LEWISTON — Both the Black Tigers and Eagles coaches had the same thing in mind.
Keep Tuesday’s game at The Colisee as fun and competitive as possible. Winslow/Gardiner/Cony/Lawrence/Messalonskee/Maranacook/Erskine/Mt. Blue cruised to an 8-2 girls hockey victory over Mt. Ararat/Lisbon/Morse/Medomak Valley.
“Goal number one was to get the win and goal number two was to get all of our players playing, maybe trying different positions and try to play the game as competitively as we can,” Black Tigers coach Bill Boardman said. “They are low on numbers and struggled this season. So, we wanted to try to figure a way to make the game a little more competitive of what we had compared to what they had and making sure everybody was kind of having fun at the game.”
The Eagles (1-16) had two players out because of an illness.
“Tonight was a game about having fun,” Mt. Ararat coach David Hunter said. “We know we aren’t making the playoffs, but we are still trying our hardest — keeping the spirits up and keeping everyone healthy.”
The Black Tigers (7-9) jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead early in the first period. Katie Berard notched her 100th career point by potting her first goal at 3:17 into the first.
“That felt amazing. I couldn’t have done it without my team,” Berard said. “They were really supportive of me, which is probably my favorite part.”
The Winslow co-op extended the lead to 2-0 on the next shift, with Berard scoring her second of the game.
The Mt. Ararat co-op cut the deficit in half when Emilia Johnson found the back of the net a minute later for her first career tally.
Riley Walters, the Eagles goaltender, settled down and kept Winslow at bay for much of the remainder of the period, until giving up a pair of goals late in the frame.
“Their goaltender was absolutely amazing,” Boardman said of Walters. “She certainly surprised us with some of the saves she had. She didn’t make it easy on us.”
Walters made 60 saves in the loss.
Hunter wouldn’t want any other goalie in the crease.
“Riley, for a first-year goalie, I would take over any seasoned goalie,” Hunter said. “She has come up with some huge saves, she has worked very hard all season long. I would put her against anyone in the state.”
Walters had 61 saves last Thursday in a loss against Yarmouth/Freeport.
The Black Tigers scored in quick succession late in the first to extend the lead to 4-1, with Kate Nichols and Leah Michaud of Mt. Blue notching the goals.
Nichols was a net-front presence throughout the game. She scored her second goal early in the middle frame for a 5-1 lead.
Midway through the second period, an Emma Grabenstein shot squirted through Black Tigers goalie Zoey Gilbert for the Eagles’ second tally of the game.
It was a milestone goal for Grabenstein.
“It was her first varsity goal and she’s a senior,” Hunter said.
Boardman said Gilbert, a sophomore, did well in her first start of her career.
“That’s a kid that put the goalie pads on the first time in November of this year,” Boardman said. “She hadn’t been a goalie before, but we needed a backup and she has jumped into it.”
Gilbert made 15 saves.
Elliotte Podey notched the Black Tigers’ sixth goal in the first minute of the third period. Abby Allen scored on a breakaway later in the frame. Alex Caccamo scored behind the goal line as the puck redirected off of Walters to extend the lead to 8-2.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Comments are no longer available on this story