Lewiston mass shooting survivor and former Nordique Kyle Secor does the ceremonial puck drop with Nick Bernardo of the Nordiques, left, and Luke DeVries of Philadelphia prior to Friday’s game in Lewiston. Ron Morin photo
LEWISTON — It was a special night for the Maine Nordiques on Friday night. The team welcomed former L/A Nordiques player and now Maine Nordiques official scorer Kyle Secor to The Colisee to drop the ceremonial puck.
Secor was one of the 13 people injured in the Oct. 25 mass shooting in Lewiston. He was released from the hospital last week.
“The support we got for his return, the Philadelphia Rebels, a class-act organization, we included them in the ceremony,” Maine Nordiques coach Nick Skerlick said. “We were playing them when the shooting did happen. It was real special, it was hard not to get choked up. We had 1,000 people standing and 42 hockey players on the ice, supporting something bigger than the game.”
The Nordiques capped the night with a 4-2 victory over the Philadelphia Rebels in an NAHL East Division game.
Maine (22-6-3, 47 points) got multiple lines involved in the scoring, with four different players finding the back of the net.
Charles Tardif of the Nordiques tips a shot past Jack Fialkoff of the Rebels to give the Nordiques a 2-0 lead early in the second period of Friday’s game in Lewiston. Ron Morin photo
Nils Forselius opened the scoring for Maine, as the Army commit potted his 12th goal of the season with 4:21 remaining in the first period for a 1-0 lead.
The goal stopped the Rebels’ early momentum.
“They started the first 10 minutes really well, and after the media timeout, we got a power-play goal,” Skerlick said. “It was our teddy bear toss night, too, that was real special, an awesome turnout for the teddy bears. So it was good we were able to get many teddy bears donated for children in need of Christmas gifts — that was awesome.”
Defenseman David Helledy’s shot beat Philadelphia (11-16-0, 22 points) goalie Jack Fialkoff nearly five minutes into the second period.
Fialkoff made 12 saves on 16 shots before getting pulled for Jakub Krbecek (nine saves).
Charles Tardif stretched the Nordiques lead to 3-0 and Cole Hipkin also recorded a goal in the period for a 4-0 lead.
“The second period, we came out and spread them out,” Skerlick said. “We worked hard, we did really well when we worked the puck low-to-high. We got the defensemen involved. That’s probably the biggest thing, our high offensive zone cycles, we changed it up a little bit — we were feeling like teams knew what we were doing.”
The Rebels finally got on the board in the third period when Maine commit Jared Coccimiglio ended Thomas Heaney’s shutout attempt in the middle of the frame. Billy Sheridan scored a few minutes later.
“It’s a damn shame he didn’t get a shutout,” Skerlick said of Heaney. “He did well again to earn a shutout. … Tommy was great again and the veteran presence he brings to the team, it’s good to get two good starts in a row with two wins.”
Jake Bernadet had a team-high two assists for the Nordiques.
The Nordiques close out the first half of the season with another home game against the Rebels on Saturday. The puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
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