Silvester’s Elite Goaltending Has Sharks Near Top Of Division

BOURNE – Monomoy senior Dom Silvester is a superstitious guy.

On game days as the goalie for Monomoy-Mashpee, Silvester always wears the same socks, the same underwear and eats the same food.

More than 10 years ago, probably right around when Silvester first started playing the goaltender position during elementary school, Bud Light ran a commercial advertising campaign that poked fun at superstitions in sports with the mantra, “It’s only weird if it doesn’t work.”

In Silvester’s case, it definitely works.

A reigning Most Valuable Player in the Cape and Islands League, Silvester once again has been a stalwart between the pipes for the Sharks, who have rebounded from a 1-3 start to 5-6 and a top-10 ranking in Division 4, as of Tuesday. He’s saved more than 31 shots per game on average at an exceptional 92 percent clip.

“He's a gamer, and pretty much anytime he steps on the ice, we know that we're going to get an excellent performance out of him,” Monomoy-Mashpee head coach Chris Harlow said.

Silvester has trained with Harlow since middle school, a relationship that’s continued for the past two years at Monomoy-Mashpee. Standing 5 feet 8 eight inches, Silvester can’t rely on size alone to block pucks. He credited Harlow for how he built the skills needed to succeed in goal and to excel at possessing the speed required to make multiple saves in a row.

“I think my explosiveness and my quickness around the net helps me make a lot of quick saves, big saves, and I learned a lot of that from coach Harlow,” Silvester said. “He taught me the mechanics, the quickness and the strength training that goes into it, all that stuff.”

In 11 games so far, Silvester has let in fewer than three goals per game on average. He’s approaching 400 saves on the season, a year after reaching 1,000 for his career. The only reason he wouldn’t hit 2,000 is because the Sharks have been allowing fewer shots as a defense. He delivered his second career shutout earlier this month.

On Monday, Silvester locked horns with another top Cape goalie in Bourne junior Jackson Palmborg, in what turned into dueling shutouts through almost all of overtime. Junior Cole Thomas eventually rifled one past Silvester’s glove in the top right corner to give the Canalmen the 1-0 win. As intense and nervewracking as a clash like that is, Silvester plays sharper with the nerves, he said.

“Any big moment, we can typically count on him to put in an amazing effort, and it's at this point we know that we're going to get that almost every single time,” Harlow said.

Silvester first played goalie in elementary school, at a level where teams would rotate kids through the role. He tried the position out and sensed he had a natural feel for it.

“I got on the ice and I really liked it, and it was kind of just history from there,” Silvester said. “I just took off with it.”

Maybe he didn’t know then that, years down the line, he’d become one of best goalies in the history of the Sharks program, or that he’d superstitiously wear the same socks and underwear and eat the same food on game days. Or maybe if he did know — after all the hard work and the encouragement and belief from his parents, teammates and coaches — that he’d be saving shots at an elite rate for a team looking to challenge Division 4 with another playoff run, he’d also know he’d do anything to keep that going.

“It's a lot of mental stuff, but once you feel confident, you just kind of play without thinking,” Silvester said.

After all, it’s only weird if it doesn’t work.