won three of their past four games, improving to 5-7-0-0-1, while moving up to sixth place in the PJHL Doherty division.
"Good stretch for sure," Dolphins head coach Jordan Fuller said. "We were relentless."
At Paris, Senan Moore scored with 11 seconds remaining in the third period, with Quinn Gavin-White picking up his 17th assist of the season.
Peter Kushner gave the Dolphins a 1-0 lead in the first period, but Paris tied the game 20 seconds later.
At Norwich, the Dolphins held leads of 1-0 and 3-2, but the host Merchants took the second point in the shootout. Norwich scored twice on the power play and once short handed.
Kushner with his first junior goal, Isaiah Perrotte and Lucas Wilson, tallied for the Dolphins. Wilson, Mavin Smith, Senan Moore and Kyle Pandur, drew assists.
A three point weekend despite injuries to five players.
"But guys stepped up, filled in on roles, adapted to new lines and competed hard," Fuller said. "A lot of pieces that play large roles needed to be filled."
The Dolphins lost Legault and Will Joyce at Paris, while Colin Langstaff, Jayden Hazelwood and defenceman Tanner Ducharme, missed both games.
Legault, Langstaff and Hazelwood, are the Dolphins third, fifth and seventh leading scorers.
Prior to injury, Langstaff hit 100 career points in junior, 53 from his time with Sarnia of the GOHL.
"We've had a lot of buy in the last few weeks," said Fuller. "So we've emphasized some D zone stuff, identified some areas of concern and we've seen big turn around in those areas."
Since defencemen Liam Brulotte and captain Mavin Smith, returned to the lineup, the Dolphins are 3-0-1.
"The results speak for themselves," Fuller said. "Between the two of them, they bring a lot of experience, eat a lot of ice time in all situations and provide leadership and stability to the roster."
Both have four points in their eight games.
Gavin-White leads the Dolphins with nine goals and 13 assists, within the top 25 for the entire league. Colin Joyce has five goals and eight assists, Legault, three goals and nine assists and Wilson, four goals and eight assists.
The Dolphins aim to scare two more wins from opponents on home ice this coming weekend, Paris (4-8-1) on Friday and Wellesley (10-4-0) on Halloween night. Friday's game is Breast Cancer awareness night.