3-goal surge sparks PI ‘Cats Team defeats John Bapst 5-1

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BANGOR – The schoolboy hockey game between Presque Isle and Bangor’s John Bapst High School was decided in a span of 2:35 late in the first period Thursday night.

Presque Isle scored three times during that span as junior right wings David O’Brien and Ryan Cyr and junior defenseman Brad Young staked them to a 3-0 lead en route to a 5-1 triumph at Sawyer Arena.

Presque Isle improved to 2-0 while John Bapst fell to 0-2.

O’Brien tallied on the power play while Cyr and Young scored while the Wildcats were shorthanded.

Young’s second shorthanded goal and PI’s third of the game, this time on a five-on-three disadvantage, iced the win 5:17 into the third period.

Alex Yates’ power-play goal cut the lead to 4-1 with 6:46 remaining but Brad Baker capped the scoring 5:11 later.

John Bapst had a slight territorial edge for most of the first period but the Wildcats stung the Crusaders with their three-goal outburst in the final 3:03.

Baker was pivotal in O’Brien’s goal as he muscled his way out of the corner to the right of JB goalie Nate Kuneman and pushed the puck into the middle of the slot where O’Brien skated on to it and swiped a one-timer between the goalie’s pads.

Cyr scored 40 seconds later when he stole the puck from standout Crusader defenseman Jon-Paul Leibfarth, maneuvered into shooting position and wristed a 10-footer over Kuneman’s glove.

Young capped the flurry as he came out of the penalty box after PI had killed off a 22-second two-man disadvantage and beat the on-coming Kuneman to the puck.

He stickhandled around the goalie and tucked it in the vacant net.

“Those goals definitely gave us a boost,” said Baker. “And it’s great any time you can score shorthanded goals.”

John Bapst coach Doug Damon said the three-goal outburst “put us in a hole and we couldn’t extricate ourselves from it.”

“That made a big difference,” agreed PI coach James Brewer.

The Wildcats had the better of the play in the scoreless second period as they beat the Crusaders to a lot of loose pucks and did an extremely efficient job backchecking and protecting the front of their net.

Kuneman kept the Crusaders within striking distance with some important point-blank stops late in the period off Baker and linemates Brandon Berube and O’Brien.

Young’s clinching third-period goal came directly off a faceoff win by Erik St. Peter, who slid a diagonal pass over to him.

Young had time to tee up a slap shot and he ripped one from the top of the circle that glanced in off Kuneman’s glove.

Yates finally solved the impressive Brendon Esquibel with a short wrister from the low slot after being set up by Josh Hunnefeld and Zach Greenier.

Baker finished things off by roofing the rebound of a Parker Hovey shot.

Presque Isle’s slight edge in depth and speed became more telling as the game wore on.

The Wildcats clearly won the special teams battle with their three shorthanded goals. They killed 10 of 11 Crusader power plays.

Esquibel finished with 24 saves.

“I did all right. I didn’t expect to get that many shots,” said Esquibel.

Freshman Kuneman had 25 stops.

WILDCATS 5, CRUSADERS 1

Presque Isle (2-0) 3 0 2 – 5

John Bapst (0-2) 0 0 1 – 1

First period – 1. PI, O’Brien (Baker), 11:57 (pp); 2. PI, R. Cyr (unassisted), 12:37 (sh); 3. PI, Young (unassisted), 14:32 (sh). Penalties: PI, St. Peter, interference, 3:32; PI, R. Cyr, elbowing, 6:59; JB, Leighton, cross checking, 7:12; JB, Leibfarth, tripping, 10:07; PI, Young, cross checking, 12:24; PI, Baker, boarding, 14:02.

Second period – No scoring. Penalties: PI, McGlinn, holding, 2:07; JB, Greenier, interference, 3:57.

Third period – 4. PI, Young (St. Peter), 5:17; 5. JB, Yates (Greenier, Hunnefeld), 8:14; 6. PI, Baker (P. Hovey), 13:25. Penalties: PI, R. Cyr, interference, :40; JB, Leighton, interference, 2:27; PI, R. Cyr, interference, 3:16; PI, McGlinn, holding, 4:29; PI, Young, roughing, 7:00; PI, T. Hovey, roughing, 8:41; JB, Swift, tripping, 10:25; JB, Leibfarth, interference, 13:46; PI, Berube, roughing, 13:46; PI, McGlinn, roughing, 14:32.

Shots on goal: Presque Isle 11-8-11-30; JB 9-10-6-25

Goaltenders: PI, Esquibel (25 shots-24 saves); JB, Kuneman (30-25)

Power-play opportunities: PI 1-5; JB 1-11

Attendance: 100 (est.)