PORTLAND – It’s a story we know well, the one about the plucky, short-handed gang like the Marshwood-Traip Academy boys’ hockey team that plays its heart out but comes up short.
In the end, superior numbers just prove too much.
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On Wednesday night, the Hawks tossed that script to the wind.
Linemates Peter Lajeunesse and Corey Wright each had two goals and two assists to lead fifth-seeded Marshwood-Traip to a hard-hitting 5-3 victory over fourth-seeded Cheverus in a Western Class A quarterfinal at the Portland Ice Arena.
“We rolled two lines pretty much most of the year so conditioning shouldn’t be a problem,” said Marshwood-Traip Coach Eric Royal. “For the most part we bore down, got to where we needed to be and we played well enough to win.”
The Hawks (14-5) moved on to the regional semifinals, where they’ll take on top seed and defending state champion Thornton Academy (17-1-1) at the Colisee in Lewiston on Saturday. The Stags ended the season 13-6.
Marshwood-Traip dressed 16 players. Cheverus dressed 20, though the Hawks’ three-goal first period shortened the Stags’ bench as well.
“I wanted to play our third line a bit more,” said Cheverus Coach Dan Lucas, “but the fact is we needed goals.”
The Hawks came out hard, playing a physical game that sent the Stags flying and both teams heading to the penalty box. For the game, Marshwood went 2 of 4 on the power play, Cheverus 2 of 7.
“Hockey is a contact sport,” Royal said. “You want to make people hurt, don’t want them skating around. If you lay a good body check on them, they start thinking, ‘Do I want to go in there next time?’ There’s a cumulative effect that wears them down.”
Wright gave the Hawks a 1-0 lead at 4:59 and Lajeunesse and Ryan Tobey scored power-play goals in the final two minutes of the period to push the Hawks’ edge to 3-0.
That didn’t last. The Stags responded with a three-goal second period as Liam Fitzpatrick beat Hawks goalie Kyle Hichens (38 saves) on a power play from in close just 39 seconds in, and Cameron McLain scored on the power play (3:02) and short-handed (12:50).
“They were bumping us off the puck,” Lucas said. “We had a couple of opportunities but we didn’t connect on them. That can give a team some life.”
As did the winning goal. Lajeunesse blitzed a sprawling Mike Haas-Zanghi (25 saves) and tucked the puck under the crossbar to make it 4-2.
McLain’s short-handed goal narrowed it to a one-goal game until goal-hungry Cheverus pulled Haas-Zanghi for an extra skater with 1:23 to play. Wright beat a defenseman to a loose puck at the blue line and snapped in an empty-net goal to make it 5-3.
Now it’s off to Lewiston for a rematch with the Trojans, who beat the Hawks 8-1 on Feb. 8 in Biddeford.
“We’ve got to play them like we did the first period (on Feb. 8), which ended with us down 2-1,” said Wright.
“We just need to hold down the penalties and try to hold them down defensively.”
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