BRUNSWICK HIGH SCHOOL goaltenders Erin Gay, left, and Claire Mendes.
He had solid senior leadership and two first-string goaltenders in Erin Gay and Claire Mendes.
Then … a 3-3 tie with Lewiston and a 5-1 loss to Cheverus in the team’s home opener had Bodwell jokingly thinking of retirement.
“We actually started kind of slow, didn’t come out of the gates playing to our capability, but as the season went on we kind of got into a groove and got onto a winning streak (eight games),” said Bodwell, who led his team to a 14-3-1 regular season mark and the No. 1 seed in the East.
Brunswick will take on fifth- seeded Yarmouth/ Freeport (8-11) at 3 p.m. on Friday at Sidney J. Watson Arena in an Eastern Maine semifinal. The Dragons defeated Yarmouth/Freeport twice during the regular season — 3-0 on Dec. 3 and 5-2 on Jan. 2 at Watson.
In the other semifinal, No. 2 Greely ( 13- 5) hosts No. 3 Edward Little/Leavitt (11-6-1).
“We are excited to be able to play at home in our first playoff game,” said Bodwell, who remembered the loss to Cheverus as a turning point for his squad.
“It was the weirdest game I have ever coached in my life, with us outshooting them 50- 14. I almost retired because I never had that happen before in all my years coaching,” said the coach. “We did that last year (getting off to a slow start) and then started winning. But, the difference this time is that we didn’t have an easy part of the schedule to feed off of. We beat some good teams this time around.”
A 2-1 victory over Scarborough and a big 4-3 come-frombehind overtime win against Edward Little/Leavitt highlighted the 8-1-1 Brunswick start.
“Against Cheverus, we did lose, but we outshot them and realized we could compete and beat those teams,” said Mendes.
Brunswick lost to Greely, 5- 1, and flip-flopped with the Rangers for the top spot in the East from there (including a 4-1 Dragons loss to Greely at home on Jan. 21) until a big 5- 3 victory over previously unbeaten Falmouth on Jan. 28 put the Dragons in front for good.
More on that in a bit!
The goalies
Neither the junior Gay or sophomore Mendes played hockey before reaching high school.
“I did figure skating,” said Mendes, who is 8-1 with a 1.78 goals-against average and .911 save percentage this season. “I could skate, but I had to learn how to play hockey with all the pads on. It was a challenge.”
For Gay, skating was a challenge, considering “I could barely stand up my freshman year,” she said after a 6-2-1 regular season, with a 1.82 GAA and 88.6 save percentage. “I didn’t think I would play goalie. Being a varsity goalie is amazing heading to the playoffs.”
Assistant coach Ray Youmans has worked with the goalies, taking two raw talents and turning them into a solid one-two punch.
“It has been a good competition, and both goalies have learned a lot, with coach Youmans working with them every day,” said Bodwell. “Ray worked with our first goalie Amanda Heller (First Team All-Conference) the first two years, and Erin is in her third season and Claire her second. They have become a formidable goalie tandem. Ray loves working with the players, shows up at 5 a.m. every day and does not get paid to do it.”
“We both work out butts off at practice, and whether I am on the bench or playing, I love cheering on my team,” said Gay. “I’m either playing or I’m cheering. Either way it’s fun.”
“ It can be difficult not knowing who is going to play, but Erin has been really great and the competition between us is fun,” said Mendes.
Dragons on the rise
Both goaltenders pointed to a time this season when they felt the Dragons were rising toward prominence.
“It was the most exciting game I have been a part of,” said Mendes, referring to the Dragons’ victory over Falmouth. “ It was so intense, especially heading to the third period tied 3-3. It was so high energy, and when we won it was so exciting. We had not been in that position before, so it was a big win.”
“When we beat York (1-0, Jan. 16), I felt like I had my best game, and I thought my team did an amazing job on defense,” said Gay. “We held them when we were down two players for a long time, and everyone stepped up and helped out.
“I needed to have a game like that and it was amazing. I’m glad it was that game that we decided to step up and be a complete team and we followed that up with the win at Falmouth.”
In December, Brunswick hosted the Dragons Holiday Hockey Tournament at Sidney J. Watson Arena. The two-day event featured eight teams, with Brunswick coming on top.
“We were playing well coming into that tournament, and having never won a tournament like that, it did a lot for our confidence,” said Bodwell, who also remembered the way his team played against Falmouth. “The girls played as hard as they had played all season, and when we won that game you would have thought we had won the Stanley Cup. It was that exciting.”
Offensively, Bodwell has received solid play from his top two lines.
“The ‘Orange’ line (Rachel Moroney, Eliza Brooks, Annie Kelly) were our top point leaders last year and have continued that, and our ‘White’ line (Sarah Thibeault, Gillian Ford and Kate Bernier) has been a strong forechecking line. So, we have two strong lines that we roll throughout.”
Kelly, a senior, has 16 goals and 23 assists for 39 points to lead the Dragons. Moroney has a team-leading 21 goals, while Brooks has tallied 20 goals and 15 assists for 35 points. Moroney has dished out 14 helpers.
Thibeault’s 13 points (five goals, eight assists) pace the second line, with Ford accounting for seven goals and Alexa Rivers adding four goals and six assists playing on the third line with Grace Rabinowitz and Mary Sasso.
On the blue line, Bodwell has relied on the three-defensemen rotation of Suzannah Smith (five goals, 12 assists), Jen Machin (nine goals, four assists) and Caroline Wild (four goals, 11 assists).
“All three have good puckmoving ability, and to have three girls you can rely on every game is huge,” said Bodwell of his defensemen. “The biggest things are the leaders on this team. We knew we had good leadership, and even through we started slow, I knew we were going to be all right.”
“At the beginning of the season we felt we could be good because we get along so well and have great leaders. We all have each others back,” said Gay.
Up next
The semifinal winners head to Portland Ice Arena on Wednesday for the regional finals, with the state championship game slated to be held at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston on Feb. 18. The times will be announced.
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