“It’s very sweet,” Fennelly said after his team hoisted their second trophy. “It’s nice when you have a core of kids that have been together for a while and these kids have been together for sometime and playing together. They like each other, there’s no arguments in the locker room, it’s great. It’s really fun to coach like that.

“…I think what is really key to a team is gelling together. Knowing where your responsibilities are, knowing where your players are. They just listened.”

Despite North Shore’s track record, the Chill were by no means afraid of the big bad wolves that were the Stingrays. In two meetings during the regular season, the Chill took the Stingrays to overtime in both, pushing them as far as possible, and on Sunday they had a start to the game of a team looking to get over that hump.

Much of the game’s first six minutes was played in the Stingrays’ end as the Chill took complete control of the contest. They took control of the scoreboard just past mid-period when Andrew Carr made it 1-0 at 7:39.

“When we played them this season, they scored first every single game,” Fennelly said of the Chill. “…This team is phenomenal that we played and first five minutes I was scared.”

The entirety of the first belonged to the Chill, but Carr’s goal remained the only one they put away in the frame, while the Stingrays got one of their own to start creeping back into the contest, Chris Roderick scoring on a quick snapshot from the slot at 10:03. The 1-1 tie lasted into the second period.

North Shore began to overcome their early struggles in the middle frame and get back on track for their second straight title. There was a quick burst offense that garnered a pair for the Stingrays early in the second. Joe LaPiana netted the first straight off an offensive zone face-off at 5:27. Sean Allen then made it 3-1 at 7:23 with an odd angle shot from the boards that somehow snuck in past Natick goaltender Justin Koulalis.

“That was [the turning point],” Fennelly said. “…They started to match the level of physicality and in order to do that you have to deflate them a little bit.

“…The second period, they played to their level and they took off with it.”

With the Stingrays’ offense having done their part, their defense stepped up in the latter half of the second to stop a number of quality chances by the Chill – including a diving stop by LaPiana in front of an open net and a breakaway stop by Ryan Cote in the final minute – to keep the score at 3-1 going into the final period.

The Stingrays struck for the final time early in the third, LaPiana netting his second of the game at 1:32, putting away a feed from the corner from Brian Raimo. Natick continued to press, but there was no more offense to be had following LaPiana’s tally. The game ended with the score 4-1, the Stingrays capturing their second consecutive Varsity Gold Cup Championship.