LEWISTON — Fans who trekked through the snow to catch the Maine Nordiques’ final regular season home game at The Colisee on Saturday got their money’s worth — especially those who arrived early enough for the pregame warmup.

Before the Nordiques’ 7-2 victory over the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks, there was a little skirmish between the teams.

For their roles in the dustup, Maine’s Ryan Panico and Danbury’s Grant Dietz received minor penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct and 10-minute misconducts. Another Hat Tricks player, Anthony White, picked up an unsportsmanlike penalty, which put the Nordiques on the power play to start the game.

The three penalized players were all teammates two years ago on the Maine Nordiques Academy 18U team.

“Of course, the players who all got the penalties were ex-academy players; they were on the same team,” Maine Nordiques coach Nick Skerlick, who coached the 18U team two seasons ago, said. “I sit here and I chuckle at it — I am not thrilled with it. It’s interesting with Grant Dietz, Anthony White and Ryan Panico all played on the same team in this building.

“It’s something you aren’t proud of at all, but it’s something you laugh at because you called them knuckleheads two years ago and you were correct because that was foolish.”

The opening power play became a 5-on-3 man advantage for Maine 59 seconds into the game when Danbury’s Ivan Korodiuk was given a two-minute minor for high sticking.

The Hat Tricks (14-33-8, 36 points) nearly got out of the jam unscathed, but Nordiques (36-13-6, 78 points) defenseman Evan Orloff’s slap shot found the back of the net with one second remaining in Korodiuk’s penalty.

“I said it to our group, ‘I don’t like starting the game on the power play.’ We have done it three times,” Skerlick said. “It’s really hard to get into a rhythm if you don’t score. For Evan Orloff to score, it was awesome, and we really needed that goal.”

Later in the period, following a whistle, there was another get-together between the teams, for which James “Ace” Bond and Laurent Trepanier of the Nordiques and Pierre Laroque and Aiden Farro all received matching roughing calls.

Bond was called for tripping before the whistle, which put Danbury on the power play.

During the penalty kill, Nordiques forward Jake Bernadet picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone. A partial breakaway turned into a 2-on-1. Bernadet took his time, looked to make a pass, but decided to shoot the puck, and it squirted through Hat Tricks goalie Thomas Kiesewetter and just crossed the goal line. The referees reviewed the goal and upheld the call, and Maine led 2-0.

Logan Nickerson got Danbury on the board with two seconds remaining on the power play for Bond’s tripping penalty.

Orloff scored his second of the period, crashing in from the point to the left circle after receiving a pass from Liam Gilmartin for a 3-1 lead 10:41 into the first.

“It was a great setup by Liam Gilmartin,” Orloff said. “I saw an opportunity and I took it. I see myself as more of a defensive defenseman but if the opportunity is there and you can jump in the offense, I love those.”

About five minutes later, Maine’s David Grosek, from right in front of the crease, swept the puck past Kiesewetter to make it 4-1.

After a Cam Charron minor penalty early in the second period, Zion Green of the Nordiques put home the puck during a mad scramble for a Nordiques power play goal that pushed their advantage to four goals.

Maine went 2 for 3 on the man advantage, and Danbury was 1 for 3.

Jake Weutz responded for the Hat Tricks less than a minute later by beating Maine goalie Carter Richardson (23 saves) to cut the deficit to 5-2.

The chippyness continued in the second period, when Maine’s Nicholas Bernardo, Nick Ramm, Matt Lewis and Grosek all got 10-minute misconducts. For Danbury, Aidan Farro, Josh Erickson and White received misconducts.

After an offensive zone face-off win by Laurent Trepanier, Gilmartin fired a shot from the high slot that beat Danbury goalie Lukas Furstein to reestablish the four-goal lead a little over eight minutes into the third period. Furstein (five saves) relieved Kiesewetter (18 saves) in the second period.

Kellen Murphy continued the Nordiques’ onslaught with a goal midway through the final period for a 7-2 lead. Green and Nils Forselius had the helpers.

“When those kids focus on the positioning and defense, I think they are seeing more pucks are coming to them,” Skerlick said of the trio. “The puck is coming into favorable areas.”

The victory is the Nordiques’ franchise-record 36th of the season.

“I am very proud of this group,” Orloff, a third-year player, said. “I have been here for a while, and it’s really exciting to be a part of this team in my final season of juniors and get this record.”

The Nordiques will try to lock up at least second place in the NAHL East Division next weekend when they travel to face the third-place Rochester Jr. Americans on Friday (7 p.m.) and Saturday at (5 p.m.).

“With our two points and (Rochester is losing to Maryland on Saturday), we are down to two points,” Skerlick said of Maine’s quest for second place. “One win against Rochester, and to do it against them would be awesome.”

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