After starting the season with two straight wins, the South Portland Red Riots hockey team has lost three straight, dropping their third game Saturday night at the Portland Ice Arena to the Gray-New Gloucester Patriotic Knights by the final score of 4-1. It was the third straight win for the Knights after losing their first two games.

The game between the Knights and Riots was the second against each other already in a still young season, the previous game played on Dec. 15 in which the Riots jumped to a quick lead 4-0 and breezed to a 5-2 win. In the rematch, the Knights came looking for payback and got it.

Corey Cormier scored twice for the Knights, and Zach Arnold scored once and had an assist. Gray-New Gloucester goalie Shawn Bilodeau stopped 33 shots from the Riots.

For South Portland, Zach Griffin scored their only goal, and goalie Carter Igo stopped 20 shots from the Knights.

“We’ve had a tough week,” said South Portland head coach Joe Robinson. “You know, all three losses were from teams we can beat. This team, we beat last week. We’ve got to come ready every night.”

Gray-New Gloucester took the lead 7:51 into the first period, when Zach Arnold scored on a pass from Dave Provencer. The Knights added two more in the second to increase their lead to 3-0, first when Ben Piper scored on a corner face off only 2:19 into the second on an assist from Corey Cormier, and then on a role reversal just over three minutes later, when Cormier scored on a pass from Piper five seconds into a power play.

“The kids have been doing well, we’ve been doing a lot in practice,” said Gray-New Gloucester head coach Aaron Rand. “We worked a lot on being first to the puck, and doing the little things. ‘Little things are big things’ is something we say a lot. Doing the little things is what it takes to win. The kids focused on the game plan, and went out and executed tonight.”

The Riots had numerous scoring opportunities during the second period, with two shots looking like goals in the making, only to bounce off the posts, and two other chances coming off centering passes in front of the Gray-New Gloucester net, only to have Bilodeau make the saves.

“I’ve always gone by this philosophy: if you’re not working hard, you’re not going to get those breaks,” said Robinson. “When you’re moving and working hard, you’re going to get them. Right now, we’re struggling to put together a full 45 minutes. We’re putting together five here, five there, but we’re not coming ready and getting that full 45 that we need.”

Needing a comeback, the Riots started the third period fired up and quickly scored their first and only goal of the game 1:47 into the period, when Zach Griffin scored with an assist to Dustin Matthews. The Patriotic Knights responded seven minutes later, when Cormier scored his second goal of the game to give Gray-New Gloucester a 4-1 lead, with the assist coming from Zach Arnold.

“We came out flat. The other game a week ago, we came out flying and we caught them off guard,” said Robinson. “We got four in the first period and were just moving. The past three games we haven’t been moving.”

“(Cormier’s) nickname is ‘Coco,’ he’s a great player for us; he’s a good leader, a great kid. He works hard every shift out there, and just does everything I’ve asked him,” said Rand. “(Zach) Arnold is another leader. We’ve got three great captains on this team, I’ve put them all in a leadership role, and they’ve just taken it and ran with it.”

With the holidays coming up, South Portland will travel to Sweden to play in three games of international hockey, while Grey-New Gloucester will play their next game on Dec. 29 against Lake Region.

Copy the Story Link