A not-so Happy New Year

BIDDEFORD — Marie Potvin gave her team fair warning.

She had told her players on the Biddeford girls hockey team to be ready to play in their contest against Portland on Monday at the Biddeford Ice Arena, or they will regret it.

But as the Tigers took the ice before the game for warmups, Potvin knew her team was in for a long afternoon.

The Bulldogs proved her point correct, beating the Tigers 6-2, and jumping over Biddeford for the fourth spot in the Western Maine standings. Only the top four teams move on later in the season into the playoffs.

“They had three players that killed us, and we didn’t play,” Potvin said. “We didn’t have a good week of practice, and it showed today. We didn’t play, from top to bottom.”

The Tigers have had a frustrating stretch of four straight losses, including a 4-3 loss in overtime to Winslow on Dec. 22. Potvin chalked the current loss to a bad week of practice.

“In the Winslow game, we actually played hockey, we played it well,” Potvin said. “We played pond hockey today. We didn’t play today. We’ve played some good teams. Greely’s a good team, Winslow’s a good team, but we didn’t play today. You’ve got to practice like you play, and play like you practice.”

The Tigers were outplayed on the ice by a bigger, faster Portland team, led by forwards Raechel Allen and Drew Barry, who accounted for five of the Bulldogs six goals.

There were bright spots for the Tigers (3-6). Haley Reny scored her team-leading eighth goal of the season in the second period, and Biddeford produced in terms of penalty killing, ending all five penalties without allowing a goal, which included multiple 5-on-3 situations in the third period.

The Bulldogs (4-3-1) tacked on a 2-0 lead in the opening five minutes of the first period, both scored by Barry, who streaked down the ice and scored on the glove hand side of Biddeford goalie Emily Brassley on both occasions. Portland moved up to a 3-0 lead late in the period when McKinzie Parker rebounded an Allen shot off Brassley, tapping the puck into the net. Biddeford responded with only seconds remaining in the period, as Ann Marie Rowe slipped a wrist shot that sailed over the glove of Portland goalie Courtney Rickett into the net to bring the score to 3-1.

The Tigers brought the score to 3-2 at the beginning of the second period, when Kellie Renk drifted a long pass down the ice to Reny, who knocked a shot that deflected off Rickett’s glove into the net. From there it was all Allen, who finished with a hat trick, scoring two goals in the second period, including a highlight reel breakaway down the ice, where Allen went to Brassley’s right, spun, and shot a backhand between the leg pads for a goal, giving the Bulldogs a 5-2 lead. Allen sealed the game with her third goal in the third period, on a wrist shot, to cement the 6-2 win.

There’s still plenty of time for Biddeford, who made the playoffs last season, to turn things around, as nine games remain on the schedule, but Potvin said a loss to start 2011 doesn’t help to make a run for the postseason.

“It’s a huge concern, it’s what we talked about in the locker room,” Potvin said. “This month is a big month for us, this is not a good way to start.”

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