LEWISTON – It was not a good night to be a goaltender wearing blue or yellow.
Falmouth sniper Peter Gustavson and Cheverus power forward Sam Johnson each had a hat trick, and the teams combined for 11 total goals at the Colisee in their Western Class A semifinal, but it was Cheverus which scored the extra goal.
Paced by Johnson’s three goals and Alex Arthur’s three assists, the No. 1 Stags edged the No. 4 Yachtsmen 6-5, advancing to the Western Class A final at the Cumberland County Civic Center on Tuesday, March 8.
“We got off to a slow start tonight,” said Cheverus coach Jack Lowry. “We knew coming in that we couldn’t afford any turnovers at any line, never mind at the blue line. We gave up a few of those and they capitalized on them, but the kids stuck with it.”
The first period for Falmouth, meanwhile, was a lot less about volume and more about efficiency.
Falmouth shot just four times on Cheverus netminder Mason St. Hilaire, but connected twice to jump out to an early 2-1 lead.
Travis Jordan picked off a puck at his own blue line and skated in alone on St. Hilaire at the 7:32 mark of the opening frame.
The Stags answered back 19 seconds later when Joe Sullivan popped a shot past Falmouth freshman Derek Kump. But Falmouth again took advantage of a breakaway when Tom Starkey muscled through two defenders and toe-dragged the puck to his backhand, poking the puck past St. Hilaire.
“It wasn’t about how many shots for us,” said Falmouth coach Scott Rousseau. “The shots we got were all on breakaways and 2-on-1s, which is what we knew we needed to do, while theirs, for the most part, came from the outside.”
In the second, end-to-end action continued. Both teams were called for their first penalty, but it was Cheverus that took advantage of the extra skater.
After Johnson scored to knot the game, Christian Scarpelli gave the Stags their first lead of the night at 9:31 when his wrister from the point banked off of a helmet and flew past Kump.
Cheverus took a precarious two-goal lead at 10:47 before Peter Gustavson put Falmouth back on the board with a perfect shot into the top right corner from just three feet away one minute later.
“We started to breathe a bit easier after we got two goals up,” said Lowry, “but they kept finding their way back, and right away after we scored.”
In the third, Cheverus twice made the lead two goals on Johnson tallies, but twice Gustavson answered back. Kump finished with 32 saves on the game, while St. Hilaire and John Spring combined to make eight for the Stags.
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