LEWISTON – Jack Orne led the Camden Hills boys’ hockey team to a historic win Friday night at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
A junior forward, Orne scored four goals and assisted on another as the second-seeded Windjammers rolled to an 8-4 win against third-seeded York in a Western Class B semifinal to record the first tournament victory in the seven-year history of the varsity program.
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The Windjammers advanced into their first regional final by defeating a team that skated to a 6-3 win over them fewer than 10 days before.
“It came down to tightening up on defense,” Orne said. “They have one great line of forwards over there. Last time we kind of let them get away with it in the first period. We really shut them down well to start off with and got them back on their heels a little bit.”
Camden Hills (15-4) built a 6-1 lead during the first two periods while limiting the Wildcats (8-11) to just 13 shots.
“This time of year you’ve got to dig down defensively and everyone has to man up and win the battles,” Camden Hills Coach Karl Enroth said. “We’ve been a pretty offensive team all year and we know there are times when you have an offensive team, there can be lapses in the defensive mentality. Today we were committed to taking care of our end of the zone in the playoffs.”
York opened the scoring less than six minutes into the game when Derek Neal lifted a shot over goalie Jet Magri for his team-high 32nd goal after Wesley Warner collected a turnover behind the Camden Hills net.
Three minutes later, Brett Annis made it 1-1 by sweeping his 11th goal into the left side of the net after Steve Hand passed the puck across the slot to him.
Early on, Orne took care of the offense.
Orne scored his first two goals 28 seconds apart to send the Windjammers into a 3-1 lead with less than five minutes left in the first period.
“We made some mental mistakes,” York Coach Mike Vessey said.
“We gave them a couple of easy goals and we had to dig ourselves out of a hole.”
After Simon Lydon scored his 19th goal to make it 4-1 less than two minutes into the second period, Orne scored his two goals, including his team-high 26th, to send the Windjammers into a five-goal lead.
“A couple of them I don’t think I even looked,” he said. “I just threw a shot up there and got lucky. If I don’t know where it’s going, the goalie can’t know, right?”
The Wildcats briefly rallied in the third period.
Adam Jannett scored two goals less than five minutes into the period to make it 6-3, but Grayson Szumilas killed York’s momentum by scoring the first of his two goals.
“I knew they weren’t just going to die on us,” Orne said. “I knew they were going to come back with something. They’re a talented group of guys, and you’ve got to hand it to them for sticking in there.”
York’s Zach Franklin stole the puck and scored his 13th goal to make it 7-4 late in the period, but Szumilas completed the scoring by shooting the puck into an empty net for his 22nd goal with less than two minutes left.
“(Camden Hills) hustled all night long.” Vessey said. “They’ve got some speed on that team, and those kids never quit.”
Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:
pbetit@pressherald.com
Twitter: PaulBetitPPH
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