No one would have been surprised if you told then that Norwell was the Division I team, as the Clippers buzzed the Duxbury end for most of the first period. However, for all their effort, it produced nothing but opportunities for the Dragons, who took advantage of every one of them and led by three goals at the end of the first 15 minutes.

It took less than three minutes for the Clipper’s to make their first mistake, allowing sophomore forward Bryan Barry to pick up a loose puck at center ice and feed junior forward Pat Charland coming down the left side. When Charland crossed the blue line and reached the top of the left face-off circle, he unloaded a screaming slap-shot that whistled past goalie Clay Ferguson for a 1-0 lead.

Despite the Duxbury score, the Clippers continued to carry the play in the offensive end, sending pass after pass through the crease in front of goalie Dan Sangster, but never really testing the junior.

Once again Norwell got sloppy at center ice, not getting back in time, and allowing sophomore defenseman Kane Haffey to spot Charland as he moved across the blue line. Charland moved in on Ferguson and picked the top corner for a 2-0 lead on Duxbury’s second shot of the game.

Norwell had its best chance of the period at the 5:56 mark, but Sangster stopped a break-away, frustrating the Clippers even more.

 

The final insult of the period came with 35.9 seconds to go when a pressing Clipper defense allowed senior captain Matt Hetherington to get behind them and go in alone on Ferguson, picking the top corner for a 3-0 lead.

Both teams had chances in the middle stanza, with Duxbury getting a pair of power-plays chances in the first seven minutes, and Norwell getting scoring bids a minute apart in the middle of the period.

With 43.7 seconds to go in the period, the Clippers went on the power-play and got the momentum builder they needed, as Mike Driscoll took a pass from Garrett Duffy and crossed from right to left to beat Sangster and cut the deficit to 3-1.

Duxbury had a golden opportunity to put the game away in the first 20 seconds of the third period when the Norwell coughed up the puck in the slot, but Griffin’s shot went wide.

Four minutes later play came to a halt when Norwell’s Christos Koutrobis went crashing into the boards and remained motionless for close to 15 minutes, as a medical team was brought in to stabilize the player before taking him to Jordan Hospital for an evaluation.

When play resumed, the Dragons were assessed a four-minute penalty. It only got worse 30 seconds later when they were called for another infraction that put the Clippers in a 5-on-3 situation.

Nevertheless, the Phil Sciretta-led defense prevailed, holding the Clippers scoreless, and protecting their 3-1 lead the rest of the night.

“Although we won, I think our kids need to know that we need them to play 45 minutes every game. Not 30 or 35,” said Coach John Blake.

After six games, Charland leads Duxbury in scoring with five goals and an assist for six points, while Matt Hetherington (3g/2a) and Colin Woods (2g/3a) are close behind.

Now sporting a 3-2-1 record, the Dragons will travel to Brockton on Wednesday night to take on the Boxers at 7:30.