The Maine Nordiques had to battle Friday night against the Kenai Brown Bears, but Auburn native Reese Farrell scored twice to help the Nordiques claim a 3-2 victory at the North American Hockey League Showcase in Blaine, Minnesota.
“Kenai River plays a hard game, they play well defensively and they made us work,” Maine Nordiques coach Nolan Howe said. “Our power play scored for us, again, and guys are certainly trying to do things the right way. Like I said (earlier in the week), there’s going to be growing pains and some tough lessons we have to learn.”
After a scoreless first period, the Nordiques tallied two goals in the second. Farrell scored on the power play off an assist by Tyler Gaulin. The pair teamed up to make it 2-0 later in the second period when Gaulin scored for the second day in a row and Farrell notched his fourth assist of the season.
The Brown Bears scored nearly seven minutes in the third to cut their deficit to one goal. Former Nordiques and Twin City Thunder player Tristan Thibault had an assist on David Vieten’s second goal of the season.
“(Tristan) went to the net and he (assisted on the) goal,” Howe said. “He’s a good player and we wish him the best of luck out in Kenai.”
Farrell put Maine up 3-1 with his second goal of the game midway through the third period. Aidan Connolly and Brendan Kimball recorded the assists.
Gramm McCormack scored a power-play goal for Kenai River with under eight minutes remaining in the game.
Goalie Avery Sturtz turned aside 20 shots for the Nordiques, and Nathan Dickey made 18 saves for the Brown Bears.
The Nordiques wrap up the showcase Saturday against the El Paso Rhinos at 11 a.m.
“It would be nice to leave here with another win, but at this point of the season it’s about getting better,” Howe said. “Hopefully we can come out tomorrow and learn from today’s performance and clean some things up.”
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