Josh Clark’s goal 3:19 into the third period gave Brunswick the two-goal cushion it was looking for and the Dragons held on, upending No. 1 Waterville 5-2 at the Colisee on Saturday, setting up a matchup with Lewiston for the Eastern Class A title Tuesday in Portland.
“We stress that we want to bring the hammer down,” said Brunswick coach Mike Routhier. “That goal, that kind of drilled the nail into the coffin with the hammer.”
The Panthers hadn’t played since ending the season with a 2-2 tie against Lewiston on Feb. 21, and despite an early lead, there were signs of rust.
“We had the lead after one but we didn’t have that good of a period,” said Waterville coach Dennis Martin. “We had a fluke goal. I thought maybe we could pick it up from there, but we weren’t in game shape, having two weeks off.”
Brunswick negated Waterville’s 1-0 lead in the second when Josh Aldred poked the puck past Waterville netminder Joey Fonollosa at 1:37. Less than a minute later, Henry Aschauer lobbed the puck in from the right point, got a fortuitous bounce and ended up with a goal, putting Brunswick ahead for the first time.
Waterville bounced back on a goal by Barrett Moore, but the Dragons retook the lead with 2:17 to play in the middle frame on a Kit Smith goal down low.
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