Maine Nordiques’ Jake Bernadet (19) attempts to get control of a rebound off the stick of Danbury goaltender Lukas Fursten as he fights off Danbury defensemen Cam Charron during a game at The Colisee in Lewiston on Saturday. Ron Morin photo
The Maine Nordiques survived a hot goaltender to take the weekend sweep of the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks with a 4-1 win in an NAHL East Division game at The Colisee in Lewiston on Saturday night.
Lukas Fursten stopped 50 shots in the loss.
“Lukas Fursten is incredible, and I don’t want to take away from my two kids who can win some damn hockey games,” Maine Nordiques coach Nick Skerlick said.
Maine also got solid goaltending of its own, with Carter Richardson stopping 20 of 21 shots.
“Carter, I thought had a little bit more work tonight,” Skerlick said. “It was the same type of deal; they were getting (shots) in flurries. We started the second period and I don’t think we had a single grade-A opportunity for the first 14 minutes…For that kid to dial it in and focus for an 18-year-old kid, I know there are some NHL teams and quite a few NCAA schools looking at this kid.”
Cole Hipkin put the Nordiques up 1-0 early in the opening period.
Wyatt Stefan responded late in the frame to tie the game up for Danbury.
Nils Forselius scored the eventual game-winner in the second and added an insurance marker in the third period.
“Tonight, he was unbelievable defensively,” Skerlick said of Forselius. “On the forecheck, he was really good. He was finishing checks, he was getting puck touches and he was taking short shifts. He did all the small things right, which led him to get the monkey off his back.”
Nick Ramm capped the scoring with a goal in the final minute of the contest.
David Helledy had two assists for the Nordiques.
NEWS AND NOTES
The Nordiques traded defenseman Seth Murch to the Shreveport Mudbugs for defenseman Alex Park before the USA Hockey trade deadline on Friday. Park has recorded two goals and eight assists in 40 games this season. Murch had 10 assists in 40 games this season.
Murch, an Air Force commit, requested the move.
“We thank Seth for everything he has done for us,” Skerlick said. “He’s an incredible player and an incredible human being, but sometimes colleges want to see different things, and they value him as a guy on special teams, power play. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen here. We had about two hours to make a move and Alex Park was someone we knew absolutely nothing about, but my God, can this kid play hockey. He’s awesome; he’s a Seth Murch with a little more offensive ability.”
The team also moved forward Arseni Vorobyov to the Fairbanks Ice Dogs. He had two goals and three assists in 16 games with the Nordiques.
The Nordiques also signed Zion Green, who played for the team in 2021-22. He spent this season with the Cranston Bucks of the British Columbia Hockey League, where he had two goals and six assists in 36 games.
“He registered two points last night and I thought he played really well tonight as well,” Skerlick said. “He didn’t score, but was really good.”
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