RallyNorth.net

Triton coach earns win against alma mater

Thursday, January, 03 By Dan Guttenplan
Staff writer

Perhaps no player brought more smiles to Amesbury hockey fans' faces over the last 10 years than Kevin Dodier.

The 2002 Amesbury High graduate was a two-time Cape Ann League most valuable player as a goalie. Over his junior and senior seasons, the Amesbury teams he captained logged a combined record of 30-8-8.

But last night Dodier was happy to erase the smiles of Indian fans at Graf Rink.

A Dodier-coached Triton squad beat winless Amesbury, 3-0. The Vikings scored all three goals in the final 7:46. Craig White and Paul Bishop each had a goal and an assist. Colin Robinson also tallied a goal, Brice Linehan had two assists and Mike Mysliwy also added an assist.

But Dodier's first matchup against his alma mater wasn't as seamless as the three-goal margin might indicate. Indians goalie Matt Irwin turned away 45 shots | 40 of which came before the first goal. For 38 minutes, Amesbury (0-5) appeared destined to collect its first point against heavily-favored Triton (5-1-2).

"I wasn't surprised because they always play hard," Dodier said. "Whenever they take the ice, they go all-out until the very end. It's never easy against a River Rival."

White broke the scoreless tie on a power play at 7:14 in the third. He collected a pass from Linehan along the right wing in Amesbury's defensive zone, skated into the slot and slipped a wrister over Irwin's left shoulder.

"Their goalie had a great game," White said. "We knew it was a special game for (Dodier), so it was a special game for us, too. We always talk about his Amesbury connection in the locker room."

Amesbury was routinely in the hunt for Cape Ann League titles during Dodier's playing days. The Indians have struggled since | and in an effort to become more competitive this winter, they've established a co-op with Whittier this winter.

Dodier has seen both ends of the Amesbury spectrum | first as a player in the glory days, and then as an assistant coach on last year's 3-16-1 squad. But one thing has always been consistent in his view from the net and bench: Triton's hard-nosed style of play.

"It's a blue collar team that's always worked hard," Dodier said. "That why I can't say I'm surprised by our success. These kids want to work hard. It's something I'm used to seeing whenever we played Triton. Now it's good to be on this side."

Following the game, Dodier got reacquainted with Amesbury coach Peter Cignetti outside of the joint locker room. The two men discussed strategy and admired the effort of both of their goalies.

Cignetti didn't seem to hold a grudge toward his former assistant for moving on to greener pastures. After all, it may not be long before Amesbury re-establishes a rivalry with Triton local hockey fans haven't seen since Dodier's playing days.

"We're getting there," Cignetti said. "That's a real good team we just played, and we played them to a tie halfway through the third period. It's a learning on the job type of thing. We had eight freshmen playing regular shifts. We played our hearts out."