KINGSTON – It’s been a brutally difficult slate so far for the Hingham boys hockey team, but another strong showing on New Year’s Eve day has its heads held high entering 2024.
Behind two goals from Paul Dzavik and their typically stout defensive game, the No. 5 Harbormen (3-3-1) scrapped out a 3-1 win over No. 6 Marshfield in their second annual Hockey Fights Cancer matchup.
Dzavik’s second goal gave Hingham the lead with a minute left in the second period after the defense’s only blemish allowed the Rams (4-2) to tie it, and the entire group did a stellar job disrupting Marshfield opportunities to allow just 14 shots on goalie Mike Karo.
To end 2023 with such a win, along with losing all three of its games by one goal, has morale high in the Hingham locker room.
“It’s great, I tell them not to worry about the record,” said Harbormen head coach Tony Messina, who expects injured top scorer Travis Rugg to make his debut soon. “We’re getting better every time. We’re trending in the right direction for sure. … 3-3-1, who’s happy about that? I am.”
This one was bigger than the actual game, with the two communities combining to fundraise over $25,000 for the American Cancer Society entering the matchup. That puts them close to $60,000 total over these last two years.
“I’m so thankful that we get to come do stuff like this, with Marshfield especially,” said Dzavik, whose aunt is fighting cancer and grandfather passed from it. “We’ve built a very good relationship and it’s been awesome that we get to come have a meeting like this. We raise a lot of money and it’s just, it’s awesome that we can help support such a great cause just through hockey.”
“Very proud of our team and Hingham for what they’ve raised,” added Marshfield head coach Dan Connolly. “It’s a great cause, both teams rally around it, the community rallies around it. Helped raise some good funds, hopefully we’ll cure cancer someday.”
While the communities are friendly, neither let up in such a meaningful measuring stick.
Defenses cleared just about all activity on the inside through much of the first, while Karo and Marshfield’s Kevin Murphy (18 saves) stopped what they needed to. Dzavik found a way to get Hingham on the board in the final minute of the frame, though, coming up from below the goal line to finish off a Colin Lasch assist.
While Hingham only allowed three Marshfield shots on Karo in the second, the Rams generated a bevy of opportunities they just couldn’t execute for a quality shot. One finally came on a one-timer that Tommy Carroll buried off a feed from Cam McGettrick from the corner, tying the score at 1-1 with 4:55 left in the frame. Dzavik just needed a few minutes to get it back, though, clanging a low shot from the point off the inside of the right post for a 2-1 lead.
“With (captain) Travis Rugg out … our two other captains (Dzavik and Jack Rakauskas) have done a great job just kind of keeping them all together,” Messina said. “It’s been tough at times – lot of adversity in some of these games.”
Marshfield threatened a few times in a 7-5 shot advantage in the third period, but a bad turnover in the final four minutes gave Conal Mulkerrin a wide-open chance for an insurance goal.