THE BRUNSWICK DRAGONS took on the South Portland/Freeport/Waynflete team in boys hockey Monday night. Pictured at top, Dragon Henry Burnham (24) skates ahead of Red Riot Bradley McMains (18) with the puck. Above, Aiden Snell (7) intercepts the puck off the boards from Caleb Rowland (6). The visitors downed Brunswick, 5-2, at Watson Arena.

THE BRUNSWICK DRAGONS took on the South Portland/Freeport/Waynflete team in boys hockey Monday night. Pictured at top, Dragon Henry Burnham (24) skates ahead of Red Riot Bradley McMains (18) with the puck. Above, Aiden Snell (7) intercepts the puck off the boards from Caleb Rowland (6). The visitors downed Brunswick, 5-2, at Watson Arena.

BRUNSWICK

 

 

Aidan Schifano had a pair of goals, including the go-ahead goal in the second period to help lift the South Portland/Freeport/Waynflete boys hockey team to a 5-2 victory over Brunswick at Sidney J. Watson Arena on Monday.

The win lifts the Red Riots to 3-3, while Brunswick falls to 3-5.

“It was a dog fight out there tonight,” said Red Riots assistant coach Brandon Wohl, who was filling in for head coach Joe Robinson.

Schifano got South Portland on the board early, picking up a loose puck from Freeport’s Willets Meyer and tucking one past Brunswick goalie Riley Kirk for the score just 3:48 into the game.

Four minutes later, after a Brunswick roughing penalty, South Portland took a two-goal lead when Freeport’s Devan Hannan scored off a Mitchell Adams pass for the power-play goal.

“We were setting the power play up and wanted to get pressure in the zone. I got it to Mitchell off the boards and he in turn gave it back to me,” said Hannan. “I saw the goalie lifting his arm on shots, so I put it right where it needed to be for the goal.”

Brunswick managed to get a goal back with just 22 seconds remaining when Jacob Doring found Jared Hummer in front of the net and the senior forward blasted the puck past Liam McGibbon for the score.

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“We had a lot of simple breakdowns in the first period.,” said Brunswick coach Michael Misner. “Like when we were killing a power play, we told the kids we can’t have two guys on the puck. We had too many of those mistakes early on that really hurt us.”

Neither team generated any offense for a better part of the middle period. However, that changed 10 minutes in when brothers Brunswick’s Michael and Andrew Eno connected for the equalizer.

“I just saw him at the point and he took the shot,” said Michael Eno. “His shot bounced and I was able to tip it in for the score.”

With the game tied, Brunswick was slowly taking some momentum away from the visitors.

“Everyone on the bench was pretty hyped after that goal. We knew we had to keep that going as the game went on,” added Michael Eno.

Schifano took away any momentum the Dragons did gain when the senior broke the 2-2 tie with just 1:33 left in the period. Adams passed to Schifano to the right of the net and the center skated behind the net and wrapped it past the stick side of Kirk for the score.

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The Red Riots took the 3-2 lead into the final period, outshooting the Dragons, 14- 11 through two periods.

Brunswick came out firing in the third period, but McGibbon was not letting anything past him. The netminder turned away shots from Michael Eno and Hummer to protect the one-goal lead. The sophomore finished with 14 saves in net.

“He’s little and quick. He’s kept us in games all year,” said Wohl of his goalie.

“He’s been big for us this year after losing our senior goalie last year,” added Hannan.

Adams secured an insurance goal for South Port- land, off a helper from Eric Walker. After Adams got the puck, the junior defenseman skated in front of Kirk before backhanding the shot to give the Red Riots a 4-2 lead.

“We took the second quarter off, but we regrouped and played the kind of hockey we’re capable of playing,” added Wohl. “We had to go back to the simple stuff. We tried to do too much in the second period.”

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A late empty-net goal by Gus Lappin finished off the scoring, and the Dragons for a 5-2 final.

“That’s one we just want to put in the rear-view mirror,” said Misner. “It was us not playing the game we’re capable of playing. We just didn’t execute where we should have. At the end of the day we didn’t perform like we should.

“Back to work tomorrow.”

Red Riots 5,
Brunswick 2

At Sidney J. Watson Arena
SP/F/W— 2 1 2 — 5
Brunswick— 1 1 0 — 2
First period — 1. (SP) Aidan Schifano (Willets Meyer), 3:48; 2. Devan
Hannan (Mitchell Adams), pp, 7:23;
3. (B) Jared Hummer (Jacob Doring),
14:38. Penalties — (SP) Devan Hannan (cross checking), Atticus Patrick
(roughing); (B) Michael Deveaux
(cross checking), Jack St. Pierre
(roughing).
Second period — 4. (B) Michael Eno
(Andrew Eno), 10:28; 5. Aidan Schifano (Mitchell Adams), 13:27. Penalty — (B) Henry Burnham (tripping).
Third period — 6. Mitchell Adams
(Eric Walker), 3:24; 7. Gus Lappin
(unassisted), pp, 14:21. Penalties
(SP) Mitchell Adams (roughing), Gus
Lappin (cross checking); (B) Jack St.
Pierre (roughing), Michael Deveaux
(cross checking), Jared Hummer
(slash), Jacob Doring (roughing).
Shots on goal — (SP) 6-8-9-23; (B)
4-7-5-16.
Saves — (SP) Liam McGibbon 14;
(B) Riley Kirk 18.
Power play — South Portland 2-for-
6; Brunswick 0-for-2.
Records — South Portland 4-3;
Brunswick 3-5.
Up next for Red Riots — Tonight at
Mt. Ararat/Morse at 7 p.m.
Up next for Dragons — Wednesday
at Poland/Gray-New Gloucester/Oak
Hill at TBA.)


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