The Pilgrim boys’ ice hockey team demonstrated how elite it can be on Friday night at Thayer Arena.

The Pats dropped the previously undefeated Woonsocket/Scituate Co-op, 5-2, without any scoring output from their two strongest performers. Pilgrim didn't need much help from Ty Morgan or Ron Minear, two of D-III’s top three scorers, as Jack Clements and Pat Reilly carried the load.

“We have a lot of good players who are going to step up on given nights,” Pilgrim head coach Mike Boyajian, Jr., said. “We don’t have to rely on one kid to be the goal scorer now. We have kids every night who are going to step up and do what they have to do to get us a win.”

Clements racked up four points on two goals and two assists, while Reilly added two scores of his own.

The two sides played to a scoreless first period behind efficient play from their netminders. Woonsocket/Scituate senior Devon Rivard stood on his head at times to block a barrage of Pilgrim shots. Pats junior Kyle DiMascio answered the bell, too, turning away all five first-period shots.

That tie would quickly change after the teams switched sides of the ice. Less than 20 seconds into the action, senior captain Reilly wristed a shot from just past the blue line that beat Rivard high.

“I just wanted to bring the goalie to the middle, open up one of the corners,” Reilly said of his first goal. “I just took a shot and it found the back of the net, so I was very happy about that.”

Sophomore Clements would start his clinic with an impressive feat five minutes later. He skated into the Woonsocket/Scituate zone and, while getting held on his way to the net, snuck a shot low past Rivard to double the lead.

“His leadership is really what’s been showing this year with him,” Boyajian, Jr., said of Clements. “He’s great with the young guys. He’ll talk to them on the side, he’ll show them things they need to work on, and he’s a fantastic vocal leader, and he does lead by example. [He’s an] all-around great leader.”

He would add another almost five minutes after while Pilgrim was down a man. Clements tried to send the puck back out to the middle, but it bounced off an unaware Rivard and into the net for a 3-0 lead.

Meanwhile, the Pilgrim penalty kill and defense, with DiMascio as the last line of defense, kept Woonsocket/Scituate at bay. It couldn’t find twine on either of its power plays in the first two periods, and any clean shots on net were turned away or gloved.

The Pats took total control as Reilly once again caught Woonsocket/Scituate loafing. Reilly took a pass from Clements in the waning seconds and skated past the defense to rip a shot through Rivard with 2.3 seconds remaining.

“That’s how we are, once we get loose, once we get a goal, they start coming,” Boyajian, Jr., said. “Crack the dam, break the dam. They were saying it on the bench, ‘We get one, we’re going to get them, boys. So let’s get rolling.’ And that’s exactly what happened.”

Freshman forward Collin Driscoll got in on the fun at the 2:15 mark of the third period. Pilgrim found itself with a 5-on-3 opportunity and took full advantage. Clements sent a pass out to Driscoll from behind the net for an easy goal.

Woonsocket/Scituate would net a couple down the stretch, but the damage had already been done.

The Pats would lose their first contest of the year, 4-3, to the West Warwick/Exeter-West Greenwich Co-op on Saturday night, but they remain No. 1 in the Division III standings.

Pilgrim still looks like the prime contender in D-III early on, allowing three goals a game while scoring more than six on average.

The Pats will have nearly two weeks off before hosting the Johnston/North Providence Co-op on Dec. 30 at 7:45 p.m. The defeat in West Warwick doesn’t end the opening stretch on a positive note, but the Pats feel confident about the way their foray into D-III has gone.

“These guys believe,” Boyajian, Jr., said. “They believe in themselves. They believe in the systems we’re putting in place. They believe in one another. They all do their job, and they succeed, and that’s all they’ve got to worry about.”