PORTLAND—The Cheverus/Yarmouth boys’ hockey co-op team’s season of near-misses continued Thursday afternoon at Troubh Ice Arena.

Where the squad gave perhaps the state’s best team, undefeated Class A power Edward Little, a battle for 45 minutes.

And came up just short.

Despite being without several players sidelined by illness, Cheverus/Yarmouth flummoxed the potent Red Eddies’ attack in a scoreless first period and despite a second period goal from Edward Little’s Trey Coulombe, was very much in the game heading to the third.

There, the Red Eddies appeared poised to put it away on an early goal from Peyton Dyer, but a rebound tally from junior Truman Peters gave Cheverus/Yarmouth life.

Cheverus/Yarmouth had its chances to pull even, but couldn’t solve Edward Little goalie Gage Ducharme and the Red Eddies got out of town with a 2-1 victory.

While Edward Little improved to 7-0 on the season, Cheverus/Yarmouth suffered its third one-goal loss of the season and fell to 2-3.

“I thought we played a great game,” said Cheverus/Yarmouth coach Dave St. Pierre. “They’re one of the best teams in the state this year and we went toe-to-toe with them. Our guys battled really, really hard. I’m really proud of the effort, nothing to hang our heads about. We competed and did a lot of good things.”

Red-hot

Edward Little was a triple-overtime loss to Scarborough away from playing for a state title in 2020, so the Red Eddies’ success so far this winter hasn’t come as a surprise. After opening with a 3-0 win at Bangor, Edward Little downed visiting Portland/Deering (4-1), blanked host Biddeford (4-0), Scarborough (6-0) and St. Dom’s (10-0), then Wednesday, shut out visiting Falmouth (3-0).

Cheverus/Yarmouth, in its first full season as a co-op, went to overtime in each of its first three outings, losing at Greely (3-2) and Scarborough (4-3) and winning at Brunswick (4-3). In its last outing, New Year’s Day, Cheverus/Yarmouth beat Portland/Deering to win the “City Cup,” 8-1.

Thursday, Cheverus/Yarmouth showed up down multiple players, but played valiantly, however, the Red Eddies just can’t be beaten so far this winter.

Edward Little controlled play for much of the first period and had Cheverus/Yarmouth on its heels, but a strong defensive effort, combined with the steadiness of junior goalie Neal McQuarrie, held the Red Eddies at bay.

McQuarrie denied Campbell Cassidy just 40 seconds in to set the tone, then robbed Cassidy, after he eluded the defense, moments later.

After a tripping penalty on the hosts with 5:40 left, another penalty 80 seconds later gave Edward Little 40 seconds of 5-on-3 power play, but the Red Eddies couldn’t convert, as a Cassidy blast was saved by McQuarrie, who snared the puck in his glove with a flourish.

Edward Little had a 7-2 shots advantage in the first period, but the second period would be a different story.

This time, it was Cheverus/Yarmouth coming out strong, as senior Matt Robichaud willed his team toward the goal.

Ducharme had to come up big on multiple occasions and did so, with a point blank save on Robichaud with 8:20 to go the highlight.

Edward Little then got the jump with 7:46 on the clock, as Brody Keefe passed ahead to Coulombe, who found some room on the right side, skated in, then fired the puck past McQuarrie for a 1-0 lead.

After Ducharme twice denied Peters, the Red Eddies earned another power play opportunity and a chance to double their lead, but they couldn’t put a shot on McQuarrie.

McQuarrie did have to make another save on a Cassidy shot with 13 seconds remaining and he did so, to keep the score 1-0 heading to the third period.

There, things remained tight right until the final horn.

Edward Little appeared to get some breathing room three minutes in, courtesy an impressive individual play from Andrew Clements, who absorbed a check at the side boards, but kept his feet and the puck, then sent the puck across the goal mouth to Dyer, who just had to send it home for a 2-0 lead.

“Andrew took a hard hit and kept on working,” Dyer said. “He never gave up, got it to me and I just had to tap it in.”

“My third line scored that winning goal and I was proud of them,” Edward Little coach Norm Gagne said. “I’ve always played three lines and it’s a credit to them to get that goal.”

But just when it appeared victory was secured for the Red Eddies, Cheverus/Yarmouth cut the deficit in half with 11:15 to play, as Peters rebounded a missed shot from sophomore Brian Connolly (Ben Moll was also credited with an assist).

“Truman played a phenomenal game,” said St. Pierre. “He was our best forechecker all night. He deserved that goal.”

With the momentum on its side, Cheverus/Yarmouth then looked to draw even and went on the power play with just under eight minutes left, but Ducharme saved shots from Robichaud, sophomore David Swift, junior Ryan Franceschi and Robichaud again to preserve the lead.

Late in regulation, sophomore Ian O’Connor, Connolly and Moll all bid for the equalizer, but they too were denied.

Edward Little nearly put it away with 1:22 left, when Wesley Clements had a good look, but his shot hit the post.

Cheverus/Yarmouth then made one final push, but Ducharme saved Peters’ shot and a bid from senior Wyatt Header was blocked, allowing the Red Eddies to hold on, 2-1.

“I knew the boys would do a good job and protect the net, so I wasn’t too worried,” said Ducharme. “The defense keeps the shots out and makes it easy for me. We blocked a lot of shots at key times.”

“It’s a good win,” said Dyer. ‘It wasn’t pretty, but we got it done. We were a little frustrated, but we kept working and it felt good to get the win.”

“We came out of it alive, but we had to grind it out,” added Gagne. “I told Dave he should be proud of his kids. They’re one of the hardest forechecking teams we’ve played. That was only our second goal we gave up this season, but we played hard on defense. When we play our system, we’re fine. We regrouped and grinded it out. It wasn’t our best effort, but we got a win. We came here to get a ‘W’ and we were able to do that.”

Ducharme made 19 saves.

“Gage played a great game, like he has all year, and we gutted it out and won the game,” Dyer said.

McQuarrie made 16 saves for Yarmouth/Cheverus, but the squad fell just short.

“We were missing two of our top six defenders and that made the other four guys have to go hard all night and I thought they played a phenomenal game,” St. Pierre said. “I thought we had a great week of practice and a high-energy, up-tempo week. That carried forward. Our forecheck was on target all night long. What I’m most proud of is we didn’t fold. We had chances at the end to tie it up, but we couldn’t convert.”

Measuring sticks

Edward Little looks to remain perfect when it returns to action Monday with a showdown at Lewiston. The Red Eddies then host Bangor Jan. 15.

“This was a good test for us,” said Ducharme. “We have to just speed up and play three full periods.”

“We have to keep on working,” Dyer said. “We have Lewiston Monday and we’re looking forward to that game.”

“Everybody will come after us,” Gagne added. “We wear the bulls-eye and we know it. We have to come with our ‘A’ game every night. We just have to get better with each game. We want to work hard and keep it going.”

As for Cheverus/Yarmouth, a trip to Leavitt awaits Saturday. The squad hosts Brunswick Tuesday.

“Losses aren’t fun, but we took a step forward and we have a lot of hockey left and we’ll see where it takes us,” said St. Pierre. “We have depth this year and can go at anybody.”

Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.

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