BANGOR – The Lewiston Blue Devils were in a no-win situation.
The options? Swarm Bangor forward Nick Payson and hope the rest of the team has an off-night shooting the puck, or play a normal defensive set and hope Payson has an off-night.
With the latter highly unlikely, Lewiston added a shadow and some extra attention to the state’s leading scorer.
It didn’t work.
Four different Rams scored, including Payson, and Aaron Buzzell stopped 29 shots as the Rams skated past the No. 1 Blue Devils 4-0 at Sawyer Arena on Saturday.
“That was a huge win for us coming down the stretch,” said Bangor coach Dan Kerluke. “We need all of our lines to be scoring, especially with the playoffs coming. There are going to be guys all over (Payson) and as much help as we can get from a second and third line we’ll take.”
Payson was the center of attention for much of the night, even though his name appeared only once on the scoresheet. His ability to draw a shadow and keep players back on their heels even when he skated free allowed his teammates some open ice to make plays and rack up their own points.
“It gives everyone a chance to get on the scoresheet,” said Payson. “Gives them all a chance to step up and show what they can do. Once I know I have some room, though, it was good to get loose and have a chance to skate with it.”
Jason Eremita, Dylan George and Ben Estabrook all scored in the first two periods for Bangor, giving the Rams, ranked third in the most recent Class A Heal point standings, all of the offense they would need.
“Even against Waterville last week, there were three names on the scoresheet and none of them was Payson,” said Kerluke. “We’d struggled in a few games with getting everyone else to get going.”
Perhaps the best example of Payson’s influence, other than his goal at 11:36 of the second, was on the Rams’ third goal.
Eremita picked up the puck near his own blue line with Bangor on the power play and skated up the left boards. Payson crossed in front of him and zagged to the right side of the ice. All three Lewiston players in the vicinity followed Payson, leaving Eremita a clear path to goaltender Nick Langlais. With nothing to stop him, Eremita took his time and slipped a low wrister past Langlais to put Bangor ahead 3-0.
“It was like the parting of the Red Sea,” said Eremita, gesturing with his hands. “My eyes opened, like, this big.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Kerluke. “They all went after Nick.”
Buzzell, meanwhile, stopped all of Lewiston’s attempts to get back in the game in the second and third periods, stopping 17 shots in the final two frames to record the shutout.
“(Buzzell) made some good saves against us when he had to,” said Lewiston coach Tim Smith. “We had some opportunities, and the shots were almost even.”
After trading a pair of shots in the early going, Bangor fed off momentum generated on an early power play and grabbed a 1-0 lead 2:44 into the game.
T.J. Vanidestine zigged right and zagged left, sliding a shot in on Langlais from the left side. The shot was kicked by three pairs of skated before squirting out to the right, onto Dylan George’s stick. George tucked home the rebound for the early lead.
Ben Estabrook added to the Rams’ early fortunes less than two minutes later on a feed from Mike McPike, again beating Langlais low to the glove side with a backhander on a rebound.
The teams sped up and down the ice for the remainder of the opening frame, trading scoring opportunities. Both Langlais and Buzzell held strong from there, though, and the score remained at 2-0 into the first break.
Lewiston finished the season at 15-5, while Bangor (15-4) plays Monday night at Brewer in its season-finale. The playoffs will start later this week, and the teams will wait until Wednesday to see who finishes in first place after Bangor’s tilt with Brewer. The No. 1 team will get a bye into the Eastern Class A semifinals, while the No. 2 team will likely draw No. 7 Edward Little in the first round.
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