Four Warriors find hockey homes in Noble

BIDDEFORD — To look at Wells’ Connor Pease, you wouldn’t take him to be a pioneer.

Fresh faced with not a worry line or razor mark on it, Pease would strike you more as being a WHS sophomore, which in fact he is.

Yet in his own way, Pease is indeed a trailblazer, he and three of his fellow “Wellsies” who are members of the Noble/Wells co-operative varsity team.

The four ”“ Pease, freshman winger Ryan Marsh, freshman forward T.J. Wright, and junior forward Dante Fanning ”“ have become the first-ever varsity players from Wells, a Class B school which has never had its own hockey team.

“It’s awesome,” said Pease, who plays defense. “I get to be part of that first team from Wells. It’s a great honor.

This is the first year of the arrangement between the schools, which was struck during the summer, after Wells athletic director Jack Molloy was approached by students who wanted to play.

That in turn led to discussions with Noble, then a petition to the Maine Principals Association (MPA) to approve the arrangement.

“It’s amazing to be able to play,” said Marsh. “It’s been awesome. I definitely wanted to play, so we went in and talked to (them).”

The timing couldn’t have been better for a hook up with Class A Noble.

Numbers have always been a problem for the Knights program, and after losing eight seniors from last year’s team, were faced with icing a skeleton crew this season.

But with the Warriors on hand to fill out the line up, Noble coach Keith St. Cyr has plenty of skaters ready to contribute, and compete for ice time.

“It gives us depth,” said St. Cyr. “It’s really going to help with the numbers. And more importantly, it gives those kids a place to play. And that’s the most important thing. And it’s allowed the Noble program to continue.”

Not that the full bench has translated into on-ice success.

The Knights have dropped all but one of their 12 starts to date, many of them by lopsided margins.

Still, two games after earning a 4-3 win over Lake Region/Fryeburg, the Knights pushed playoff-likelies Kennebunk to a third period stalemate before eventually falling, 5-4.

“We wanted to win this,” said Marsh. “We were the underdog so we came out flying. We wanted it, but it didn’t turn out that way.”

Marsh, who had scored in the second period, nearly put the Knights up after getting a third period breakaway.

However, he was stopped by Kennebunk goalie Mike Leblanc, who happens to be one of Marsh’s best friends.

“I thought I knew how to read him,” said Marsh. “But he read me.”

Still, what the Knights lack in wins, they make up for in fun.

And for a quartet from Wells, finally getting to play the sport they love is more fun than they imagined.

Even though it means a lengthy commute to and from Rochester, N.H. for practices and games.

“It takes up a lot of time,” said Pease. “I don’t mind all the driving. But at the end of the day, I do what I love.”

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