It was a memorable week for the Portsmouth High hockey team as the Patriots won their first two games of the 2003-04 Metropolitan B-South Division season, but then were handed a decisive 10-1 setback by the reigning state champion Coventry to cap the last seven days.

Nick Labbe had a goal and an assist while Jamie Farrea stopped 28 shots to post the shutout as the Portsmouth skaters earned their initial win of the year, 2-0 victory over St. Raphael last Wednesday night at the Abbey rink.

Labbe scored the game's first goal, from Nathan Longley, about two minutes into the second period. He later assisted on Brad Updegrove's tally with just under four minutes remaining in the contest. Jamie Farrea picked the shutout in the Portsmouth cage, making 20 saves. The Pats' record stood at 1-7-1 at the time of the win.

"It just felt good to get that first win," said Farrea. "Starting off 0-8 was kind of scary."

Portsmouth turned the victory into a modest winning streak in its next outing, topping last season's Met B state runner-up, East Greenwich, 3-0 at the West Warwick rink Friday night.

Tyler Cote gave the Pats a 1-0 lead in the first period with his goal from Updegrove and Clayton Scherf. The game remained tight until the final minute of the third period when Longley and Nick Labbe iced the game.

Farrea posted his second whitewash in as many outings between the Portsmouth pipes, this time stopping 41 shots.

Saturday back at West Warwick, the Pats came back down to earth a bit with their nine-goal loss to the Oakers.

Coventry scored the game's first goal just over three minutes into the first period, a Greg Mallette tally, to take the early lead. Updegrove tied the score with a goal at the 5:11 mark from Longley.

Coventry, however, responded with Cory Manley's goal with 49 seconds left before the buzzer to take the lead for keeps.

The Oakers exploded for five second-period tallies in a four-plus minute span prior to the intermission. The Oakers added three more goals in the closing stanza to complete the rout. Eight different Coventry players cracked the scoring column.

"After we got those two wins, we kind of had a letdown, which is understandable," said Farrea. "We were pretty beat up, playing our third game in four days, so we had a letdown."

Portsmouth enters this week with a 2-8-1 record and games Friday against Pilgrim at Thayer Arena in Warwick Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at Cranston Arena against Cranston East at 7:30 p.m.

Those two wins have the Pats thinking playoffs once again and wins over both their fellow Patriots (2-5-1) and Thunderbolt (6-4-1) could put Portsmouth back in the mix.

"When we started 0-8 we looked at out schedule and wrote the down the game we could win to maybe get in the payoffs. And honestly, we didn't have either St. Ray's or East Greenwich on our list," said Farrea.

"So we got four points we didn't expect to get with those wins," he added. "Pilgrim is a point ahead of us and Cranston East has one of the last playoff spots right now. We're kind of looking at these games as make-or-break for our season."

BY MIKE REGO

mrego@eastbaynewspapers.com