Houlton-Hodgdon avenges loss to Foxcroft

BANGOR – Any time you can avenge a loss, it adds to the joy of the victory.

But Houlton-Hodgdon’s 8-3 hockey victory over Foxcroft Academy Tuesday evening, which avenged a 2-1 overtime loss last month, could be a costly one.

A brief bench-clearing brawl at the end of the game resulted in several game disqualifications which means those penalized can’t play in the next game.

It had been a physical but clean game until deteriorating in the final two minutes.

A faceoff was called with 1.7 seconds left and, as soon as the puck was dropped, players began skirmishing. Both teams came off the bench as the final buzzer sounded and the brawl ensued.

The teams cleared out moments after the final whistle and weren’t available for comment.

The game itself was decided late in the second period when Blackhawk sophomore left wing Grady Anderson fed Tyler Hutchinson to make it 4-2 and scored himself 1:11 later.

Mitch Hall’s second goal of the game, coming on the power play with 6:40 remaining, sewed up Houlton-Hodgdon’s seventh win against two losses.

Foxcroft Academy fell to 3-6.

The game was closer than the score indicated.

But the Blackhawks did a significantly better job backchecking and clearing the front of their net and received a top-notch performance from the line of brothers Kevin and Micah Carton and sophomore center Ian Pasquarelli.

Hall and Kevin Carton gave Houlton-Hodgdon a lead they would never relinquish when they scored 20 seconds apart in the first minute of play.

Kevin Carton extended the lead 3:34 into the second period but Ryan Sheppard and Derek Smith (shorthanded) pulled the Ponies within one with 5:18 left in the period.

Hutchinson answered 1:45 later and Anderson followed with his goal.

Sloppy play in the defensive zone by the Ponies set the stage for Hutchinson’s goal.

After a couple of turnovers, Anderson corraled a loose puck and fed it to the uncovered Hutchinson just beyond the top of the crease.

Hutchinson stickhandled around Pony goalie Dan Perkins and flipped it into the empty net.

Anderson extended the lead as he maneuvered his way around the net and took advantage of collisions that left Perkins on the ice and out of position.

He came out to the goalie’s right and roofed a short wrister.

Hall iced it in the third period with a power-play goal as he calmly took the rebound of a Seth Fitzpatrick shot, took a stride to get into better shooting position and snapped the puck past Perkins.

Mike Freese scored on a five-on-three power play with 46 seconds left for Foxcroft but Sam Tweedie and Pasquarelli added empty-net goals.

Hall opened the scoring by jumping on a Foxcroft turnover at the offensive blue line, striding to the right circle and roofing a snap shot over Perkins’ stick.

Carton made it 2-0 with an easy far-post tap-in off a perfect feed from Pasquarelli out of the corner.

Kevin Carton wristed a 15-footer over Perkins’ glove to open the second-period scoring after brother Micah passed it to him from his knees.

Sheppard put FA on the board when Logan Forrest swept the puck to the front of the net and he jammed it past Blackhawk goalie Aaron Fitzpatrick.

Moments later, Smith intercepted an ill-advised cross-ice pass and beat Fitzpatrick to the glove side.