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Desroches' hat trick pushes Salem to Classic final

Friday, December, 28 By Ryan Lambert
Staff writer

Salem coach Mark McGinn estimates that last year, Josh Frahm and Ryan Desroches combined for 10 shorthanded goals. So far this season, they weren't even a threat for any.

"This year they haven't been getting on the puck," said McGinn.

But Desroches and Frahm finally got rolling on the penalty kill last night, combining for a gritty goal at 4:15 of the first period.

And by the time the game was over, Desroches had netted a hat trick and Frahm had three assists as Salem rolled to a 6-1 win over Spaulding in the second round of the Salem Blue Devil Holiday Classic.

The win put the defending champions through to the final against Andover, which edged Pinkerton 2-1 earlier in the day, tomorrow night at 6 p.m.

After a lackluster night against Oyster River on Wednesday, McGinn extolled to his team the virtues of starting the game off strong. It must have worked. Salem led 2-0 after the first period thanks to a late marker from Joel Vastl.

"Our job is to keep their offense from working," said McGinn. "We had a couple of kids that we wanted to shut down on their team, so it was just about defense and keeping shots down. That's the kind of system we play. We want to see more of that."

Tyler Vigue scored in the second period before Spaulding star Jamie Ferullo pulled his team within two to close the second period. Then Salem ran away with it.

Desroches scored another shorthanded goal, again from Frahm, and then added a power play marker to close the scoring to complete his third career hat trick at 12:51 of the third period.

Salem also held Spaulding 0 for 8 on the power play. "It feels great," Desroches said. "I had a few rough games and we came out flat yesterday and didn't really have a great game. I knew we had to come out today because we needed the win. Everyone was working hard, and I just came up big."