A hot opposing goalie put the Maine Gladiators’ national championship dreams on ice.
Valley Thunder netminder Keagan O’Bryan made 41 saves for the Alaska-based team in a 3-1 victory Saturday at the Children’s Health StarCenter Farmers Branch Bob Gainey Rink in Farmers Branch, Texas.
The Auburn-based Gladiators’ postseason run ends in the quarterfinal round of the USA Hockey’s Tier II 16U national championship tournament.
“He played well,” Gladiators coach Chris Pomerleau said of O’Bryan. “We were all over them in the first period, we were all over them in the third period — it was 17-4 in shots in the third period.”
Maine outshot Valley 15-13 in the opening period, then the Thunder had an 11-10 advantage in the middle frame.
Gabe Pomerleau of Lewiston made 25 saves in the loss for the Gladiators.
The Thunder took a 2-0 lead in the second period, starting when Parker Jusczak scored the opening goal, then Robert Mikulecky picked up the second tally.
Despite the deficit, Chris Pomerleau said the Gladiators needed to keep playing their game.
“We were playing well, there wasn’t much I needed to say,” Chris Pomerleau said. “We dominated that whole game, we rolled three lines, and we played all of our defensemen. We had the stamina, we had the legs. Every kid played really well today.”
Brody Emond got the Gladiators on the board early in the third period. Connor Morrissette and Aizyk Laliberte recorded the assists on the play.
“We had our opportunities; we had a power-play goal, but we couldn’t get that second goal to tie, and then they got the open-netter,” Chris Pomerleau said.
Jusczak notched an empty-net goal to close out the scoring.
Chris Pomerleau’s message after to the Gladiators after game was that the score doesn’t reflect the team’s effort.
“I told them you can play well and lose, and play bad and win,” Chris Pomerleau said. “It was one of those times where we played really well and lost. The puck didn’t drop for us.”
The team — many of whom played on the Gladiators’ 14U national championship team two years ago — enjoyed their week in the Dallas area.
“We were able to have fun, enjoy the game, enjoy the sport,” Chris Pomerleau said. “We were one of the 16 teams in the Tier II 2A, and we got down to eight teams. We didn’t make the final cut down to four, but we played well and had a good time while we were here.”
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