Pasquarelli lifts Houlton-Hodgdon by Hampden

BREWER – Sometimes things just go your way. Ask Ben Henderson.

Saturday night at the T.J. Ryan Center, the Houlton-Hodgdon defenseman picked up the puck late in the second period of a 1-1 hockey game and crossed the red line. The sophomore then fired a long-range bomb at the Hampden Academy goal that handcuffed Broncos goalie Garrett Macgowan and rolled into the goal.

Freshman Ian Pasquarelli went on to add his second goal of the night, a third-period power-play goal, and the Blackhawks nipped Hampden Academy 3-2.

But this game was about much more than a little red-line magic. The 5-1 Blackhawks outskated the 4-1 Broncos throughout the game. Pasquarelli, in particular, was a nuisance to the Broncos. The freshman combined speed with excellent agility to avoid hits and to control the puck. He was clearly a marked man and Hampden’s defenders went out of their way to introduce themselves to him through clean checks.

“Yeah, they were hitting. But I’ll take the hits as long as I put it in the net,” Pasquarelli said.

And that he did. He opened the scoring with 1:34 remaining in the first period when a Hampden defender was unable to keep the puck in the Broncos’ attacking zone. As the puck squirted past the point man, Pasquarelli poked it ahead and raced down the right wing. He cut in front of the goal and wristed a shot into the top right corner of the goal.

His second goal came with the Blackhawks on the power play. Senior Chris Bither started the play with a pass to senior forward Ben Carton, who one-timed his shot on Macgowan. The Hampden goalie made the initial save but Pasquarelli was at the right spot to slip the rebound past Macgowan.

HA’s Greg Taylor scored early in the second period to tie the game at one. It was Taylor’s eighth goal of the year. Chris Standley was credited with an assist on the play.

Chris Bearor scored the Broncos’ second goal midway through the third period to pull HA within one. Andy Caldwell and Mike Brown picked up assists on the goal.

But other than the two goals and a few flashes of solid play, the Broncos seemed out of sync throughout much of the night. Clearing passes banged off teammates’ legs. Passes went into teammates’ skates.

“That’s what happens when you have a team that pressures you like Houlton did,” Broncos coach Tom King said. “They pressured us and they forced us not to take that extra second to make those passes or make those things happen correctly.”

Nick Fitzpatrick was solid in the H-H goal, stopping 18 of 20 shots while Macgowan turned 21 of 24 shots for the Broncos.

As for Henderson he’ll take a little luck with solid play.

“I was just trying to dump it into the corner and it went on net. It feels pretty good,” Henderson said.

BLACKHAWKS 3, BRONCOS 2

Houlton-Hodgdon (5-1) 1 1 1 ? 3

Hampden Acad. (4-1) 0 1 1 ? 2

First period ? 1. H-H, Pasquarelli (unassisted), 13:26. Penalties: HA, Taylor, high-sticking, 3:10.

Second period ? 2. HA, Taylor (C. Standley), :33; 3. H-H, Henderson (unassisted), 13:42. Penalties: HA, C. Standley, holding, 2:50; HA, A. Standley, tripping, 14:59.

Third period ? 4. H-H, Pasquarelli (B. Carton, Bither), 1:28 (pp); 5. HA, Bearor (Caldwell, Brown), 8:24.

Shots on goal: H-H 9-9-6?24; HA 4-7-9?20.

Goaltenders: H-H, Fitzpatrick (20 shots-18 saves); Macgowan (24-21)

Power-play opportunities: Houlton-Hodgdon 1 of 3; HA 0 of 0

Attendance: 100 (est.)