BOURNE – In a key early South Shore League matchup, Sandwich and Norwell faced off in a rematch of last season’s Division 4 state final in which the Clippers prevailed 4-3 in overtime for the program’s first title.

While the drama was just as good the second time around, chalk the sequel up to revenge.

The Blue Knights (4-1; 2-0) avenged the heart-breaking loss in a 2-1 victory over the defending champions in the first round of the Gormley Cup at Gallo Ice Arena.

Senior Chris Cardillo put Sandwich out front on a short-handed goal at 7:02 of the first period. Cardillo picked off a turnover in the neutral zone and went in untouched for the game’s first goal.

Sophomore Ty Creighton followed up at 13:51 with a goal out front after a scrum produced three shots on net with Creighton’s tally finally finding the back of the twine on Norwell goaltender Mike Dalia.

“There were a lot of implications in this game, two great teams in Division 4, obviously with the state championship last year going to overtime, and in our short history there have been some epic games already,” said Sandwich head coach Jordan Mohre. “To get this one is big for the South Shore League and to be playing for the Jim Gormley Cup is something we wanted to accomplish at the beginning of the year.”

Norwell (3-1; 1-1) was up for the challenge after the first period malaise despite losing the shots on goal battle. The Clippers initially handed the Blue Knights back-to-back power play advantages at 3:43 and 5:43 of the period but Dalia and the Clippers penalty kill unit were able to withstand the barrage out front to set up the Clippers with their own power play goal.

Senior captain Nolan Petrucelli cut the deficit in half with 2:24 left in the second period but that’s all the Clippers could muster despite coming alive in the final two periods of play.

“I don’t think we showed up in the first period and I think that just dictated the whole game and (Sandwich) could just play loose the rest of the game, said Norwell head coach Jim Casagrande. “It just wasn’t good enough, I thought they beat us. I’m proud of the team sticking with it but it was a pretty poor effort in the beginning and that’s what lost us the game. The league could very well come down to us and them and who beats who, so advantage to them now.”

A roughing penalty on Sandwich with 3:31 left in regulation provided the nail-biter moments in the final seconds but junior Luke Greeley (12 saves) was able to stop two point-blank snipes to preserve the win down the stretch.

This was not only the first matchup since the 2023 state final at TD Garden but the very first matchup between the two division foes as members of the South Shore League. The Blue Knights joined the SSL just this year and now sit atop in the driver’s seat of the standings with plenty of hockey left to play.

Sandwich outshot Norwell 17-13 but were 0-4 on the power play, three different man advantages in the second period alone, which resulted in the disparity in shots on net.

“We have to give credit to their (penalty) killers as I thought they did a nice job, but it’s something we’ve been working on and will continue to as we’ve had some success on the power play earlier this year so I was surprised we didn’t cash those in, but we will get back to it,” said Mohre. “Big, big league game and a big way for us to make a statement in our division. We needed to get this ‘W’.”