FALMOUTH — Junior center Brandon Tuttle turned a hat trick — in the first period — as No. 4 Falmouth defeated No. 5 Noble 11-0 in a Western Class A boys’ hockey quarterfinal Tuesday night at Family Ice.
Tuttle finished with four goals, and seven teammates also scored as the Yachtsmen dominated all aspects of the game against a team playing its first Tier 1 opponent.
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Falmouth (10-6-3) advanced to play a semifinal Saturday in Lewiston against No. 1 Biddeford, a 6-0 winner Tuesday over No. 8 South Portland.
Falmouth has won four of its past five games, but Coach Adam Nicholas said his team needs to purge itself of Tuesday’s action.
“That was (lousy) hockey out there,” Nicholas said. “We play like that Saturday and we’re done.
“Yeah, we won. But they had a goalie who worked his butt off who’s only been in net for a year.”
Actually, Noble sophomore Alex Wiggin hadn’t been in goal for about four years before being pressed into service early last month when two seniors were dismissed from the team for disciplinary reasons and a third followed shortly after that.
The Knights (13-6) lost five of their final seven games after an 11-1 start, but Coach Keith St. Cyr said he couldn’t be prouder of their effort.
“They can leave here with their heads held high because they gave it their all,” he said. “They played their hardest. They never let down.”
As a Tier 2 team that plays a regular-season schedule more suited to the level of its program, Noble already would be a big underdog against Falmouth even before losing its starting goalie and second-leading scorer. Last year, Falmouth ousted Noble by a score of 11-1.
Tuesday’s score might have been more lopsided had Wiggin not made several spectacular saves among his total of 38.
“The kid was resilient in there,” said Nicholas. “He didn’t give up. I like to see kids like that.”
Nicholas also saw a lot he didn’t like, most of it from the skaters in Falmouth jerseys.
“Bad habits,” he said. “We didn’t execute our forecheck. We didn’t execute our backcheck. We didn’t execute our (defensive) zone. Guys were jumping up on the play who normally don’t.
“We just played (lousy), 12 o’clock pick-up hockey … That’s what we played.”
Joining Tuttle in the scoring column for Falmouth were Hugh Grygiel, Matt MacDowell, Kris Samaras, Jack Pike, Cameron Bell, Zach Alexander and Ben Freeman. Pike’s was a short-handed goal from outside the blue line, perhaps the only soft goal Wiggin allowed.
It was 5-0 after one period and 8-0 after two. Despite three power plays, Noble had only six shots on goal, none in the third period as Falmouth’s Jay Hurdman registered the shutout.
Falmouth and Biddeford have met twice this season, a 2-2 tie and a 6-1 Biddeford victory.
“Hopefully the boys come out with a chip on their shoulder Saturday,” Nicholas said. “Because if we play like this, we’re done.”
Staff Writer Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or at: gjordan@pressherald.com
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