PORTLAND — Three second-period goals was all the Portland/Deering Bulldogs needed to down the South Portland/Freeport/Waynflete Red Riots, 3-0, in boys high school hockey on Thursday.
The last time the two teams met on Dec. 16, a 6-2 win for Portland/Deering, the Red Riots found themselves down 3-0 after just one period.
Despite a better start to this meeting at Portland’s Troubh Ice Arena, they were unable to solve freshman goalie Ryan Becker, who made 19 saves total for a shut-out win.
“I thought the first period was good. I thought we battled,” said Red Riots coach Joe Robinson. “We’re just struggling to score, bottom line. We’re struggling to score goals.”
Early pressure from the Red Riots led to an early power-play opportunity as Whit Steele was called for interference. Becker was tested early, turning away Andrew Burns with his blocker on the best scoring opportunity of the early power play.
Liam McGibbon matched Becker in the opening period, stopping all five Bulldog shots he faced.
The Bulldogs opened the scoring early in the second period. Miki Silva found Walter Lewandowski streaking down the wing, creating a 2-on-1 chance. Lewandowski looked off the Red Riots defender and snapped a shot over the glove of McGibbon just 2:33 into the second.
Portland went on the power play a little over a minute later and converted on the chance. Jacob Luce picked up the puck in the neutral zone and weaved his way through the Red Riots defense, releasing a shot just beyond the pad of McGibbon for a 2-0 lead.
Luce added another with under five minutes left in the period. Aydan Smalley found Luce cutting to the middle of the zone and the Bulldog forward snapped a shot under the bar to extend the lead to 3-0.
South Portland’s best opportunity came with just under a minute left to play in the period as Gus Lappin snuck in behind the Bulldogs defense, but his shot was smothered by Becker. Portland limited Red Riot chances in the second, outshooting South Portland, 9-4.
“The whole idea coming in was to keep it simple and stick to the game plan,” said Portland/Deering coach Nate Delgiudice, filling in for Jeff Beaney behind the bench. “That’s what they did. They executed it very well and frustrated South Portland.”
“They work hard, they play a full 45 (minutes),” said Robinson. “Total credit to them because that’s not easy to do, you get tired and worn down.”
The third period belonged to Becker as the Red Riots turned up the pressure. The Bulldog netminder stopped four shots on a South Portland power play early in the third period, highlighted by a pad save off a redirected Willets Meyer shot from the point. Becker made nine saves in the final frame for the Bulldogs.
“It’s a big rivalry game for a freshman to come in and stand on is head and make the saves when he needed to,” said Delgiudice. “He was solid back there.”
The Red Riots fell to 3-4 with the loss, while the Bulldogs improved to 3-2. South Portland outshot the Bulldogs, 19-17, but will focus on generating goals before their Jan. 12 matchup with Windham/Westbrook.
“I think we’ve got to make some line changes, find some new pairings,” said Robinson. “You never know where it can come from. Sometimes it’s the most least likely guys you put together that gel.”
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