Saturday’s Western Class B semifinal hockey game between Cape Elizabeth and York reached a crossroads with 4:31 left in the first period.
It was up to Cape senior goalie Ryan Hatch to choose the direction the game would head in from there. York forward Ryan Clauson had just stripped Cape defenseman Ross Negele of the puck at the blue line and he was all alone with Hatch. A goal would tie the score; a save would … well, a save would be big.
Hatch chose the latter.
“I just focused myself on the puck, read the guy, and I knew he was going to my glove, so I just caught it,” he said. “We broke it open after that, but if they had scored that goal it could’ve been a completely different game. They could’ve had a lot more momentum throughout the game.”
The No. 2 Capers used the lift from Hatch to kill off back-to-back penalties at the end of the period and they kept rolling. Cape scored four times in the second period and once in the third to beat No. 3 York, 7-1, and advance to the Western Class B finals for the second straight season.
“When we came out, we said, ‘We’ve got to play the body. We’ve got to get the puck deep,'” said Cape coach Jason Tremblay. “They came out flying too, so it was back and forth, bodies flying in a 1-1 game. But we got the advantage, 2-1, and Ryan made a great save on that breakaway.”
Drake Livada got the Capers on the board first, 3:33 into the game, when he deflected a Mike Kertes dump-in shot past York goalie Andrew Loane. The Wildcats tied the game just over three minutes later on a goal by Clauson. He intercepted a clearing pass in the slot and beat Hatch with a wrister into the upper left corner.
“I told myself, ‘I can’t let anything else in,'” said Hatch, who finished with 25 saves.
He didn’t, and the Cape offense settled into a groove. Senior Ryan Tremblay scored what proved to be the game-winner, the first of his three goals, 9:04 into the period – or about a minute and a half before Hatch’s big save.
“We had to start getting our breakouts working and stuff, and we just capitalized on all our scoring opportunities,” said Tremblay. “We just started putting them away.”
Tremblay scored his second goal, the team’s third, 2:14 into the second period. He circled out of the right-wing corner with the puck and put a backhander on goal that rode up Loane’s stick and into the net.
Once again, Hatch followed up a Tremblay goal with sterling save. This time he waited less than a minute to rob Kyle Banfield with another glove save.
“He stood on his head a couple of times,” said York coach Michael Vessey. “He came up very big in the first and early in the second. We had a chance, I thought, to get up a couple of goals and Ryan shut them down. He did a great job.”
It wasn’t just Hatch, though. The Cape defense played a part, too, clogging the middle and limiting York’s scoring chances.
“When we came in strong on them we weren’t getting the shots off and we weren’t pressuring the net,” said Vessey. “I’d look up and we’d be pressing the play on them, but we wouldn’t get the shot off and I’d look up and they’re coming two-on-one on us. They capitalized on those plays, and that’s the major difference.”
Negele made it 4-1 with a slapper through traffic on a power play at the 7:55 mark. Livada and linemate Kyle Dancause would each add a goal before the period was over to get the score to 6-1. Tremblay completed his hat trick 9:52 into the third when he intercepted a pass, raced in alone on Loane and put the puck into the upper right corner.
“I thought we were very opportunistic mentally tonight,” said Tremblay, the coach. “We really bared down on our chances. We moved the puck well when we got in the offensive zone. I think we need to work on our D-zone a little bit heading into the Western Maine finals, but you’ve got to be happy with a 7-1 win.”
At press time Cape was scheduled to meet Greely in the Western Maine final Tuesday. A win puts the defending champion Capers in the state final, which will be played Saturday at the Colisee in Lewiston at 1:00 p.m.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
