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ORONO – The Orono High School hockey team is in the midst of a youth movement.
And youth served the Red Riots well Wednesday night.
Orono received two goals apiece from freshman linemates Tony Raymond and Chris McConnon; their sophomore center, John Tuell, had two assists; and sophomore goalie Keith Hedrick made 17 saves as the Riots blanked Gardiner 4-0 in their Eastern Maine Class B championship game at Alfond Arena.
The top-seeded Riots, 17-3 and EM titlist for the first time since 1999, will play 17-5 Western Maine champ Fryeburg Academy in Saturday’s 1 p.m. state final at the Colisee (formerly the Central Maine Civic Center) in Lewiston.
Orono turned in an impressive performance, dominating all three zones. Greg Hirsch’s Riots were particularly superior below the faceoff dots in the offensive and defensive zones as they used their quickness to get open in front of the Gardiner net and parlayed their defensive tenacity to protect the front of their own net.
“The defense really stepped it up tonight,” said Hedrick. “They cleared the front of the net so I could see everything, and they also cleared out my rebounds.”
“Their defense boxed out real well,” said Gardiner junior center Dino Grimaldi. “Their defense is pretty strong. We couldn’t get anything going down low.”
“We emphasized winning the corners and the boards in both zones,” said Hirsch, “and we wanted to establish speed through the neutral zone. We wanted to make sure the guys were moving to space and not hanging on to the puck too long so they wouldn’t get hammered. We made quick, short passes. I thought our speed would be a factor.”
Brothers Tom and Joe Smyth, Joey Fullwood, Travis Bryant, and Sean Babin manned the blue line for the Riots.
Orono did an exceptional job protecting the puck and avoiding turnovers while Gardiner turned the puck over repeatedly with two leading directly to goals.
“Normally, we don’t turn the puck over like we did tonight,” said Gardiner coach Chris Buck.
An ill-advised cross-ice pass by Mike Trimm led to Raymond’s game-opening shorthanded breakaway goal.
Raymond skated in alone from outside the Gardiner blue line and beat Tiger goalie Spenser Lahaie 6:09 into the game.
“I was just in the right place at the right time,” said Raymond. “I was just thinking ‘Shoot, shoot.’ He didn’t give me much to shoot at. I thought he saved it. It went glove side.”
Orono outshot the Tigers 15-5 in the first period and was rewarded for its dominance when the unattended McConnon made it 2-0 off a Tuell pass from behind the net with 14 seconds left.
“Tuell got it out to me and I had a wide-open net. I put it top shelf, short side,” said McConnon, whose 14-footer nestled just under the crossbar.
Raymond made it 3-0 3:30 into the second period when Tiger Cody Jean’s pass across the low slot landed directly on his stick.
“I was in the right place at the right time again,” said Raymond. “I was surprised. I shot it and, luckily, it went in.”
Hedrick was forced to make a couple of challenging saves later in the period.
He stayed with Grimaldi, who skated across the top of the crease, and smothered his shot. Later, he got his glove on Ryan Jean’s one-timer off a Grimaldi faceoff draw.
McConnon, set up by his linemates, cemented the win 2:51 into the third period.
Raymond and Tuell cycled the puck behind the net and Tuell eventually found McConnon at the far post.
“I had curled off my guy and my shot went off the post and in,” said McConnon.
“That was quite a game,” said Tuell. “That’s the most high-tempo game we’ve played so far. They couldn’t keep up with us.”
Buck said he tried to get his players to skate the puck into the offensive zone and crash the net, but “they kept dumping it in.”
“It was just a bad night,” said Buck.
Lahaie played very well in defeat, turning aside 31 shots.
“He kept us in the game,” said Buck.
RED RIOTS 4, TIGERS 0
Gardiner (15-6-1) 0 0 0 ? 0
Orono (17-3) 2 1 1 ? 4
First period ? 1. Orono, Raymond (unassisted), 6:09 (sh); 2. Orono, McConnon (Tuell, T. Smyth), 14:46. Penalties: Gard, Emmons, interference, 1:14; Orono, Hedrick, roughing, 5:47
Second period ? 3. Orono, Raymond (unassisted), 3:30. Penalties: Gard, Lebourdais, boarding, 3:54; Orono, Fullwood, tripping, 10:02; Gard, C. Jean, elbowing, 12:22
Third period ? 4. Orono, McConnon (Tuell, Raymond), 2:51. Penalties: Gard, C. Jean, boarding, :31; Gard, R. Jean, unnecessary roughness, 3:08; Orono, T. Smyth, unnecessary roughness, 3:08; Gard, GrimaldI, cross checking, 5:28; Gard, Capen, interference, 9:06; Orono, Babin, interference, 11:49; Gard, Kramer, tripping, 12:37; Gard, Grimaldi, holding, 13:55
Shots on goal: Gardiner 5-9-3?17; Orono 15-9-11?35
Goaltenders: Gardiner, Lahaie (35 shots-31 saves); Orono, Hedrick (17-17)
Power-play opportunities: Gardiner 0 of 3, Orono 0 of 8
Attendance: 1,000 (est.)
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