FALMOUTH – Opponents probably don’t want to get into an end-to-end game with the Greely boys’ hockey team this season.

Cape Elizabeth did for about five minutes Thursday night. And the Capers never recovered.

Ted Hart scored three goals and Kyle Megathlin had four assists as the Rangers built an early 4-2 lead and went on to a 7-3 win in a Western Class B game at Family Ice Center.

“It actually was a pretty good game,” said Matt Buotte, Cape’s first-year coach. “We didn’t want to get into the run-and gun game with them, but we did in the last five minutes of the first.”

Cape (1-2-1) took a 1-0 lead when Brandon Negele beat Greely goalie Kyle Kramlich (21 saves) for a power-play goal just 5:35 in.

“That was actually kind of good for us,” Hart said. “It got us going.”

Advertisement

The Rangers (3-0) blitzed Cape Elizabeth goalie Kevin Hare for four goals in a span of 2:43. Hart tied it with a power-play goal at 9:52. Miles Shields scored his first varsity goal 24 seconds later for a 2-1 lead, then Joe Saffian stripped a defender in the slot and made it 3-1 at 11:28. Jarod Lavallee pushed the lead to 4-1 a minute later.

Grant Rusk came on in relief of Hare, and Cape regrouped enough for Chris Grennon to score the first of his two goals at 13:24.

“We played better in chunks of the game, when we had some pretty good puck movement, had a good tempo,” said Greely Coach Barry Mothes. “Unfortunately we got away from that for parts of the game, so we have things to work on.”

Hart (7:02) and Owen Potenziano (13:56) added goals in the second for a 6-2 lead.

“When you make a good play, you build momentum,” Hart said. “There can be a lot of ups and downs. We had a lot of good pressure for most of the game tonight.”

“Our guys worked hard, we just couldn’t get a break,” Buotte said. Cape failed to convert a five-minute power play late in the second, skating five-on-three at one point.

Advertisement

Cape finished 2 of 8 on the power play; Greely was 3 of 5.

Hart and Grennon swapped third-period goals, and then the reigning Class B state champion Rangers started looking ahead to Saturday and their game with Class A champion Thornton Academy at Biddeford Ice Arena.

“We got contributions from all three lines tonight,” Hart said. “We’ll need contributions from everyone on Saturday.”

 


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.