It was a bit of a shock, then, when St. Dominic Academy scored on consecutive shots just 39 seconds apart late in the second period of Tuesday’s Class A North tilt en route to a 3-1 victory as part of the St. Dominic Academy Christmas Classic hockey tournament at Norway Savings Bank Arena.

After scoring 13 goals combined in their first two games of the season, the Saints (3-1) were quieted in their third, putting just one in against Cheverus. Bangor (4-1) had both good and offensive games to start the season, but Fournier’s play in net made any offense a bonus.

But on Tuesday night, Fournier wasn’t the best goalie on the ice.

“Kyle Welsh tonight out-dueled Derek Fournier,” St. Dom’s coach Bob Parker said. “Kyle’s a good goalie, Derek’s a good goalie, but Kyle took care of his side of things. They both did a great job, but hey, we got to sneak a few more past Fournier.”

Fournier was a perfect 10-for-10, stopping the first two handfuls of shots on goal he faced through nearly two full periods. Then, St. Dom’s junior Mack Pelletier took control of the puck near the center stripe before heading toward Fournier untouched. The shot that followed was also untouched until it hit the back of the net with 2:32 to play in the second period.

“I just kind of went in with speed, dipped my shoulder and got him to move a little bit, and had a whole half a net open,” Pelletier said. “Pretty easy goal.”

Goals against Fournier rarely come easy, but the netminder’s resume didn’t deter Pelletier.

“I don’t think you can be nervous going in,” he said. “You have to have confidence that you’re going to do well and you’re going to score.”

The rare goal against the Rams came via a turnover, something that was a ticking time bomb for Bangor.

“That’s the one thing that we’ve been harping on since the beginning of the season, can’t have that turnover,” Bangor coach Quinn Paradis said. “We had a little breakdown, and we paid for it.”

The only thing more surprising than the Rams giving up one goal was how quickly they gave up another. St. Dom’s freshman Will Fletcher wasted no time when he got the puck on his stick to the right of Fournier, firing a shot off the crossbar and in from close range to make it 2-0 with less than two minutes to go in the frame.

“Having the next one come 30 seconds after was huge,” Pelletier said.

“It lowered my blood pressure slightly,” Parker said. “But it was impressive to see, and kind of — not sealed the deal — but it definitely made us feel a lot better.”

The Rams were still in shock from the first goal, having fallen behind in a game for the first time all season.

“It was kind of like a good, little eye-opener for us,” Paradis said, “that it happened and we got to move forward and rebound from it.”

Bangor had chances galore to cut the deficit down in the third period, but nothing was working. Josh Sherwood missed on an open shot, then Dan Webber had a chance poked away by Welsh, who later stonewalled Kodi Legassie.

The Rams even had an extended power play that lasted 3 minutes and 49 seconds, including 11 seconds of 5-on-3. Welsh, and the defense in front of him, stood tall throughout the double penalty kill, with four goalie saves and countless more blocked in front of him.

“They did a great job blocking the middle, none of our shots got through,” Paradis said. “I was really happy with the power play for the most part, but our shots never made the net.”

“It was crucial,” Parker said. “It tired both teams out, but we packed the house in front of our goalie and we did our job.”

The Rams pulled Fournier with 1:17 to play, but the plan backfired when Noah Toussaint scored into the empty net 26 seconds later.

Welsh’s shutout came to an end 24 seconds after that, when Alex Inman beat him to give Bangor something to hang its hat on.

“It was a good motivational boost,” Paradis said. “We really needed that.”

Welsh stopped 25 of 26 shots and “stood on his head like he usually does,” Pelletier said. Fournier gave the Rams “a good chance to win” according to Paradis.

The win for the Saints kept them within striking distance of the Rams in Class A North, and could mean more and more Heal points if Bangor plays well for the rest of the season.

“After losing to Cheverus 6-1, and coming back here in our next league game, beating a high-quality Bangor team, definitely is nice and it’s something to work off,” Parker said.

wkramlich@sunjournal.com