It‘s supposed to be a rebuilding year for Coach John Blake and the Duxbury High School boy’s hockey team. Nevertheless, the young Dragons have shown they hope to be competitive right away after opening with a surprising 2-2 tie with St. John’s of Shrewsbury, followed by blowout wins over Barnstable (8-3) and North Quincy (5-0).

After a mediocre season in 2008-09 that saw the Dragons go 7-13-2 and miss the playoffs, most figured that this season would be much of the same with very few varsity players returning that saw significant ice time last year.

Blake must have felt it was time to rebuild also when he chose this year’s team with 13 sophomores and a pair of freshman dotting his 28-man roster.

A team can only go as far as its goalie will take it, and last Wednesday night in Quincy junior goalie Tim Mathews showed he plans on skippering the Duxbury ship in a 5-0 shutout win over the Red Raiders.

The hosts tested Mathews early, but the junior stayed focused, as both teams were testing each other out before a Tim Harrison redirected shot almost caught Raider goalie Matt Brundige by surprise.

North Quincy finally got the first break of the game when Harrison went off for crosschecking at 5:37. However, the Red Raiders could do little with it, as the Duxbury penalty-killing unit kept that at bay.

The Dragons got their first man-advantage with just 39 seconds left in the period, and it almost turned disastrous, as NQ’s Brendan Glynn stole the puck from the Duxbury defense at the blue line and went in alone on Mathews. Going from left to right, his shot hit the crossbar and whistled into the corner as the period ended.

It didn’t take the Dragons long to jump on the Red Raiders in the second period, as sophomore Chris Williams walked out of the corner to Brundige’s right and picked the top left corner on a perfectly placed shot to give his team a 1-0 lead at the 13:22 mark.

Less than two minutes later the Red Raiders went on the power-play, only to watch Duxbury’s Pat Charland go in alone on Brundige but fail to score on his shorthanded attempt.

Momentum was clearly on Duxbury’s side, as they continued to keep the Red Raiders in check.

With 6:44 to go in the middle stanza, the Dragons finally got an insurance tally when junior forward Chris Sowa was perfectly positioned to knock home a rebound that gave Duxbury a 2-0 lead.

The final minutes of the period produced a pair of NQ power-plays, sandwiched around a blast from sophomore defenseman Mitch Barrington that rattled off the crossbar while the lead remained at two.

Mathews was up to the task once again starting the third period, as he turned aside a Raider shot while on his knees to keep his shutout going.

The next goal would prove crucial, as Duxbury went on the power-play with 10:10 remaining. Sophomore transfer Connor Doyle would put the game out of reach just 66 seconds later when he was positioned out front and redirected a shot past back-up goalie James Dunn for a 3-0 lead.

The visitors were now in complete control, as they dominated play over the final nine minutes with senior Charlie Cowen and Doyle finding the back of the net for the shutout win.

The victory was a good warm-up for Saturday night’s battle with Weymouth in the opening round of the Taylor Tournament in Hingham.

Despite their three-game unbeaten streak, the Dragons were no match for the Wildcats in the first period, as they were out-shot 9-3, yet only trailed 1-0.

The offense that Duxbury had shown in its first three games was nowhere to be found, as they trailed 2-0 after two periods and faced an uphill battle against the bigger Wildcat squad.

The Dragons kept the game close at 4-2 in the third period on goals by senior defenseman Jake Kearney (Pat Charland) and sophomore center Evan Jackson (Jeff Gaita). However, an empty-net goal ended Duxbury’s hopes for a comeback win with a 5-2 loss.

“Weymouth had one very good line and they were bigger and more physical than us,” said Blake. “We just got beat to the puck and barely won any 50/50 pucks in the first period.”

The loss to Weymouth highlighted some of the problems the Dragons will face this year, as they get deeper into their schedule.

“Between the loss of our graduating seniors, the transfer of Phil Sciretta, and the decisions of Dan Sangster (soccer) and Kane Haffey (lacrosse) not to come out this season, it kind of left the roster wide open for this year,” said Blake. “It opened up a lot of spots and we feel our sophomore class is very strong. I think we are a little ahead of where we thought we would be at this point.”

While the Dragons didn’t return any high-profile scorer from last year’s team, they do welcome the return of sophomore forward Connor Doyle from Catholic Memorial.

“Connor has four goals right now and we’re counting on him for some offense,” said Blake. “He can finish.”

Joining Doyle on the first line will be senior center Pat Charland and senior captain Ryan Schroeder.

“Pat is one of those kids who wears his emotions on his sleeve. He’s like the energizer bunny. His feet just never stop going, while Ryan is a physical type player who will muck it up in the corners and throw his weight around.”

Blake will look to junior captain Bryan Barry to lead the second line that will have sophomore Tim Harrison at center and sophomore Cam Daly at left wing.

“It’s quite an honor for a junior to be a captain,” said the Duxbury coach. “Bryan has shown leadership on the ice and the ability to finish. He’s got six points already and plays a physical style game.”

Harrison came into camp with a positive attitude and it shows with the hard work he put in in the off season. “Tim made a huge improvement since last year and he should be able to do some damage this year with his size and skills.”

Daly saw some varsity time last year and Blake hopes with his size and skill he’ll be able to produce on a regular basis this time around.

The Dragons currently have a pair of third lines that will continue to battle it out for the majority of playing time.

Junior forward Nick Buonvicino will center one trio of senior Colin Clark at right wing and Sowa on the left side. Buonvicino has the speed and quickness for the center position, while Clark has the best shot on the team according to Blake and will be the focus of Duxbury’s set-up men. While Sowa is known for his blue-collar work ethic and willingness to go in the corners and do the dirty work, he still has a scoring touch as evidenced by his nice goal against North Quincy.

The mini line of sophomores Evan Jackson, Williams, and Jeff Gaita look like they could give their teammates a run for their money when it comes to earning more playing time.

“They’ve done a spectacular job so far,” said Blake. “They’ve played together before and they just seem to do all the little things to get the job done despite their lack of size.”

Also expected to see some time up front is senior Charlie Cowen, who scored his first varsity goal in last week’s win over North Quincy

With so many new players up front, the Dragons will be relying on their defense and the goaltending of Mathews.

Senior Jake Kearney will anchor the Duxbury defense along with classmate Richard Dowling. Both defenders have good size and did an excellent job in helping hold opponents to just five goals in the first three games.

Junior Stephan Krall likes the physical game back on the blue line and can set the tone according to Blake, while his partner, junior Joe Coyne, has made the transition from forward to defense after experimenting with it at the end of last year.

Sophomore Mitch Barrington has all the makings of a solid defenseman for the next three years. “He’s got good hands and is very smooth with the puck,” said his coach. “He really sees the ice well and will be instrumental on our power-play.”

Sophomore Ken Jacobson will be the stay-at-home, take-the-body defenseman paired with Barrington.

Mathews has played all the games in net so far with his best game coming in the 2-2 tie with St. John’s.

“Up to this point Tim gives us our best chance of winning,” said Blake. “He looked the best in the pre-season, but we also hope to get sophomore Ian Ikeda some playing time too during the season.”

Although the Dragons have scored 17 goals in their first four games, Blake doesn’t expect to win a lot of blowouts.

“Our defense is our strength and a lot of our kids up front don’t have a lot of varsity experience,” said Blake. “If we are going to win, it will most likely be in low scoring games. Because of our size, bigger teams might intimidate us. The fact is that we have so many new faces, it might take a little while to get things going. We’ll be a lot better as the season goes along.”

On Wednesday night the Dragons will take on Hanover at Hobomock Arena at 6:10.