BRUNSWICK—The Trailblazers – Bonny Eagle/Windham/Westbrook’s new co-op – couldn’t get it done in the attacking zone when they dropped by Bowdoin College for a bout with Brunswick on Monday night, Dec. 16. The team lagged the Dragons in shots on goal, though not by much; they simply couldn’t find the back of the net.

3-0 the final.

“We just didn’t bring a consistent effort for 45 minutes,” said Trailblazers head coach Greg Leclair. “There were spurts where we played well – five minutes here, three minutes there – but we lost in every facet of the game tonight. They outscored us, they out-hustled us, they won all the board battles, they outshot us.”

Play pingponged up and down the ice all game, each team managing to put the puck on-net a handful of times. For the opening 10 minutes or so – including through a minor penalty to Trailblazer Grayson Krause – the scoreboard remained locked at 0-0. But the Dragons tallied with 4:33 to play before the first break, Sam Cassidy doing the honors on assists by Kennedy Eddy and Grey Perham.

The Trailblazers applied solid offensive pressure to begin the second, but couldn’t capitalize. Midway through the stretch, they found themselves working a five-on-three advantage. The team successfully settled into an attacking perimeter – something they struggled throughout the contest to do; still, they couldn’t light the lamp. Brunswick killed the time.

“That’s a byproduct of the skating,” Leclair said of his boys’ failure to put the puck home with a two-man advantage. “We got outskated. If you don’t move your feet, you might as well not bother playing. We didn’t move our feet, Brunswick did, and that’s the difference. You can get into the zone and get set up when you’re skating hard, when you’re first to loose pucks, when you’re getting pressure their d when their d have the puck.”

The Trailblazers stepped up their efforts as the third unwound. Cam Joyce – he weighed heavily on the Dragons’ d often, even if he never got on the scoresheet – earned himself a nice one-on-one with the Brunswick goalie just over two minutes in, but fired a hard shot just wide from left to right. Less than a minute later, Krause, behind the Dragons’ net, shoveled out front for a Chris Westgate one-timer at the right-side post. Brunswick netminder Spencer Marquis ably tracked and blocked the attempt, however.

Westgate dug up another solid opportunity five minutes after that, juking through the right side of the Dragons’ zone for a shot; Marquis turned it away, but Westgate picked up the rebound and smartly tried to for a centering pass. Unfortunately, all Westgate’s grit availed him nothing. Nada. Zip zero zilch.

“We need to find someone who’s going to be the consistent scorer for us – the guy that, the puck’s on his stick in front of the net, knows what to do with it,” Leclair said. “And that’s a skill that’s learned. Some guys have it, some guys don’t; you can develop it – that quote-unquote ‘nose for the net.’”

“We’ve got a couple kids that have that capability, but it’s a consistency thing,” Leclair said. “Knowing when it’s got to be a one-timer vs. a catch-and-shoot situation – little things like that. In a game that time and space [are] as important as [they are in hockey], that extra half-second can cost you.”

Shortly, Trailblazers Travis Brown (at the left side) and Hunter Jellison (at the right side) both pressured Marquis as well – but without converting. Brunswick then added their second of the evening, Nick Marro doing the honors. Marro fired a hard wrister from the right Trailblazers faceoff dot to the opposite-high corner of their net. AJ Wolverton assisted.

The Dragons capped the night with an empty-netter around the 30-seconds-to-go mark.

Trailblazer Porter Krause – one of two freshman goalies on the team, and the one who took to the ice for them vs. Brunswick – deserves a big nod. Sure, Krause gave up two goals, but he turned in a good many saves too, including some he probably shouldn’t have. He looked far stronger, quicker and smarter than the average ninth-grade netminder.

“We’ve got two quality freshman goalies,” Leclair said. “Porter’s played well so far, out of the gate. Isaac White is working hard in practice and he’s going to get his chance in the near future. I’m pleased because I don’t think Porter played his best game, and he still played well.”

Bonny Eagle/Windham/Westbrook skidded to 1-3 on the loss. The team has only put up points so far this winter in one of their games, their 5-0 defeat of Kennebunk/Wells.

The Trailblazers host Marshwood/Traip/Sanford/Noble on Monday the 23rd. Brunswick, now 2-2, welcomes Gorham on Thursday the 19th.

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