KINGSTON — Ever since he first took over Marshfield’s boys hockey program in 1999, Dan Connolly has enjoyed countless accomplishments in his tenure.
As of Saturday, he can proudly call himself a member of the illustrious 400-win club. Sophomores Teddie Holte and Jake Goodyear netted two goals apiece, delivering Connolly his latest milestone with a convincing 9-1 romp of Patriot League rival Plymouth South.
“We came into this game knowing coach had 399 wins,” Holte said. “We needed to get that 400th. No quit all night. That was our gameplan going into this.”
Marshfield (7-2-1) took the ice motivated to follow through. The Rams seized control of the momentum shortly after puck drop, as they began to pepper the Panthers’ net. It didn’t exactly take too long for them to capitalize, as Goodyear potted a goal off of a loose rebound just 2:38 into play to provide his team a quick 1-0 edge.
Moments later, Brendan McLaughlin found the net in a similar fashion as he collected a rebound of his own, sniping his seventh goal of the season to make it 2-0 with 7:09 remaining in the opening period.
The trend continued in the second stanza for Marshfield, as Brendan Kiziuk notched a goal to push the lead to 3-0. The Rams were far from done in the frame, as they would rattle off four more goals before the stanza concluded. Holte struck for two consecutive tallies, making it 5-0 with 4:04 left in the second. Goodyear followed things up with his second goal 29 seconds later, as the lead ballooned to 6-0.
“It feels great, especially knowing that it was coach’s 400th career win,” Goodyear said. “I think everyone really came together…We had a good week of practice, and we came out and showed them.”
After Plymouth South (1-8-2) cut things to 6-1 off a shot from Colin McDermott, Marshfield closed the period with one more tally for good measure. Jonathan Sullivan fired home a missile with 1.1 ticks remaining in the second, as the Rams took a comfortable 7-1 lead into the final stanza.
With a chance for playing time late, Bobby Rotondo and Jack Giannetti each added their names to the box score to help ice a dominant and historic win for Marshfield. The Rams remained perfect in Patriot League play (5-0-0) with their performance.
When the game concluded, a brief ceremony was held for Connolly on the ice, with his team and the Marshfield faithful cheering him on.
“It’s tough to put into words,” Connolly said. “It’s been a lot of years coaching, as you said, 27 years. You never want to say that one victory means more than another one. But it’s nice to get this, with the group of guys who we have in there who work hard. From the first-year team we had until now. I’ve been lucky enough to coach a ton of great kids, on the ice and off the ice. Just everything they do. We ask a lot of the kids in the program every year, and these kids all respond. I’m proud of them, from the first class until right now.”
Connolly is a Marshfield High graduate himself (1988). He has been standing behind the bench for nearly three decades, leading the Rams to multiple Super Eight appearances (2017, 2019) and two Div. 1 state titles (2006, 2011). He becomes the latest high school hockey coach in Massachusetts to accomplish the feat, joining close allies such as John Messuri of Arlington and John Maguire of Waltham.
“Just to be mentioned in that company with those guys, with Johnny Maguire at Waltham and Johnny Messuri, those two recent guys, it’s pretty special,” Connolly said.
