AUBURN – The progression of Kris Bennett’s hockey career is easy to follow. When the Edward Little goaltender was a sophomore and junior, he probably dreamed of flying pucks the night after a tough practice. Now that he’s a senior, his head must swivel in his sleep after games.
And on nights like Wednesday, when Bennett made 36 saves to protect the Red Eddies’ 2-1 triumph over the Brunswick Dragons at Ingersoll Arena, coach Jamie Belleau doesn’t know what he’d do without the kid.
“We were dominated in just about every facet of that game,” Belleau said. “Kris Bennett gave us a chance to win. I guess that’s what you should expect from a senior with two state championships under his belt. I just don’t want anybody to think that kind of effort is going to get us anywhere the rest of this season.”
Nick Morrill scored the game-winner at 5:41 of the third period, Matt Nadeau and Kevin Pontbriand assisting.
Then EL essentially turned the game over to its closer. Bennett smothered two power-play bids with six minutes left, stoned Chris Pendagast on a breakaway with 1:34 to go and denied Pendagast two more times after Brunswick pulled goalie Chris Billett (19 saves).
Brunswick’s final bid came from Josh Gomez, a low, blistering slap from the right circle in the closing seconds. Bennett kicked it wide.
Feeling the warmth of the spotlight in his otherwise frosty home arena is nothing new for Bennett. The score of almost every EL game against a top-flight foe this winter has been of the 2-0, 2-1 or 3-2 variety.
“I like it,” Bennett said of the challenge. “I don’t have Kyle Smith or Colby Gilbert firing the puck at me in practice anymore. The last two years, I knew I could have a crappy game and we’d still likely pull it out.”
In a road trip to then-top ranked Bangor last Saturday, Edward Little (9-7) looked the part of reigning Class A champion. The Red Eddies roared back from an early deficit. Bennett was stellar. EL won 3-1.
The era of good feelings lasted all of nine seconds. That’s how long it took Brunswick (8-6) to score after Wednesday’s opening faceoff. Steve May cashed in, courtesy of Josh Clark and Doug Wright.
“Yeah, I don’t know what happened. Maybe we thought we could fall back on our win over Bangor since they were the No. 1 team,” Bennett said. “What I did like about this game is that it was a lot like Bangor. We got behind early and we fought back.”
Josh Whalen netted the equalizer with 2:38 remaining in the first. EL went end-to-end on a delayed penalty situation, allowing the Red Eddies to pull Bennett for an extra attacker. Nadeau and Matt Morin picked up the assists.
Then Bennett was inpenetrable, making 14 stops in the second stanza and 13 more in the third, keeping the Eddies even until Morrill redirected a Pontbriand shot that clanged the left post.
“We’ll take it,” said Belleau, “but that wasn’t an effort that is acceptable.”
Comments are no longer available on this story