Orono pounds Stearns> With playoffs near, Riots send opponents message

ORONO – Senior left wing Noah Lundy said his Orono High School hockey team is trying to peak at the right time. Teammate Adam Sewall said the Riots wanted to “send a message” on Thursday night.

The Stearns High School Minutemen got the message loud and clear as the Riots registered an impressive 9-1 triumph at the Alfond Arena to run their record to 16-3.

Stearns fell to 12-6.

“That’s the first game in a while that I’ve been satisfied with,” said Riot coach Greg Hirsch. “We really moved the puck well.”

Senior left wing Eric Powers had a hat trick (three goals) and center Sewall, Powers’ linemate, had a pair of goals as did Lundy. Pat Skall and Derek Williams had the other goals; defenseman Travers Kurr had two assists and goalie Stuart Cady stopped 15 shots.

Doug Morrison scored for Stearns off an Adam Ouellette assist and goalie Jayson Morrison rejected 37 shots.

“We were on a mission,” said Powers. “Everyone played their roles well tonight.”

Stearns coach Rod Daigle said Orono has an excellent team.

“They’ve got some good snipers. Jayson [Morrison] played an excellent game but we didn’t help him much,” Daigle said.

Lundy opened the scoring with a 20-foot slap shot through Morrison’s pads after Jake Hedstrom fed it out of the left corner to him. The Riots then stunned the Minutemen with goals 17 seconds apart by Sewall and Powers.

Sewall found a loose puck on his stick in the middle of the slot.

“There were a bunch of people in front so I tried to put it upstairs,” said Sewall.

Morrison said, “It hit one of our defensemen’s sticks and went under my arm.”

Powers then redirected a point-to-far-post pass from Kurr into the unprotected net.

Orono put the game away with three second-period goals en route to building a 33-4 shots-on-goal margin through two periods.

Kurr intercepted a Stearns clearout at the left point and fed Skall for a 16-foot wrist shot; Powers snapped a wrister over Morrison’s blocker while using Sewall as a decoy on a two-on-one and Williams emerged from the corner and slid a short backhander along the ice inside the far post.

In the third period, after Sewall and Powers made it 8-0, Morrison ruined Cady’s shutout bid with a nice individual effort and a backhander through the pads.

Lundy capped the scoring.

Red Riots 9, Minutemen 1 Stearns (12-6) 0 0 1 – 1 Orono (16-3) 3 3 3 – 9

First period – 1. Orono, Lundy (Williams, Hedstrom), 7:42; 2. Orono, Sewall (unassisted), 12:00; 3. Orono, Powers (Kurr), 12:17. Penalties: Stearns, Ouellette, slashing, 14:12

Second period – 4. Orono, Skall (Kurr), 5:09; 5. Orono, Powers (unassisted), 5:33; 6. Orono, Williams (unassisted), 9:33. Penalties: Orono, Hedstrom, tripping, 6:41

Third period – 7. Orono, Powers (unassisted), 5:11; 8. Orono, Sewall (Monberg), 7:47; 9. Stearns, D. Morrison (Ouellette), 10:02; 10. Orono, Lundy (Hedrick), 12:23. Penalties: Orono, Hedstrom, cross-checking, 8:48; Stearns, Helstrom, holding, 8:48; Orono, Merritt, interference, 14:24

Shots on goal: Orono 12-21-13-46; Stearns 1-3-12-16

Goaltenders: Orono, Cady (16 shots-15 saves); Stearns, J. Morrison (46-37)

Power-play Opportunities: Orono 0 of 1, Stearns 0 of 2