The Pilgrim boys hockey team squared off against a familiar foe last Friday night when the newly-formed Toll Gate-East Greenwich co-op came to town.

After three seasons together as a unit, Toll Gate would part ways in the offseason to team up with the Avengers and immediately become division rivals with the Pats. Tied 2-2 heading into the third period, the Pats would explode for a trio of goals to surge to the 5-2 decision.

“We had this one circled, it was a big one. We’ve had our struggles this year and we knew there would be a lot of pressure coming in. The last few weeks we have changed a few things and everyone has stepped up a little bit more. I think that’s been huge for us. I think we’re better than our record shows and we’re only getting better, getting healthier, so we’re going to be a team to look out for,” said Richie Cavanagh, who led Pilgrim with a hat trick including two goals in the opening six minutes of play in the third.

The game got off to a wild start as Toll Gate jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the opening two minutes of action. Devin Stevens got Pilgrim on the board just 1:25 into play, then Mike Tober and Chase Paskalis would score in the next 32 seconds to give Toll Gate the lead. Cavanagh would score a power-play goal late in the second period to tie things up heading into the final frame.

After Cavanagh scored a pair of goals in the third, captain Ryan Barlow would close the door when he scored on an empty net with 60 seconds remaining.

“It felt like an insult that those guys just abandoned us, they wanted to go to that school. We just wanted to show that with or without them, we were still the same team,” said Barlow, who expected the team to have power-play opportunities throughout the night. “We know their play styles, we knew some of them get chippy and we just kept playing our game. We knew they would get in the penalty box and they did. We got two goals out off of those penalties. It feels good to get that revenge.”

Barlow was happy to see the team respond after falling behind early.

“All year we have been getting down early, so we’re familiar with it, unfortunately. We just pulled ourselves back in, kept plugging away and were able to get one in. Then we started raining down more [shots] and goals went in,” said Barlow. “We’ve had so many close games and it sucks when you lose to a team by one goal … it starts to get in your head. It’s good that we can reset and build some momentum.”

Cavanagh was also glad to see the Pats take control in the third period, which they have also struggled to do in close games this winter.

“They’re a good team and they’re also better than their record shows, they have a lot of good players. We knew they would come out swinging. The third period has been a struggle for us this year so for us to come out and score to take the lead, that was huge for us. It’s very exciting for the guys,” said Cavanagh, who credited his teammates for giving him good lucks on the offensive end. “I just want to thank my line mates, they moved the puck really well and everyone knew their role. We moved well on the power-play and capitalized.”

Pilgrim improved to 3-6 with the win while Toll Gate-EG fell to 1-10.