Barnes leads Stearns hockey team into playoffs

Prior to his freshman year at Millinocket’s Stearns High School, Brian Barnes didn’t think he was ready to play high school hockey. But Stearns standouts Dennis Himes and Chris Labby thought he was and they told Coach Rick Baietti that he should meet Barnes and encourage him to try out.

Baietti followed the advice of his players and Barnes put together a productive freshman season. He has gone on to score 101 goals in his high school career heading into a Saturday night Eastern Maine Class B playoff quarterfinal game against No. 6 Gardiner, 9-10, at the Alfond Arena (10 p.m.).

Stearns, 11-7, is the third seed thanks to its best ever season.

In the other Saturday Eastern B quarterfinal, No. 4 Winslow, 9-9-1, will entertain No. 5 Orono, 9-9, at Sukee Arena at 7:10 p.m. No. 1 Old Town, 17-1, will play the Winslow-Orono winner on Monday at the Alfond Arena and No. 2 Brewer, 14-5-1, will face the Stearns-Gardiner winner that same night. Games times on Monday will be 6:30 and 8:30 and it is likely that the game involving Brewer and the Stearns-Gardiner victor will be the 6:30 game.

“I was playing bantams at the time and I didn’t think I was capable of playing up there with the high school team,” said Barnes. “But it went real well. I’m glad that I played now.”

Senior left winger Barnes said he is “pretty pleased” by his accomplishment but was quick to point out that “I couldn’t have done it without Micah (Illingworth) and Trevor (Boutaugh). It’s a team thing.”

“He’s a good player. He never quits,” said Orono Coach Charlie Carroll.

Carroll said in addition to his offensive prowess, Barnes, “always gets back defensively and makes sure things are taken care of in front of the net.”

He has 21 goals and 23 assists this season and leads the team with six shorthanded goals.

“I think I could have played better this year,” said Barnes. “But I had a knee injury in football and it took a while for me to get back into shape. My knee still bothers me but I don’t think about it until after the game.”

Stearns is making its second trip to the playoffs in his four years. They lost to Lawrence of Fairfield in the first round two years ago.

“We hope to go farther this year,” said Barnes.

Meanwhile, first-year coach Carroll will lead his team against a Winslow club that beat his Riots twice during the regular season.

“Winslow is really disciplined,” said Carroll. “They really stretched us out in the neutral zone the last time we played them. They took advantage of the whole ice surface. They’ve got a good stand-up goalie (Dan Ferrigan) so we’ve got to keep our shots low and go to the net.

“We’ve also got to get the puck deep and forecheck them,” added Carroll. “We’ve got to play the body. If we let them get going, they can really skate.”

The Class A Tournament begins next week with No. 1 Lewiston and No. 2 St. Dom’s of Lewiston hosting No. 8 Biddeford and No. 7 Bangor, respectively, on Tuesday night at the Central Maine Civic Center in Lewiston. Game times are 6 and 8:30.

On Monday, No. 3 Waterville will host No. 6 Deering of Portland on Monday and No. 4 Cony will play host to No. 5 North Yarmouth Academy.

In the Western Maine quarterfinals, No. 6 Cape Elizabeth will take on No. 3 Yarmouth and No. 4 Falmouth will take on No. 5 Thornton Academy of Saco.