PORTLAND – The second-ranked Scarborough girls hockey team improved to 12-3-1 on the season on Monday night, blanking the Portland/Deering Bullrams 5-0, dropping them to .500 on the season (7-7). Kristina Block lead the way for the Storm, scoring three goals while goalie Devan Kane collected her fourth shutout of the season, making 21 saves. It was Kane’s second shutout against the Bullrams this season, the last coming in an 8-0 win.
The Bullrams, ranked seventh in the conference, had their chance early. Just 2:30 into the game, Kane was tested on a clear breakaway. If the puck went in, the Bullrams would have taken the momentum. But, Kane did what she has done all season by bailing out her teammates when they make a mistake to keep the game scoreless in the early going.
“Devan played so well today,” said Red Storm coach Caitlin Cashman. “She was focused, she knew where she was on the ice and where the shooters were. She’s just a really sound goalie.”
Kane’s ability to stymie the early Portland/Deering charge allowed the Red Storm to settle in to their game plan as the first period progressed.
“The girls realized that Portland was coming at us and they weren’t messing around,” said Cashman.
Despite the Bullrams’ early charge, the Storm remained up to the challenge and came out of the first period deadlocked in a scoreless tie.
After a brief intermission, the Storm charged out of the gates as Block scored her first goal of the game just 1:22 into the second period, a goal which would ultimately prove to be the game-winner.
Any doubts of the game’s outcome were answered in a blink of an eye in the final five minutes of the second period.
With Scarborough holding a slim 1-0 advantage, the Bullrams, who only run two lines, succumbed to fatigue as Scarborough picked up its offensive intensity. The Storm scored three goals in a span of just three minutes, including a second goal by Block, to turn a nail-biter into a laugher before Portland knew what hit them.
“Honestly, it takes my girls about a whole period to get warmed up offensively,” said Cashman. “I think they just realized, ‘all right, we need to attack the net, we need to get more aggressive.’ I think they checked themselves and started playing more aggressive. That’s when they started putting pucks in the net.”
While the contest was over on the scoreboard, the Bullrams continued to fight in an attempt to claw their way back into the game by repeatedly throwing all they could at Kane between the pipes. However, Kane would not be denied another shutout as she stifled every attack sent her way.
Kane’s best series of saves came midway through the second when she was forced to reach behind he back and locate a loose puck lying ominously in the crease. Kane made the proper adjustment, located the puck, and held her right pad firmly against the post to prevent a gaggle of Portland/Deering players from punching in a momentum-shifting goal.
Despite a poor three-minute stretch in the second, the Bullrams outplayed the Storm in the early going of the third period, at least until Block made her presence known again at the 4:44 mark.
Block capitalized off a Bullrams’ turnover that allowed her to walk in alone. Block deked to her backhand and then pulled the puck to her forehand before sliding it into a vacant side of the net to put the finishing touches on her hat trick and the game’s scoring.
“(Block) just turned it up today,” said Cashman. “She and I had a talk before the game. If she wants to play in college, she just needs to be a playmaker and she took that and she ran with it and played really well today.”
Block had an opportunity in the game’s final seconds to tally her fourth goal as she outraced a defender to a loose puck and walked in on a breakaway. Block utilized the same move that proved effective earlier, but this time her shot glanced off the side of the post as time expired.
But a missed goal was a small price to pay in a convincing 5-0 win for the Red Storm.
Scarborough’s Kristina Block had a huge game againstSend questions/comments to the editors.
