BANGOR – The Bangor High School Rams didn’t know what to expect from the Patriotic Knights of Gray-New Gloucester/Poland in their Eastern Maine Class A hockey quarterfinal Tuesday night.
“But we definitely didn’t want to take them for granted. That’s the worst thing you can do,” said Bangor senior center Dylan George who had a pair of goals and two assists as the second-seeded Rams took care of business to the tune of an 11-0 triumph at Sawyer Arena.
Bangor, 13-7, will now take on No. 3 Lewiston, 13-6-2, in a Saturday semifinal at The Colisee in Lewiston. The teams split during the regular season.
Senior left wing Dan Shufelt had his second hat trick (three goals) of the season and also had an assist; junior left wing Matt Boehmer had two goals and two assists and senior center Mike McPike had a goal and three assists.
Christian Dionne, Ben Estabrook and defenseman Joe Gagne contributed a goal and two assists apiece; defenseman Joel Whitney had two assists and Andrew Riley made eight stops.
Gray-New Gloucester/Poland was making its first-ever post-season appearance in its fourth season of existence.
Bangor outshot the Patriotic Knights 44-8 and went 5-for-10 on the power play while killing off eight Gray-New Gloucester/Poland power plays and receiving two shorthanded goals from Shufelt.
GNG-P freshman goalie Sean Bilodeau made 33 saves.
“We played pretty well. We moved the puck well, especially through the neutral zone,” said Shufelt. “We set up our triangles [in front of the opposing net] pretty well. My first goal came off a great triangle from Estabrook to George to me.”
Shufelt’s even-strength goal came with 2:22 remaining in the first period and gave Bangor a 2-0 lead.
Estabrook fed it from the left to George behind the net and he found Shufelt in the right circle. Shufelt one-timed the puck along the ice into the far corner.
George had opened the scoring 3:15 into the game as he gathered in the puck in the neutral zone, beat a GNG-P defenseman and sliced from right to left across the low slot before pulling the puck back to his backhand and tucking it neatly into the half-empty net as freshman goalie Sean Bilodeau was forced to slide across with him.
“I slid one way and put it back the other way,” said George.
Boehmer expanded the lead on the power play with 36 seconds left in the period as a Dionne shot hit Bilodeau’s goal stick and popped in the air, requiring Boehmer to swat it out of the air into the net.
“I could have stopped it and brought it back but I didn’t have time so I batted it out of the air,” said Boehmer. “I’ve been working on it in practice.”
Boehmer scored his next goal 21 seconds into the second period on the power play. Gagne, Estabrook and Shufelt added goals later in the period to salt it away.
Bangor coach Ted Taylor was pleased with his team’s performance.
“Sometimes when you play a team that isn’t quite at your level, you tend to play down to their level. But our guys played up to potential,” said Taylor.
GNG-P junior defenseman Justin Milose said Bangor’s speed “played a big factor.”
RAMS 11, PATRIOTIC KNIGHTS 0
GNG-Poland (11-9) 0 0 0 – 0
Bangor (13-7) 3 4 4 – 11
First period – 1. Ban, George (Whitney), 3:15; 2. Ban, Shufelt (George, Estabrook), 12:38; 3. Ban, Boehmer (Dionne, McPike), 14:24 (pp). Penalties: GNG-P, Michaud, interference, 6:01; GNG-P, Arnold, tripping, 6:40; Ban, Shufelt, slashing, 6:47; GNG-P, Michaud, interference, 13:54; GNG-P, Arnold, tripping, 15:00.
Second period – 4. Ban, Boehmer (Gagne, McPike), :21 (pp); 5. Ban, Gagne (Boehmer, McPike), 3:20 (pp); 6. Ban, Estabrook (Shufelt), 11:55; 7. Ban, Shufelt (George), 13:40 (sh). Penalties: GNG-P, Michaud, slashing, 1:35; GNG-P, Gilbert, tripping and 10-minute misconduct, 2:56; GNG-P, Arnold, tripping, 3:53; Ban, George, unsportsmanlike conduct, 4:41; Ban, Gagne, interference, 6:31; Ban, McPike, interference, 12:39.
Third period – 8. Ban, George (Estabrook), 1:08 (pp); 9. Ban, Shufelt (Whitney), 5:08 (sh); 10. Ban, Dionne (Gagne, Boehmer), 14:35 (pp); 11. Ban, McPike (Dionne), 14:45. Penalties: GNG-P, Milose, elbowing, :52; Ban, Porter, elbowing, 1:35; Ban, Sennett, unnecessary roughness, 4:04; Ban, Hyatt, unnecessary roughness, 6:38; GNG-P, McLeod, slashing, 6:38; GNG-P, Piper, slashing, 8:04; Ban, Shufelt, slashing, 8:40; Ban, B. Silver, unnecessary roughness, 11:35; GNG-P, Milose, roughing, 14:31.
Shots on goal: GNG-Poland 1-3-4-8; Bangor 18-12-14-44
Goaltenders: GNG-Poland, Bilodeau (44 shots-33 saves); Bangor, Riley (8-8)
Power-play opportunities: GNG-P 0-8, Bangor 5-10
Attendance: 300 (est.)
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