St. Dominic Academy goalie Gaston Fuksa follows the puck during Friday’s game against Bangor High School in Lewiston on Friday. Sun Journal photo by Daryn Slover

LEWISTON — Will Fletcher scored on a couple “grade-A” chances, while his goalie, Gaston Fuksa, stopped every such shot that Bangor sent his way.

The two St. Dominic Academy stars teamed up to lead the No. 2 Saints to a 3-0 victory over the third-seeded Rams in a Class A North boys hockey semifinal Friday night at Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

“We were getting our chances, and it was just a matter of time before someone was going to score, and hopefully it was going to be us. I thought we had more grade-A chances than the other team, but yet they were buzzing our net very well, too,” Saints coach Bob Parker said. “Fuksa played a (great) game, very proud of the kid.”

It was 0-0 after one period, with the Rams outshooting the Saints 11-9. Dominic Chasse did hit the post for St. Dom’s less than three minutes into the game, and some of the best opportunities on both sides went off-target.

“We missed a few shots, and that was tough,” Bangor coach Quinn Paradis said. “I was saying, ‘You got to get more pucks to the net, you know, make him save it, play for the rebound, that’s how we’re going to score.’ That’s how we did the first couple games against him, and we missed too much.”

Fuksa made one of his best saves 1:20 into the second, recovering to make a leg save against Hunter Neale.

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Bangor goalie Jacob Henry — who like Fuksa was named a Travis Roy Award semifinalist — made some big saves and stopped the first 11 shots he faced, but Fletcher got a look seven minutes into the second and didn’t miss.

“That was our game plan, ‘Shut down seven, shut down seven,'” Paradis said, referring to Fletcher’s uniform number. “Somehow he found open ice, and got pucks to the net, and good shots.”

Fletcher’s snipe from the slot beat Henry to give the Saints the lead. Chasse and Leandro Naous assisted on the play.

“I mean, if it’s on target it’s got a chance of going in, just because he’s got a college shot as a high school kid,” Parker said.

David Brown hit the crossbar for Bangor (15-5) with just under four minutes left in the second, and Paradis called the close miss a “difference-maker” that allowed Fuksa to heat up even more.

Fletcher’s shot also stayed hot, and with 10:40 remaining in the third he buried another one past Henry on a 2-on-1.

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“I could see that the goalie was looking at my forward, Leo, and he was already starting to cheat over for the pass, and so the whole top side near to me was all open, so I just shot it,” Fletcher said. “Yeah, that’s one of my favorite shots.”

Brown whiffed on a breakaway chance midway through the third, and the Rams didn’t get another good look until after Paradis called a timeout with 3:28 left. Even then it took more than a minute for the Rams to start pelting Fuksa.

“Put a little play up there, and got pucks to the net, and just he made some great saves,” Paradis said.

Fuksa denied Reid Higgs on an open look with 1:15 left, then made two more saves amongst chaos in the crease 10 seconds later. He also got help from his skaters.

“It was great because once one person blocked a shot, and then took the body, took the hit, everyone started getting fired up, everyone started doing it,” Fletcher said. “It was a chain effect, and everyone started playing the way we should be.”

Michael Cilley capped the game off with an empty-net goal from his own defensive circle with 21.8 seconds left.

Fuksa made 31 saves on as many shots for the shutout. Henry stopped 23 of 25 in his final high school game.

St. Dom’s (14-4-1) will face the winner of Saturday’s game between Lewiston and Edward Little in next week’s region final.

Will Fletcher of St. Dominic Academy reacts after scoring the games first goal to put the Saints up 1-0 over the Bangor Rams in Lewiston on Friday. (Sun Journal photo by Daryn Slover)

Jacob Lewis, right, of St. Dominic Academy and Jacob Munroe of Bangor High School compete during the first period in Lewiston on Friday. (Sun Journal photo by Daryn Slover)

Will Fletcher of St. Dominic Academy celebrates his second goal of Friday’s game against Bangor in Lewiston on Friday. (Sun Journal photo by Daryn Slover)

 

Ryan Davis, left, Jeremy Phelan and Derek Wolverton of St. Dominic Academy compete against the boards for the puck with Reid Higgs and Nick Boudreau of Bangor in Lewiston on Friday. (Sun Journal photo by Daryn Slover)


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