Lewiston blanks Bangor Nason makes 21 saves to help Devils gain 2nd victory

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BANGOR – When the Bangor High School Rams faced goaltender Brian Nason and the Lewiston Blue Devils last March, Nason made 17 saves and Lewiston triumphed 3-2 in Bangor’s first-ever appearance in an Eastern Maine Class A ice hockey final.

Nason was sharp that day and he was even sharper Saturday night, making 21 saves, including several gems, to backstop his team’s 4-0 victory at Sawyer Arena.

Lewiston improved to 2-1, while Bangor fell to 1-2.

“I felt real good tonight from the start. I felt really confident,” said Nason, a lanky senior. “I felt like I was going to have a good game and it turned out that way.”

“Brian played an outstanding game,” said Lewiston coach Norm Gagne. “When we started running around a little bit, he came up with the big stops when we needed them.”

Bangor coach Ted Taylor said Nason “kept them in the game. We worked hard. But we were snakebitten.”

Nason received plenty of help from his mates, who provided him with a 2-0 lead in the opening 4:50.

Junior center Ian Doucette scored just 46 seconds after the opening faceoff, and his linemate, junior right wing Tim Gilbert, scored 4:04 later.

Sophomore center Jordan Bourgoin’s shorthanded breakaway made it 3-0 late in the second period, and sophomore left wing Matt Letourneau added another goal early in the third period.

“Right from the get-go, we did the little things we needed to do,” said Gagne. “We played Lewiston hockey. Lewiston hockey starts on the forecheck and that’s where it started [tonight].”

Lewiston’s top line of Bourgoin between Travis Lebrun and Jon Roy buzzed the Bangor net on the opening shift, and second-line center Doucette came on during a line change and capitalized.

Bangor tried to rim the puck out of the zone, but it hit the stick of Bangor’s Mike McPike along the left-wing boards and deflected into the middle of the ice.

“Travis Lebrun took a shot on net and it bounced off the goalie’s [Josh Seeley] pads right to me,” said Doucette, who also had two assists. “I put it under the goalie’s stick.”

The speedy Blue Devils used another sustained forecheck to produce the second goal.

Letourneau collected the puck in the corner to Seeley’s right and slid it to the on-coming Gilbert for a one-timer from the circle to Seeley’s right.

“The forecheck worked really, really well tonight,” said Gilbert. “I was the high forward and I snuck in. No one saw me. I had all the time in the world and I placed it five-hole.”

The Rams began playing better in the latter stages of the first period and they actually had the better of the play the rest of the way.

But Nason robbed them time and time again.

Bangor went on the power play late in the period, but a breakout pass hit Dylan George in the skates and Bourgoin pounced on the loose puck and broke in alone.

“The goalie had his glove low, so I put it over his shoulder,” said Bourgoin.

Letourneau iced it early in the third period as he got body position at the top of the crease, took a pass from Doucette, and swept home his own rebound after Seeley stopped his initial point-blank attempt.

Seeley finished with 18 saves.

JV: Lewiston 4-1

BLUE DEVILS 4, RAMS 0

Lewiston (2-1) 2 1 1 – 4

Bangor (1-2) 0 0 0 – 0

First period – 1. Lew, Doucette (Lebrun, Bourgoin), :46; 2. Lew, Gilbert (Doucette, Letourneau), 4:50. Penalties: Ban, Varney, roughing, 6:56; Lew, Poirier, slashing, 10:27; Lew, Lebrun, 10-minute misconduct for mouthpiece infraction, 10:55

Second period – 3. Lew, Bourgoin (Poirier), 10:29 (sh). Penalties: Lew, LeBlanc, hooking, 1:50; Ban, Shufelt, contact to the head-elbowing, 7:08; Lew, Doucette, hooking, 9:29, hooking

Third period – 4. Lew, Letourneau (Doucette), 1:33. Penalties: Lew, Doucette, hitting from behind and 10-minute misconduct, 4:30; Lew, LeBlanc, holding, 5:44; Ban, Estabrook, holding, 6:18; Ban, Varney, unnecessary roughness, 9:09; Lew, Roy, slashing, 10:22; Ban, Marin, unnecessary roughness, 13:06

Shots on goal: Lewiston 12-3-6-21; Bangor 7-4-10-21

Goaltenders: Lewiston, Nason (21 shots-21 saves); Bangor, Seeley (21-17)

Power-play opportunities: Lewiston 0 of 5, Bangor 0 of 6

Attendance: 150 (est.)