BRUNSWICK — The last time Brunswick took on the Mt. Ararat/Morse/Lisbon/Hyde boys high school hockey team, the Dragons jumped out to a 3-1 lead and sailed to a three-goal victory.

On Wednesday, the Dragons once again found themselves with a two-goal advantage after two periods.

However, the Eagles fought back in the final period before Brunswick was able to close the door on the rally and come away with a 4-3 win at Sidney J. Watson Arena.

Both teams are sitting in the middle of the Heal Points within their respective regions as they fight for postseason play. The win pushed Class B South Brunswick to 7-5, while Class A North Mt. Ararat fell to 4-6-1.

Seniors Jacob Doring and Jack St. Pierre each scored a pair of goals for Brunswick, with Henry Burnham grabbing two assists. Doring and Scout Masse each added an assist in the win.

Noah Austin tallied two goals and assisted on an Ian Struck tally for the Eagles.

“Another great effort by our team,” Brunswick coach Mike Misner said. “We knew at the end we needed to hold the fort and keep the puck in the offensive zone and we pulled through.”

A tough loss for Mt. Ararat for sure, but the team’s effort in the final 15 minutes of play had Eagles coach AJ Kavanaugh feeling “proud” despite the loss.

“They had sort of a players-only meeting between the second and third periods and I was proud of how they came back out,” Kavanaugh said. “They gave up that fourth goal but bounced right back with two quick ones. We’ll get right back at it early Friday morning (for practice) before we play this weekend.”

Both teams played a clean, quiet first period. Other than a Cam Poisson shot that went wide for the Eagles and a stop by

keeper Sean Moore on Brunswick Jacob Doring’s breakaway, the first 15 minutes did not provide a lot of scoring opportunities as each team felt each other out. The Dragons outshot the Eagles, 10-4.

Mt. Ararat appeared to have the game’s first score when Austin put the puck in the back of the net on a breakaway, but an offsides call back at the blue line negated the score.

Second period

Burnham found St. Pierre to open the scoring with a wrist shot that beat Moore at 6:34 of the second period.

“It’s big to get the goal and gain the momentum,” St. Pierre said. “We know they can score and we wanted to make sure we got on the board first.”

Less than two minutes later, Burnham once again set up a goal, this time to Doring, a power-play goal at 8:57 for a two-goal advantage.

Austin rattled the cage at 10:38 after the senior won a faceoff deep in his offensive zone and drove to the net for the unassisted power-play goal to cut the lead in half.

But another Doring goal late in the period gave the home team a 3-1 lead heading to the final period. A goal that appeared to deflate the Eagles as the Dragons defense continued to frustrate Mt. Ararat.

Only allowing seven shots in the first two periods, Misner credits freshman Sam Cassidy and Joe Marro with stepping up and defending the one-two punch of Austin and Struck.

“They played phenomenal tonight. They dug hard for us, to have that second line hold them was big,” Misner said.

“They kept them wide and didn’t allow them to dangle through the middle, then Spencer (Marquis) shuts them down,” St. Pierre said. “They’re contributing in a big way and adding depth for us.”

Third period

St. Pierre netted his second goal of the contest six minutes into the final period, picking up a rebound from a Doring shot and pushing it past the Eagles’ freshman keeper for the score, extending the Dragon lead to 4-1.

“We’ve played together the last four years and I think we know each other pretty well,” St. Pierre said about his line.

Receiving goals from Doring and St. Pierre, along with the play of linemate  Isaac Burtis, didn’t go unnoticed by Misner.

“It’s huge to get the offense from those two, but don’t forget their linemate Isaac Burtis,” Misner adds. “He does the dirty work down there and gets the puck out front to those guys. Their dividends are starting to pay off.”

Even with a three-goal lead, Misner knew it was only a matter of time before the Eagles found the back of the net again.

“We know when you play Mt. Ararat, you need to look out for 11 (Austin) and 21 (Struck). We know how they like to set up their offense with them. That’s their bread and butter and we knew at some point they were going to connect,” Misner said.

Traling 4-1, Austin hit again, taking a feed from Struck at 7:53, and just 36 seconds later, Austin and Hunter Merryman set up Struck to pull the Eagles within one, bringing a loud cheer from the Mt. Ararat bench.

“We’ve just got to keep trying to get pucks in the net and come back,” Austin said. “Sometimes I think it’s easier to come back than keeping the lead.”

“As soon as they get a little momentum, they take off. It seems like they (goals) come one after another as they ride that momentum,” Kavanaugh said. “When they get going like they did in that third period, they’re pretty dynamic.”

From there, the Dragons kept the Eagles off the board, with Marquis turning away five third-period shots, finishing with 11 saves.

The Dragon defense played the Eagles tough, but Austin left the game wanting to have done more.

“We didn’t play our best hockey today and that showed in the first two periods. But in the third period we played pretty well,” the senior said. “We couldn’t get our passes connecting. Ian and I couldn’t do that early on, we started to in the third period and we started to put the puck in.”

The Dragons outshot the Eagles, 36-14, with Moore stopping 32 shots in net for Mt. Ararat.

The Eagles hit the road Saturday to take on Lawrence/Skowhegan/MCI at 7:30 p.m., while the Dragons will host Leavitt/Gray-New Gloucester/Oak Hill/Poland on Saturday (7:30 p.m.).

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