Plenty of Positives for Stoughton Hockey in Close Loss to Powerhouse Canton

Two teams heading in different directions faced off in a Hockomock League matchup Monday night, as Stoughton hosted Canton at the Asiaf Rink in Brockton in a contest that was postponed from its original February 2 date.

Canton defeated Stoughton 5-3 at home in a hard fought contest, and this time around Stoughton fell just short again, losing 4-2.

“We’re going through a tough stretch, but I have nothing but praise for our team with this effort in our last few games,” said Stoughton coach Dan Mark. “All three lines and our defense played very well and our goaltending kept us in the game. We made a really good showing against a very strong team.”

The Bulldogs, winners of the Hockomock League’s Davenport Division (small schools), raised their overall record to 12-2-2, and finish with a 10-1 league record and a perfect 6-0 division mark.

Stoughton’s woes continue as the team dropped its seventh consecutive game, falling to 3-12-1, with a league mark of 2-8-1 and a 1-5-0 divisional record. The Black Knights host a makeup game on Thursday night against Franklin at 7 p.m., followed by three more games to wrap up the season.

A first period goal by Canton’s T.J. Duggan and two second period goals, one by the Bulldogs’ leading scorer Nick O’Connor and the other by Duggan, gave Canton a 3-0 lead after two periods of play.

Stoughton, which has had problems in the final period throughout this season, played a strong final fifteen minutes, outscoring the Bulldogs, 2-1. After Canton’s Pat Ward scored to make it 4-0 early in the third period, Stoughton scored two unanswered goals.

Larry Hixon, a junior, scored his seventh goal of the season midway through the period, and sophomore Phil Falkof added his 13th goal of the season, but the Black Knights were unable to complete the comeback.

Canton outshot Stoughton 30-14 in the game, but the undermanned Black Knights hung in until the end to give Canton all it could handle.

“We need to be peaking at the right time and we have less than two weeks to get ready for the post-season tournament,” said Canton coach Brian Shuman. “We knew Stoughton was better than its record and always plays us tough. This was a good win and we played well both offensively and defensively.”

Stoughton has been hampered with numerous injuries, but has had chances to win against their last two opponents, and , giving up all four goals against the Sachems and Rocketeers in the final period. In their last outing, Stoughton was in a scoreless deadlock with North Attleboro, before giving up the lone goal of the game with just one minute remaining.

“Our effort has continued to be our best and we’re playing good hockey in our last few games, even without a full lineup,” said Mark. “There have been players that are now getting their chance to show us what they can do and many of them are stepping it up which gives us a good feeling for the remainder of this season and next season as well.”

SCORING:

1st Period:

Canton - T.J. Duggan from Brett Lennon at 8:03

2nd Period:

Canton - Nick O’Connor (Unassisted) at 0:33

Canton - T.J. Duggan (Unassisted) at 7:35

 3rd Period:

Canton - Pat Ward from Kurt Leavitt at 4:51

Stoughton - Larry Hixon from Josh Potter at 8:06

Stoughton - Phil Falkof (Unassisted) at 14:59