Greg Chase, wearing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle jersey, was one of four goal scorers Thursday night for the Maine Mariners in a 5-1 victory over the Adirondack Thunder. John Ewing/Staff Photographer
Ryan Dmowski has a thing about dressing up.
On Thursday night, wearing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle jersey as part of a Nickelodeon promotion, Dmowski scored twice to lead the Maine Mariners to a 5-1 victory over the Adirondack Thunder before a crowd of 2,588 at Cross Insurance Arena.
That output tripled Dmowski’s season goal total and gave the Mariners, at 31 points, sole possession of fourth place in the ECHL’s North Division.
“Whenever we do special jerseys, I have a thing where I do well, I don’t know what it is,” said the 22-year-old winger, who recently returned from a month-long stint with the American Hockey League’s Hartford Wolf Pack.
After starting the season in Maine, Dmowski earned his AHL promotion the day after he assisted on a tying third-period goal in a 3-2 victory while wearing an Incredible Hulk jersey. In college at the University of Lowell, he recalled having great success when the River Hawks wore 50th anniversary jerseys.
“It’s super weird,” he said.
The victory was Maine’s third in a row and sixth in seven games in December. Marc-Olivier Crevier-Morin and Greg Chase also scored for the Mariners, and Dillan Fox sealed the victory with an empty-netter from behind his own blue line – the only goal of the third period.
“Everything’s starting to come together,” Mariners Coach Riley Armstrong said. “When everybody’s buying in and playing the right way, it looks pretty good when you go out on the ice.”
Dillan Fox of the Mariners tries to disrupt Adirondack’s Robbie Payne as Payne moves in for a shot on goalie Connor LaCouvee. LaCouvee finished with 33 saves. John Ewing/Staff Photographer
The loss extended Adirondack’s winless streak to 10 games, the longest current stretch of frustration in the ECHL. Norfolk lost 11 in a row in October and November before beating the Mariners to get off the schneid.
Dmowski scored the first two goals. Early in the second period, not long after his slap shot struck the left post, he converted a feed from Jake Elmer to make it 2-0.
The Mariners had taken a 1-0 lead into the first intermission after a pretty back-and-forth goal that started below the right dot. Ty Ronning zipped a pass across the goal mouth to Ryan Culkin below the left circle, and Culkin one-timed his pass back to Dmowski bearing down on the right post before Thunder goalie Eamon McAdam could recover.
Midway through the second period, Crevier-Morin picked up his second goal of the season with a shot into the upper right corner.
Adirondack got on the board a minute later with a slapper from the high slot by Mike Szmatula – his 11th goal of the season. Chase answered two minutes later to make it 4-1 entering the third.
Connor LaCouvee made 33 saves, and the Mariners outshot Adirondack 36-34. LaCouvee said the Mariners defense did particularly well at limiting second chances for the Thunder.
“I think they only really had one big scoring chance, and they scored on that in the second (period),” LaCouvee said. “Besides that, I thought that was maybe one of the best games all season.”
NOTES: Terrence Wallin’s assist on Dmowski’s second goal marked the ninth straight game in which Wallin has contributed at least one point – best on the team. Alex Kile entered the night with a seven-game point streak.
Earlier Thursday, the parent New York Rangers reassigned veteran goaltender Tom McCollum from Maine to the Florida Everblades to get more playing time. A first-round draft pick by the Red Wings in 2008, McCollum, 30, was the opening-night goalie for the Mariners and was 5-5 with a 3.71 goals-against average.
His departure leaves Maine with two goalies, LaCouvee and Francois Brassard.
After eight straight games against either Adirondack or Worcester, the Mariners finally face someone else Friday when the Reading Royals visit for a game scheduled to begin at 7:15 p.m. Maine closes out the year with games Saturday night at Worcester and Tuesday afternoon at Reading.
Next Saturday, Jan. 4, is a college/pro doubleheader at CIA starting with the University of Maine at noon against the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Six hours later, the Mariners take on the Jacksonville Icemen for the second night of a back-to-back series.
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