AUBURN — Poland/Leavitt/Oak Hill/Gray-New Gloucester continued its late-season roll all the way into its Class B South playoff opener against Kennebunk/Wells on Wednesday.
The second-seeded Kings defeated the seventh-seeded Rams 10-1 in a regional quarterfinal at Norway Savings Bank Arena for their 14th straight victory.
“The boys came out with a lot of energy and we wanted it right from the drop of the puck,” Kings forward Will Keach said. “We did our jobs the best we could.”
Poland/Leavitt/Oak Hill/Gray-New Gloucester will face third-seeded York in the regional semifinals at Troubh Arena in Portland on Saturday. The teams split the regular-season series, with the final score being 4-3 in both contests, including the Wildcats handing the Kings their most recent loss on Dec. 30 before the winning streak started.
“Two really close games with them early on in the season,” Kings coach Jason Rouleau said. “We have to maintain our focus and go out and do the things we do well — good things should happen for us.”
The Kings (16-3) had a hat trick from Conner Boulay and Breck Langevin and Keach each scored two goals in Wednesday’s win.
Rouleau said both the red and white lines were clicking.
“We certainly had some good production from the white line, and we had some good production from the red line as well,” Rouleau said. “It was fairly evenly dispersed, and when you have two lines putting the puck in the net, it’s hard for one, teams to defend that, and two, come back from it.”
Langevin is on the white line, while Boulay and Keach are on the red line.
Kennebunk/Wells coach Bryan Page said the Rams (5-14) left everything they had on the ice.
“We are a team that really prided ourselves on being a team that doesn’t quit, no matter who we were up against,” Page said. “We knew we were up against a good team, and we were going to give it 120 percent and we were going to try to make it hard. I am really proud of this group and the building blocks that have been established for the program.”
The Kings offense got going a few minutes into the game when Brody Emond fed Langevin with a pass in the slot, where Langevin put the hosts up 1-0.
On the next shift, Boulay stretched the lead to 2-0, 39 seconds after Langevin’s tally, at the 4:21 mark. Hunter Bussiere had an assist.
The Kings continued the momentum when Emond scored just past the five-minute mark.
Page took his only timeout after the goal.
“You can’t hang your heads, there’s a lot of hockey left to be played and we have to be willing to match their intensity,” Page said of his message during the timeout.
The scoring barrage in the first period came to an end when Luke Gladu’s wrister from the high slot went bar down to beat Rams goalie Richard Pocius (28 saves) at the 6:10 mark for a 4-0 lead.
“He’s a very offensive defenseman for us,” Keach said of Gladu. “He does his job on defense. He’s an all-around defenseman. You can’t ask for more.”
An early power play in the second helped put the Rams on the board when the puck deflected past Kings goalie Ian Guerin. Ben Urban got credit for the goal 1:45 into the period.
“Our whole mantra this year was ‘No quit,’ and there was no quit right to the very end,” Page said.
Keach scored his own power-play tally when his seeing-eye shot from the point off an offensive zone faceoff gave the Kings a 5-1 lead 3:15 into the stanza. Langevin won the offensive draw.
“I just saw a lane to shoot and saw the corner,” Keach said.
The Kings were 1 for 2 on the man advantage and the Rams were 1 for 1.
Langevin notched his second goal seven minutes into the middle frame, with Emond and Parker Pelletier setting it up again.
Keach scored his second of the period in the final minute for a 7-1 advantage.
“That second one, I am not sure many goalies will make that save,” Rouleau said.
Boulay scored on a breakaway for an 8-1 lead 32 seconds into the third period.
“It was kind of a lucky play; we got the puck off a faceoff and threw it out of the zone,” Rouleau said. “We happened to be in the neutral zone and he picked it up and buried it.”
Soon after, Nick LeBrasseur found the back of the net on a 2-on-1 when he snuck his shot top shelf.
Boulay scored his third goal to extend the lead to 10-1 three minutes into the third.
Guerin, the Class B South co-goaltender of the month for February along with Aidan McQuaide of York, made nine saves for the Kings in the win.
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