Boys Hockey
Westbrook 3
Gorham 4
Gorham overcame an early one-goal deficit and held off a late charge by Westbrook for a 4-3 win at the USM Ice Arena on Monday.
The Blue Blazes had power play advantages of 5-on-4, 5-on-3 and 4-on-3 for almost the entirety of the game’s final seven minutes, but were unable to beat goalie Brendan Foley with the tying score.
“We battled through adversity, tried to keep our composure and won the hockey game,” Gorham coach Eric Wales said.
Trailing, 2-1, late in the first period, Gorham killed a 5-on-3 Westbrook advantage. Moments later Alex Dahms scored unassisted; 11 seconds after that the Rams took the lead.
Sophomore David Gushee sent a pass to Dahms who clanged a shot off the left post, but Brendan Ryan corralled the rebound and put it between the pipes.
“We let them back into the game the last three minutes of the first period,” Westbrook coach Glenn Amico said. “That took a bit of the wind out of our sales, but the kids will learn from it.”
Wales knew the momentum had shifted in his team’s favor.
“After the first period I told the team, ‘We shouldn’t lose one battle the rest of the game. We are up 3-2 and we just killed off a 5-on-3. Let’s go get ’em,'” he said.
Dahms added to Gorham’s lead eight minutes into the second period, backhanding a pass from Ryan.
The Rams would need the cushion.
Just two minutes into the third period, Mathew Boutte brought the Blue Blazes back within one with an unassisted score. Less than two minutes later Boutte came inches from pulling Westbrook even and beating Foley, but he hit the right post.
On the power play much of the third period, Westbrook outshot Gorham, 7-6, but couldn’t tie the score. Overall, the Rams held a 29-21 advantage in shots.
“Penalties hurt us a little bit,” Westbrook coach Glenn Amico said. “We didn’t give up any power-play goals, it just tired us out. Our first and second lines couldn’t sustain the skating.”
Gorham was 0-10 on power plays while Westbrook was 0-13.
Gorham’s Ian Ryan notched the game’s first goal 1:14 into the first period on a pass from Daniel Hanson. Westbrook’s Joey Cloutier, on an assist from Boutte, tied the score less than a minute later and Zach Souza put Westbrook ahead just over a minute after that.
“We didn’t give up,” Amico said. “We got down early on and came back. We played with a lot of heart. (The players) are working hard in practice and I think they see that there is some potential. We just have to keep all of our players intact; we can’t have one sitting out.”
Westbrook defeated Nobel, 7-4, on Saturday. The Blue Blazes had trailed, 4-2, after the first period, but scored five unanswered goals en route to the victory. Zachary Johnson led Westbrook with two goals.
The Blue Blazes faced Yarmouth Wednesday and will play at Gray-New Gloucester Saturday.
Gorham defeated Lawrence, 7-5, Friday. With the win over Westbrook the Rams’ record is even at 2-2. They play at Deering today.
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