The Pembroke boys hockey team has not enjoyed the success of last year’s team, which was still flirting with a perfect season this time last year. But that may be for the best.

Pembroke split a pair of non-league games by crushing Brockton 10-3 at Hobomock on Saturday and playing well in a 3-2 road loss to 10-2-2 Canton on Monday. With the team now in need of four points with three games left on their schedule, head coach Mike Duffy said the hard road the Titans have taken this season means they may be coming together at the right time to become a dangerous tournament team.

“We’ve struggled at times this year, but I think one of the best things these guys have done is learn from their mistakes,” Duffy said. “They know what it takes to get in, and that is going to be valuable once we get in, but we need to qualify first.”

Pembroke’s tenacity was on display Saturday night, when they turned a nail-biter against Brockton into a romp in the blink of an eye. Cullen Fitzgerald, Matt Sheehan and Paul Bevis all scored in the span of two-and-a-half minutes in the second period to widen a two-goal lead into a five-goal cushion.

The Boxers jumped out to a 1-0 lead 57 seconds into the game with a power-play goal, but Cam Miglietta answered less than two minutes later and Chris Waterfield gave the Titans the lead with a short-handed goal. But Brockton tied the game again on the powerplay before Fitzgerald added a goal with Pembroke on the man advantage.

The back and forth continued with Pat Mahoney pulling Brockton even again. Then Miglietta took the lead back with the final goal of the first period. Captain Ryan Kulik scored on a breakaway 1:13 into the second to put an end to the see-saw battle.

“He’s been there for us all four years,” Duffy said of Kulik. “He’s certainly the heart and soul of this hockey club, and where he takes us is how far this team is going to go. It was nice to see him step up tonight. It was an important game for us, and we had a wild start, but we played a nice second period and really took control of the game.”

Pembroke added the goals by Fitzgerald, Sheehan and Bevis to take an 8-3 lead in the third period. Miglietta picked up his hat trick 5:26 into the period, and Bevis followed 34 seconds later with his second goal of the game.

“We had scoring from all four lines tonight,” Duffy said. “Our third line had two of those first four goals, and it was nice to see us spread the scoring around.”

With the win over the Boxers and the loss to the Bulldogs, the Titans stand at 8-7-2 and need to stay at or above .500 over their final three games. History is on their side, as they are 2-0-1 this season against Hanover, Quincy and North Quincy, but Duffy said that means nothing this time of the year when teams are all desperate and hungry for the tournament.

“We’re heading back into the nitty-gritty of the Patriot League,” he said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us for sure.”

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