RAYNHAM – For much of the 2016 New England Future Stars season, things almost seemed too easy for the Squirt South Shore Sabercats.

In the regular season, it was 12 opponents faced with 12 wins posted. Their average margin of victory was in the double digits, never playing a game decided by less than five goals. They posted four shutouts while giving up a division best 13 goals, 24 better than the next.

There was one task left for the Sabercats as they arrived at the Raynham IcePlex on August 14 for the Squirt Division’s Gold Cup Championship game against the South Middlesex Coyotes. It was a game unlike any they had played throughout the season, but in the end the result was the same, South Shore posting a 6-3 win.

“That’s what I had to tell our kids every game in the playoffs: Everybody is here to get you,” said Sabercats head coach Mark Greeley. “They wanted to knock you off the top… [The Coyotes] almost did.”

In the 2015 Squirt Gold Cup Championship, it was the Coyotes who played the role of the hunted. They were the division’s top seeded team looking to punctuate the year with a trophy, but were caught from behind in the final by the second ranked North Shore Stingrays. In 2016, the roles were reversed for the Coyotes as they met the undefeated Sabercats on the ice in Raynham.

Looking for a repeat performance of sorts, South Middlesex came out with two quick scores from Luke Pazzia in the first 2:45 of the contest, putting the Sabercats in a very unfamiliar place.

“I thought our kids would be shell-shocked,” Greeley said. “To get two goals like that on us, I didn’t know what to do! I almost started switching the lines around, I almost started doing everything in a panic, but I let it settle in and let it take its course and they played it right.”

At the point in a Squirt contest were things could very easily fall apart, things came together and by periods end, on a pair of goals from Brandon Perry and one from Julien Curtis, the Sabercats had turned their 2-0 disadvantage into a 3-2 advantage.

Though they were finally in the lead, things got no easier for the Sabercats as their game moved to the second period. Their advantage lasted until just about the game’s midpoint when it was back to even, Pazzia completing his hat trick to tie the game at 3-3.

The two sides played just once in the regular season, a 10-3 decision for the Sabercats mid-June. Things are often different with a trophy on the line and with 15 minutes to play in regulation, the Coyotes had their foes’ backs to the wall in South Shore’s biggest dogfight of the season.

“[The Coyotes] are a good team and they came to play,” Greeley said. “They wanted to play and take us out.

“…Their kids are a special group who never gave up.”

South Middlesex’s strong play continued at the onset of the third, but they could not get themselves back in front of the Sabercats, Brendan Carberry posting a shutout in the game’s second half after coming on in the second period. With their defensive end holding, the Sabercats also got the game’s next break with a Brady Boisvert goal.

Up 4-3 with 8:36 remaining in regulation and the perfect season in sight, the Sabercats had the edge needed and started to pull away. Two down the stretch from Aiden MacKenzie – one an empty netter – put the game away and sent the trophy south.

“They play as one,” said Greeley of his team’s season. “…They all came off separate teams, but they played as one. That was amazing to see.

“The two goalies are unbelievable, the defense is solid and fast, and the forwards all came together. It’s unreal to see.”

The South Shore Sabercats claimed the 2016 Squirt Gold Cup Championship with a 6-3 victory over the South Middlesex Coyotes.