GORHAM — In a scoreless game, something had to give. When Scarborough took a five-minute major late in the second period, that was the catalyst that tipped Monday night’s Class A boys’ hockey game decidedly in Falmouth’s favor.
The Navigators scored twice on the extended power play, taking control of the game and cruising to a 6-3 win over the Red Storm at the University of Southern Maine. It was the fourth straight win for Falmouth, now 4-2. For Scarborough (5-3), it was the third straight loss after opening the season with a five-game win streak.
“Anytime you take a five-minute, it’s tough to come back from. We were fortunate to get a couple there, and it definitely turned there,” said Falmouth Coach Deron Barton.
Senior Aaron Higgins notched a hat trick for Falmouth, giving him 11 goals on the season.
“We’re a very resilient group, and we have a lot of trust in our power play. Once we saw that five minutes, we were like, our eyes were open like this,” said Higgins, expanding his hands in front of his eyes to signify the excitement the Navigators felt with the long power-play opportunity.
Scarborough’s Tyler Kenney took the five-minute major for hitting from behind at 11:02 in the second period. At 12:04, Higgins broke the scoreless tie with a hard shot from the point, with assists from Sam Belliveau and Jacoby Porter. Twenty-five seconds later, Falmouth made it 2-0, when Mitch Ham whipped a shot from the circle to the left of the net over the right shoulder of Red Storm goalie Keegan Weed.
“That took away any consistency we had in our game. We give their power play an opportunity like that, they’re going to capitalize,” Scarborough Coach Eric Wirsing said. “They just move the puck so well, and we knew that going in. We had to stay out of the box. Unfortunately it was a big factor in this game.”
Higgins scored his second goal at 4:04 of the third with a quick shot from between the circles for a 3-0 lead. Scarborough answered 34 seconds later when William Marcotte sent a shot over the left arm of Navgators goalie Brandon White.
Thomas Healey’s goal at 7:50 pushed Falmouth’s lead to 4-1, and Higgins completed his hat trick at 8:07. Alone in front of the net, Higgins took a Ham pass from the corner and fired a one-timer for a 5-1 lead.
“I have a lot of trust in (Ham). He saw me back door with a great pass, and you can’t ask for anything better than that,” Higgins said.
Ham added his second goal for a 6-1 lead at 10:33. Thomas Hassett and Griffin Denbow each scored late for the Red Storm.
Falmouth outshot Scarborough, 44-19. Weed made 38 stops for Scarborough, while White had 16 saves. The game evened the regular-season series between the teams at 1-1. Scarborough took a 5-4 win at Falmouth in the season opener Dec. 10.
“For us, they were just a better team that night. They came to play and we weren’t ready. It was a good learning experience for them, and I think we got a lot of value out of it. Tonight you could see we’re a different team,” Barton said.
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