St. Dom’s Justin Keaney handles the puck past Gray New Gloucester/Leavitt/Oak Hill/Poland’s Bailey Drouin during Tuesday night’s Northern A boys’ hockey quarterfinal at the Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn.
AUBURN – Mack Pelletier was St. Dominic Academy’s go-to man on Tuesday night in the Saints’ Class A North quarterfinal game against the Poland/Leavitt/Oak Hill/Gray-New Gloucester Kings.
The junior forward sparked the offense with a hat trick in a 4-1 victory at Norway Savings Bank Arena.
“I felt great, I had good linemates to pass to and (they) passed back to me,” Pelletier said. “We worked on gives and goes, we had a lot of shots on net.”
His two best goals gave St. Dom’s its two insurance markers.
With under two minutes to play, he was behind the goal line and he knew there was only one way to put the puck in the goal, off Kings goalie Ashton Dozois’ body. He just did that with 1:37 remaining to give the Saints a 3-1 lead.
“I tried to bank it off the goalie’s back and it worked,” Pelletier said.
The puck went in just before the net came off its moorings, officials explained to Kings coach Joe Hutchinson.
“I really didn’t see it,” Hutchinson said. “I was talking to the next line that was going out. I was trying to get them to do exactly what I wanted them to do. I wanted two wingers out in the neutral zone and try to get a stretch pass and get their (defensemen) off the blue line so we have room.. Next thing I know, it’s in the net. I have no idea what happened.”
Pelletier’s hat trick goal was something for the highlight reel. He was looking to dump the puck in as he entered the officials’ circle in the neutral zone. He made a spin move and shot the puck on the back hand to dump the puck in the Kings zone. Instead, the puck was a perfect shot, finding the empty net with 45 seconds remaining.
The Saints’ offense really got rolling with the help from the power play in the first period. The Kings had too many men. With four seconds remaining in the man advantage, Pelletier, who was on the weak side, picked up the puck in the slot. Dozois slid cross the crease to the strong side and Pelletier had an half-open cage to shoot at.
The goal came with 3:58 remaining in the period with Noah Toussaint and Ben Gosselin notching the assists.
The Kings took back-to-back tripping penalties to give St. Dom’s a 5-on-3 power play for 16 seconds. The Kings were able to kill off one penalty, but the Saints (9-10) found the back of the net on the back half of the 5-on-3.
Will Fletcher found defenseman Sam Blaisdell at the blue line. Blaisdell unleashed a slap shot that found the back of the net with 1:02 to play in the period.
“We definitely wanted a lead going into the second period because there again I knew (the Kings) have had very good second periods,” St. Dom’s coach Bobby Parker said. “We were happy, we were satisfied it was one of our better periods of the year to be honest with you.”
The ice tilted in favor of the Kings in the middle frame as they had a 5-on-3 power play early in the man advantage. The capitalized as Drake Goupil scored from the right circle as the puck movement from his teammates created an opening for him to shoot at. Bailey Drouin had the lone assist.
The power-play goal came on the first half of the 5-on-3. The Kings had their chances to tie it on the remainder of the period as they controlled the play in the Saints end as they fired nine shots after only having two in the first period.
The Kings (11-7-1) went 1-for-3 on the power play and the Saints were 2-for-4.
“We couldn’t pick up those loose pucks and we couldn’t find them sometimes,” Hutchinson said. “We needed to do a little bit of a better job of getting to the net there — in front of the net — I think that was one thing that I asked them to do in our game plan. We were getting there, but we weren’t finding the puck.”
The Saints did have their chances at the end of the period, but Dozois made a couple key saves to keep his team within one.
St. Dom’s will now face Lewiston in the regional semifinal round at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee on Saturday afternoon.
St. Dom’s Justin Keaney makes a move to pass the puck past Gray New Gloucester/Leavitt/Oak Hill/Poland’s Bailey Drouin during Tuesday night’s Northern A boys’ hockey quarterfinal at the Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn.Mack Pellitier flies down the ice in control of the puck during Tuesday night’s Northern A boys’ hockey quarterfinal at the Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn.Sam Blaisdell, center, celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal during Tuesday night’s Northern A boys’ hockey quarterfinal at the Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn.
Gray New Gloucester/Leavitt/Oak Hill Poland’s Theo Mahaleris moves the puck down the ice as St. Dom’s Mack Pelletier gets a stick into the action during Tuesday night’s Northern A boys’ hockey quarterfinal at the Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn.
St.Dom’s Dylan Campbell, center, and Jaden Webster maneuver the puck around Gray New Gloucester/Leavitt/Oak Hill/ Poland’s Taylor Scribner during Tuesday night’s Northern A boys’ hockey quarterfinal at the Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn.Julian Clements, from Gray New Gloucester/Leavitt/Oak Hill/ Poland and St. Dom’s Jacob Lewis race after the puck in Tuesday night’s Northern A boys’ hockey quarterfinal at the Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
