Noah Thompson and Gavin Swain weren’t in the lineup when the Southern Regional ice hockey team faced Wall in mid-December. Yet even with only two-thirds of the components that made up the Rams’ top line, Southern managed to win by a pair of goals.

However, it wasn’t the quarterfinals of the Shore Conference Tournament Dowd Cup, and it’s not as if Southern had been lighting up teams of late. The Rams had lost six of their previous eight games.

“When you lose two important pieces on offense, it hurts,” said head coach Graham Borg shortly after the sixth-seeded…