AUBURN — For the third time in three games, the Poland/Leavitt/Oak Hill/Gray-New Gloucester boys hockey team found itself playing from behind Wednesday night.
Head coach Jason Rouleau is glad his team is getting into those situations now. He’s also glad the Kings are starting to find their way out of those situations, as was the case in a 4-2 win over Brunswick/Freeport at Norway Savings Bank Arena.
“Come playoff time, I expect every game to be close and hard-fought,” Rouleau said. “… Experiencing a little adversity and playing mentally tough to overcome that adversity, (it’s) critical we get those experiences during the regular season so that when they happen in the playoffs, because they will, we’ve been in those situations already, and we know how to handle it.”
The Kings (7-3-1) didn’t panic when Brunswick/Freeport (3-6) took an early lead on Carter Copeland’s one-timer from the left side, or when Nat Rathbone’s breakaway goal tied the game at 2-2 for the Dragons and gave them some momentum 23 seconds before the first intermission.
The Kings had two recent situations — Saturday’s 2-1 loss to B South’s No. 2 team, Kennebunk/Wells, and Monday’s 3-2 overtime loss to B North leader Messalonskee — in the back of their minds.
“You want to hold on to everything,” Kings sophomore defenseman Everett Michaud said. “You don’t want it to just be another game. You want everything to mean something.”
Junior forward Jaxson Booker added: “You want to take those past losses and use them as motivation moving forward, to come through with the win.”
Sophomore forward Hobey Duffy put the Kings on the board at 10:34 of the first period, and junior defenseman Nathan Karkos gave them the lead just over two minutes later with his first goal of the season. Both players sent feeds from the red line toward junior goaltender Michael Shoemaker (15 saves), and their shots were hard enough to trickle into the net after an initial stop.
The Kings’ tenacity continued in the second period, as they used their speed to create shot opportunities and to follow the puck when initial chances were deflected. Sophomore forward Hunter Landry was able to convert a second-chance shot into a goal that gave Poland/Leavitt/Oak Hill/Gray-NG a 3-2 advantage at 3:29.
Junior forward Mason Aldrich got the final goal off a faceoff with less than a minute left in the second.
Reid Trepaney turned away 13 shots for the Kings.
Rouleau said it was nice that PLOG’s leading scorer, Tyler Mates (23 points this season, one assist on Wednesday), didn’t need to be relied on heavily. Booker, the team’s second-most productive player, shared a similar sentiment about the fact nine players were involved with the Kings’ scoring.
“We just want everyone to have individual success, as long as we’re staying together, working as a team.”
PLOG’s next game is Jan. 31 against the Gardiner co-op, so the team will spend its next 10 days keeping competition and effort levels at practice high. If the Kings find themselves trailing in any games after the long break, Rouleau wants them as unfazed as they were Wednesday.
“We’re trying to raise the bar every day,” Michaud said.
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