Hockey Team Beats Rockport for First Win Since 2009

For the first time since beating Marblehead back in 2009, Salem has won a hockey game.

The Witches hit the ice at the Rockett Arena Sunday morning and turned back Rockport 2-0, after dropping 18 straight in 2009-2010.

Senior captain Zach Holt and freshman Matt Jalbert scored for Salem; it was Jalbert's first point in his first varsity game.

"I was behind the net. I moved out front and just threw it at the goal," Jalbert said.  "I was excited when I scored, but I knew we had to score again."

The mood in the Salem locker room after the game was pretty upbeat to say the least.

"Everyone has smiles on their faces in the locker room," Jalbert said.

Jalbert scored his unassisted goal at 2:38 of the second period, before Hunt's insurance goal with seven minutes to play in the game. Eric Rosengren and Spencer Collins assisted on the captain's goal.

With Rockport's Zach Hill in the penalty box for holding, Hunt put a shot high into the left corner of the net, over the blocker of Rockport goalie Colby Foster.

"This was incredible; this was a very big win for us. I can't even describe the feeling," Hunt said. "It's been such a long time since we won that Marblehead game. I feel great right now."

The Jamboree featured two 25-minute running time periods. During the season, the teams will play three 20-minute stop time periods.

Rockport put seven shots on freshman goalie Brett Harring in the first period, and he turned them all away. Harring was replaced in the second period by fellow freshman Grant Thompson who stopped all eight shots he faced.

Fourth year coach Brian Adessa was very pleased with the way his team played, especially his young goaltenders.

"I thought both goalies played extremely well. We knew what we had in Brett, and Grant came in during the second period and played well too," Adessa said.

"We hadn't won in a while, since the Marblehead game a season and a half ago," Adessa said. "This was a great way to start off. Now the kids know what they have to do to win, and they know they can win."

Salem put only five shots on net in the first period, but came back with 10 shots in the second, putting one by Colby Foster and one by Mike Dillon.

Salem and Rockport felt each other out in the first period, going into the intermission scoreless. After Jalbert's goal, the Witches played with a lot more confidence, and forechecked better than they had all game.

"This is a good win for us. It's good for our chemistry going forward," Adessa said. "It was an up and down game at the beginning. We made some corrections, and it paid off for us in the second period."

The Witches are home against Marblehead, opening the regular season, Wednesday afternoon at 4:30 p.m.