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LEWISTON – It wasn’t easy, and it certainly wasn’t pretty, but after 52 shots, 46 saves, 45 minutes, 33 penalties, 18 power-plays, 10 assists, six goals, and three ejections, Cape Elizabeth’s hockey team had its second straight Class B state title.
The Capers completed a 16-7 season and won their third crown in four years with a 4-2 win Saturday afternoon at The Colisee over a penalty-prone Brewer squad.
Not bad for a team that lost seven key seniors from its 2005 title team and started this season with a 5-6 record and lost a 7-3 decision to this same Brewer squad early on.
“We took a lot from that loss,” said Capers coach Jason Tremblay. “We lost our tempers a little in that game and it hurt, so we were very focused on our discipline in this game.”
Discipline was absent for the Witches most of the game as they committed 19 penalties, four of them majors or misconducts and three of them resulting in ejections.
“This isn’t typical. I’d like to go back in history and see how many of these games had this many penalty minutes,” said Brewer coach Steve Van Dolman, whose Witches wind up 19-5. “You can’t coach experience. We hadn’t been here before and it showed.
“They had their composure at the beginning and we were just nervous, and that nervousness turned into poor play.”
Still, despite their poor play, a 21-8 Cape shot advantage, and 10 Cape power plays in the first 27 minutes, the Witches still found themselves very much in the game with Cape up 2-1.
That was until the Capers scored two goals in a 23-second span in the final three minutes of the second period. Kyle Dancause scored on a shot from the left wing on a rush down the left side for a rare even-strength goal on an assist from fellow senior captain Drake Livada. The scoring play brought with it four penalties, including one of three bench minors issued in the game.
Cape took its frustration out on Brewer goalie Aaron Saunders as senior Ryan Tremblay (no relation to Jason), a transfer student from Arizona, poked in the loose puck from the right side of the net into the right corner after a shot from Thomas Rich was deflected out. Rich and Andrew Gibson notched assists.
The pressure kept on coming from Cape as it outshot the Witches 28-9 in the first two periods, but Brewer’s penalty-debilitated squad was able to rebound with a vengeance in the final period after some lineup changes.
“We had 50-some-odd goals sitting in the penalty box, so we had to change the lines and go at them,” Van Dolman said. “With [23-goal scorer] Dylan Fitzpatrick in the box for 10 minutes [hitting from behind], we brought Reid [McLaughlin] and Zack [Wilson] from one line and [Ben] Caldwell from another to make a power line and give them as much time as they could handle.”
As a result, Brewer outshot Cape 11-4 in the third period and cut the lead with Wilson’s high slap shot into the right corner of the net off a David Perry assist with 4:20 to play.
“We gave them a lot of pressure, but not enough,” Van Dolman said. “We thought we dodged some bullets early on, but we couldn’t stay out of the box and they put them in.”
Brewer’s other goal came from Caldwell on a slap shot swipe from the left circle into the left corner of the net off assists by Fitzpatrick and McLaughlin with 9:45 left in the first period.
Saunders made 28 saves on 32 shots before being ejected with 18 seconds left for spearing a Cape player. Hatch made 18 saves on 20s shots for Cape.
Cape’s two early scores, both on power-plays, came from Michael Kertes with 10:13 left on a slap shot from the left side and Gibson, who smacked one in from the outer edge of the left circle with 7:33 left.
“I think we had six penalties and no power plays in our last game,” said Rich, who assisted on Kertes’ goal. “That may been the tightest game and most penalties of my career.
“I wasn’t expecting that whatsoever, but we kept our cool. We knew we couldn’t lose it because if we did, we were going to lose.”
CAPERS 4, WITCHES 2
Cape Elizabeth (16-7) 2 2 0 – 4
Brewer (19-5) 1 0 1 – 2
First period – 1. Cape, Kertes (Rich, Pearson), 4:47 (pp); 2. Brewer, Caldwell (McLaughlin, Dy. Fitzpatrick), 5:15 (pp); 3. Cape, Gibson (R. Tremblay, Davis) 7:27 (pp). Penalties: Cape, Davis, hooking, 0:45; Brewer, Kilroy, hooking, 1:34; Brewer, De. Fitzpatrick, tripping, 2:22; Brewer, bench minor (served by Curry), 3:52; Cape, Kertes, tripping, 4:53; Brewer, Kilroy, tripping, 5:22; Cape, R. Tremblay, charging, 9:28; Cape, Gibson, hooking, 10:41; Brewer, De. Fitzpatrick, roughing, 10:55; Brewer, De. Fitzpatrick, slashing, 14:36
Second period – 4. Cape, Dancause (Livada) 11:42; 5. Cape, R. Tremblay (Gibson, Rich) 12:05. Penalties: Brewer, Shedd, tripping, 1:29; Cape, Gibson, unsportsmanlike conduct, 4:37; Brewer, M. Wilson, cross-checking, 4:37; Cape, R. Tremblay, tripping, 5:45; Cape, R. Tremblay, tripping, 8:03; Brewer, Z. Wilson, boarding, 9:03; Brewer, Caldwell, roughing, 10:44; Cape, Negele, roughing, 10:44; Brewer, Kilroy, roughing and unsportsmanlike conduct, 11:42; Cape, Negele, roughing, 11:42; Cape, bench minor (served by Hanson), 11:42; Brewer, Z. Wilson, roughing, 11:42; Cape, Livada, holding, 12:39; Brewer, M. Wilson, unsportsmanlike conduct (10-minute misconduct), 12:39; Brewer, Dy. Fitzpatrick, hitting from behind (ejected, served by Shedd), 14:55; Brewer, bench minor (served by Curry), 14:55
Third period – 6. Brewer, Z. Wilson (Perry) 10:40. Penalties: Brewer, Z. Wilson, roughing, 4:42; Cape, R. Tremblay, roughing, 3:32; Cape, Kertes, high-sticking, 6:37; Cape, Rich, high-sticking, 7:19; Brewer, Z. Wilson, tripping (ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct, served by Curry), 12:51; Brewer, M. Wilson, interference, 13:27; Brewer, Saunders, spearing (ejected), 14:42
Shots on goal: Cape 13-15-4-32; Brewer 6-3-11-20
Goaltenders: Cape, Hatch, (20 shots-18 saves); Brewer, Saunders (32-28), Thoms (0-0)
Power-play opportunities: Cape 2 of 12; Brewer 1 of 6
Attendance: 1,500 (est.)
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