BRUNSWICK — A group of students sitting in a classroom after the teacher announced a test would likely be focused.

Tuesday night, the Brunswick High School boys’ hockey team experienced a test of its own, facing St. Dom’s in what became a lesson plan for the road ahead.

The Saints earned an 8-2 victory over the Dragons at Bowdoin College’s Sidney J. Watson Arena on Tuesday in a matchup of two teams  near the top the Eastern Class A Heal Points standings.

“They’re the fastest team, the most talented team we’ve faced this year,” Brunswick head coach Bill Bodwell said. “They play at that level, their schedule is very difficult so they’re used to that level, it’s a really big adjustment for us.”

“I feel like they’re a fast team, they move the puck really well,” Dragons captain TJ Sullivan said. “I feel like we haven’t seen that a lot of that this season, so I think we just need to work harder, skate faster and just get up to the tempo of where they’re at. I think this is the first time we’ve seen it, we weren’t prepared, you can only prepare so much in practice and it’s a different thing when you’re in the game.”

The Dragons entered the night sitting in the No. 3 slot in Eastern A, while St. Dom’s was at No. 2. The two teams battled head-to-head in the first period and headed into the first intermission deadlocked at one goal each.

It was the Dragons that took the first lead of the game when Sullivan accepted a pass from Jacob McGowan on a 2-on-1 situation, lofting it into the top shelf of the net with the clock reading 7:23.

The Saints had an opportunity to tie it with 5:15 remaining in the period when a check into the boards jarred the puck loose, allowing for St. Dom’s to create a scoring opportunity, but starting goalie for the Dragons, CJ Conner, gathered it up in his gut to end the threat.

It appeared as though the Dragons might take a 1-0 lead into the second, but the Saints’ Adam Poulin skated through a misplayed puck and sniped it past Conner with 43 seconds left.

“We were a little slow getting off the bus tonight,” St. Dom’s coach Steve Ouellette said. “Our legs weren’t moving, guys weren’t getting to their spots, we were making things a little more complicated than we should be. Brunswick came out and they were playing hard as a younger team generally can and will do, so I got to give them credit for that.”

The Saints dumped five goals on the Dragons to take a commanding lead in the second.

Caleb Labrie fed Austin Roy, who skated around the Dragons defense and flicked it into the back of the net for the 2-1 advantage just 2:55 into the middle frame. From that point forward, the Saints controlled the game, with Ryan Lutrzykowski scoring two minutes later, and Brad Berube adding the Saints’ third goal of the period with 7:43 remaining.

“This could have been one of those trap games and they took it in stride,” Ouellette said. “We didn’t have a great first period, kind of tight, 1-1, but this year we’ve already been in a few overtime games, a few of those tough, tight games. We’re kind of used to that type of mentality on how you got to react to those things, I think that’s really kind of our difference right now.”

With 2:03 remaining in the second period and the Saints having added another goal off the stick of Lutrzykowski, the Dragons capitalized on a power play just five seconds into penalty. McGowan ate up a pass in front of his own bench, with Sullivan and Nate Granholm credited for the setup, and slapped it past Saints goalie Alex Michaud to make it 5-2.

It took only six seconds for St. Dom’s to respond when Berube collected his second of the night off a pass from Roy, pushing the game into the third period with a 6-2 score.

“I told the team going into the third period, I said, ‘We’re going to take this period and learn how to become a better hockey team,’” Bodwell said. “I thought we did that. I had three freshmen playing on defense and it is a good opportunity for them to see a team at St. Dom’s level to help us become a better program. I think tonight’s going to serve us well.”

The Saints added two more goals in the third, coming off the sticks of Roy and Poulin.

“St. Dom’s is definitely going to be one of the best teams that we play,” Sullivan said. “But, there are going to be other good teams and we just need to work hard, skate fast and play well moving forward.”

Copy the Story Link