SACO – The Scarborough boys hockey team (8-1-1) entered the third period Saturday at Saco’s MHG Arena trailing Edward Little 4-2. With their first losing streak looming, the Red Storm put together arguably their best 15 minutes of hockey, scoring three goals in the final period to stun the Red Eddies 5-4.
It was a challenging week for the Western Maine-leading Red Storm. After a dramatic overtime win against rival Gorham last Saturday, the Red Storm faced their stiffest competition of the season with back-to-back contests against the Falmouth Yachtsmen and the defending state champs, the Thornton Academy Trojans.
After stomping the Yachtsmen 5-2 on Monday, the Storm had only a day to prepare for their toughest game of the season. The Storm suffered their first loss to the Trojans in a 7-1 rout on the road, providing the Storm with their first real test of adversity this winter. Despite being the better team on paper on Saturday, the Storm were given all they could handle from the Red Eddies.
It appeared early on as if the Storm had put the loss to the Trojans out of their mind and were ready to focus on the task at hand when Cam Brochu peeled off the side boards and ripped a slapper over the shoulder of Edward Little’s Alan Nelson to put the Storm in front 1-0 just 2:29 into the game.
But the Red Storm were unable to maintain their early momentum as a penalty on captain Ryan Johnson, put Edward Little on the power play. The Red Eddies were able to capitalize on Brendon Pelletier’s first goal of the game to tie the score at 1-1.
“We really kept shooting ourselves in the foot by taking penalties we really didn’t need to take,” said Red Storm coach Norm Gagne.
The Storm would fall behind only 1:40 later when the Red Eddies went back on the man advantage. Danny Poisson was able to beat Scarborough goalie Alex Cherry on a slapper from the point that made its way through a heavy crowd in front to put his team in the lead.
After falling behind, it appeared as though the Red Storm refocused and gathered their composure, as they were able to pick up their offensive attack.
With only 1:12 remaining in the period, the Storm’s Jack Rousselle ripped a shot from the slot that was able to beat Nelson before ringing off the post. The Storm caught a break however as the puck, rather than ricocheting back into the zone, came to rest on the goal line. Cam Loiselle was able to capitalize on the opportunity as he swooped in behind Nelson and jammed the puck into the back of the net to tie the score at 2-2.
Before heading into the second period, the Red Storm suffered yet another setback.
With Edward Little attacking in the final moments of the period, Scarborough’s Ryan Johnson got tangled up with an Edward Little skater in his own zone causing him to fall to the ice. With Johnson effectively out of the play and looking to the officials for a call, the Red Eddies’ Pelletier was able to capitalize as he tallied his second goal of the period with just 5.7 seconds remaining.
Edward Little’s last goal of the period forced Gagne to make adjustments heading into the intermission, most notably pulling Cherry, who let in three of the six shots he faced, in favor of Dalton Finley.
Finley was able to shut down Edward Little’s attack for the majority of the second period allowing Scarborough to settle down after an up and down first. Unfortunately the Red Storm’s special teams would let them down once again just prior to the second intermission.
“We made a dumb pass on the power play,” said Gagne. “I always preach that when you’re the last man back, you’ve got no help, so you got to make good decisions. We didn’t and they took advantage of us.”
The Storm allowed the Red Eddies to take a 4-2 with 3:03 remaining in the second after a bad pass in their own zone lead to a shorthanded goal by Matt Berube.
The Storm’s complacency forced Gagne to remind his team during the intermission that they deserved what they were getting.
“We didn’t come out with the grit we needed,” said Gagne. “They wanted it more after the first two periods. I told them if you want to win this game, then we had to beat them to every loose puck. We had to grit this out. I felt we could do it but we had to believe we could do it.”
Gagne’s bunch responded.
Just 18 seconds into the third, Rousselle got the ball rolling for the Storm as he knifed into the Eddies’ zone and beat Nelson to give the Storm the shot in the arm they needed.
“Jack led us,” said Gagne. “That goal in the first five or 10 seconds of the third just gave us that lift that we needed.”
The Red Storm proceeded to dominate the period, forcing Edward Little into taking costly penalties. This time the Storm’s special teams did not let them down, as Loiselle tied it up on the power play midway through the third.
Momentum had completely swung in Scarborough’s favor following Loiselle’s tying goal and they would not let it slip away.
Less than two minutes later, the Scarborough freshmen tandem of Bradley Rockey and Sean McGovern were able to put cap off the Storm’s comeback. After a shot from McGovern resulted in a juicy rebound, Rockey corralled the puck, drifted around the outstretched stick of Nelson and slid the puck into the net making it 5-4.
Despite a late penalty by Jordan Bathe, the Storm were able to hang on and claim their eighth win of the season heading into their next game on Thursday against the Portland Bulldogs.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
