The Old Rochester/Fairhaven ice hockey team skated closer to a third South Coast Conference championship after a win against Bourne on Sunday. But Head Coach Eric Labonte wants more for the team this year, specifically, a deep postseason run.

“Our goal this year is to increase our win record so we don’t have to play in a preliminary game,” Labonte said. “We want to get fifteen wins and a high seed so we can watch a team before the playoffs instead of playing one in the first round.”

The team’s South Coast Conference record is 4-1 following Sunday’s 3-0 shutout against Bourne in Tabor Academy’s Travis Roy Ice Rink. Overall, the Bulldogs record is 7-3.

After a slow start to the season, the team’s defensive efforts improved.

Offensively, the team had 41 shots on goal compared to Bourne’s 13 shots on Sunday. During the team’s previous match, also a win against a Bourne, the team took 46 shots on goal while Bourne players took 13 shots on goal.

The players are also aggressively chasing the puck.

“We were more physical today than we have been all season,” Labonte said. “[The Bulldogs] played well in all areas of the game. Everybody played well and everybody made sacrifices on the ice.”

While the team has made it to the playoffs for four consecutive years, it failed to advance past the first round.

With experience as an assistant coach at Bishop Stang High School, Labonte isn't a stranger to championship level hockey. He was part of a run that brought the Spartans to the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association’s Division 3 state final in 2005.

Labonte became the Bulldog’s head coach in 2012, and he hopes to take the team deep this postseason.

“Everyone on the team, players and coaches, have some high expectations,” he said.

Looking ahead, the team faces Dighton-Rehoboth High School in the Travis Roy Ice Rink at 6:15 p.m. on Wednesday.

Labonte noted that Bourne defeated Dighton-Rehoboth earlier this season. Should the Bulldogs play at the same level of intensity then another win should be on the way.

“I got to tell you there’s nothing we could have done better today,” he said. “We played thirty periods of hockey so far this season and played twenty-seven good ones. Two of them were in this game. We have good senior leadership.”