YARMOUTH—There truly is no separation between the Brunswick and Cheverus/Yarmouth boys’ hockey teams.

And 45 minutes doesn’t solve anything when they square off.

Wednesday evening at Travis Roy Arena, six weeks after settling for a tie in Brunswick and 11 months after producing an epic five-overtime playoff thriller, the rivals once again gave each other their best shot and when all was said and done, there was no resolution.

Cheverus/Yarmouth senior goalie Neal McQuarrie stood tall during the first period and kept the reigning Class B champion Dragons off the board and 1:41 to go, junior Brian Connolly scored a short-handed goal for a 1-0 lead.

After being held scoreless for four periods over two games, Brunswick’s offense finally clicked in the second period, as junior Garrett Countway and senior Nick Marro scored in a 16-second span for the lead.

Midway through the period, junior David Swift pulled Cheverus/Yarmouth even, but with just 12.6 seconds remaining, on the power play, the Dragons got a goal from senior AJ Wolverton and held a 3-2 lead.

But Cheverus/Yarmouth answered in the third period, as Connolly scored on a 5-on-3 advantage to even the game for the third time.

Then, despite good opportunities each way, neither squad scored the rest of the third period, or in an eight-minute overtime, as McQuarrie and Dragons senior goalie Luke Patterson slammed the door and the contest ended in a 3-3 tie.

Cheverus/Yarmouth had its eight-game win streak snapped, but it stretched its unbeaten streak to 10 games and is now 8-2-2 on the season, while Brunswick is now 10-1-2.

“We’re pretty even teams,” said Dragons coach Michael Misner. “We feel like they match up probably the best with us of all the teams we play.”

“The last three games we’ve played a total of probably 12 or 13 15-minute periods against each other,” said Cheverus/Yarmouth coach Dave St. Pierre. “It was a fun game to be a part of. (Brunswick’s) a a great team. They’re well-coached. They work hard. I thought we showed them we can play with them.”

Forty-five minutes and then some

Last March, Brunswick and Cheverus/Yarmouth had to play into a fifth overtime before the Dragons finally prevailed in the Class B South semifinals. Brunswick then went on to capture the program’s first state title.

In the teams’ first meeting this winter, Dec. 21 in Brunswick, overtime was needed again and since teams play a maximum of one eight-minute OT in the regular season, the contest ended in a 3-3 tie.

That was the night that Cheverus/Yarmouth’s season turned around. The squad preceded its tie with a 3-2 home loss to Kennebunk and a 6-1 loss at Cape Elizabeth, but a consistent winner emerged after Christmas, as Cheverus/Yarmouth defeated visiting Gorham (1-0), visiting Leavitt (4-1), host St. Dom’s (7-2), visiting Scarborough (3-2), host Gorham (4-2), visiting Greely (6-4), host York (7-4) and host Kennebunk (3-1).

Brunswick, meanwhile, started fast with wins over host Leavitt (6-1) and visiting Camden Hills (7-5) and after tying Cheverus/Yarmouth, the Dragons defeated visiting Kennebunk (5-2), Gorham (5-2), Leavitt (6-1) and Cape Elizabeth (4-1) and won at Kennebunk (9-2), at home over Hampden Academy (2-1) and at Thornton Academy (2-1) and Mt. Ararat (9-1). Last Thursday, Brunswick finally met its match in a 2-0 loss at surging Cape Elizabeth.

In the first meeting this season, the Dragons led 2-0 and again, 3-2, but Swift’s goal forced overtime. Patterson saved 27 shots for Brunswick and McQuarrie stopped 22 shots for Cheverus/Yarmouth.

Wednesday was a similar story with a similar result.

The first period saw McQuarrie under fire, but he denied sophomore Max Stadnicki, senior Zach Stern-Hayes (last year’s playoff hero), sophomore Evan Zavitz, Stern-Hayes again and Marro on the rebound and Stern-Hayes and sophomore Avery Tatham on a power play.

Patterson saved bids from Cheverus/Yarmouth senior Colin Hines and senior Truman Peters, but with 1:41 to go in the first period, with the Dragons on the power play, Connolly got a hold of a loose puck, skated in and while being tugged to the ice, he managed to send the puck past Patterson for a 1-0 lead, which held up into the first intermission.

“We just had a bad break at the blue line that led to a short-handed goal,” Misner said.

Early in the second period, Patterson denied a wrister from Swift, while Stern-Hayes had a shot saved by McQuarrie.

Brunswick, which was shut out in its last game at Cape Elizabeth and in the first period Wednesday, finally returned to its scoring ways at 5:30 of the second period, as senior Kennedy Eddy played the puck in and Countway sent it in to tie the score.

A mere 14 seconds later, off a faceoff in the offensive zone, Wolverton sent the puck to Marro, who fired it past McQuarrie for a 2-1 lead.

“After they scored that first goal, we felt like we controlled the pace of play for long stretches,” Misner said.

Cheverus/Yarmouth then pushed for the equalizer and after Patterson denied senior Ryan Franceschi, Swift had a great look at an open net, but he sent the shot wide.

Swift quickly atoned for his miss, however, as at 8:01 of the second, he took a pass from junior Andrew Cheever up top and fired a blast that Patterson couldn’t stop and the game was deadlocked, 2-2.

Cheverus/Yarmouth then went on the power play, but after Patterson saved a bid from junior Ian O’Connor, O’Connor hit the crossbar and senior Ethan St. Pierre’s rebound was denied.

The Dragons then had a power play opportunity in the final minute of the period and after McQuarrie saved a shot on a rush from Marro, the visitors broke through with just 12.6 seconds to go, as McQuarrie saved a shot from Stern-Hayes, but Wolverton pounced on the rebound and finished and Brunswick took a 3-2 advantage to the third period.

“That was a tough goal there,” said Dave St. Pierre. “They got a bit of a bounce.”

Cheverus/Yarmouth came out strong in the third period looking to tie the game up, but an O’Connor shot rolled just wide and senior Ben Moll was off-target as well.

The home team then got a break at 4:19 when Stern-Hayes was sent to the penalty box for roughing and Marro followed for the same transgression at 5:21, producing a 5-on-3 advantage.

Cheverus/Yarmouth capitalized at 5:53, as Moll got the puck to Swift, who fired it on net and Connolly managed to tip it past Patterson to make the score 3-3.

“We came back and focused in and stayed positive and that gave us a chance to score,” Dave St. Pierre said.

Late in regulation, each team had chances to prevail, but Patterson denied Hines, O’Connor, Peters, Swift and Moll, while McQuarrie stood tall on bids from Zavitz and Marro.

The contest then went to an eight-minute, “sudden victory” overtime, but there would be no victory on this night.

A mere 42 seconds in, Wolverton appeared to play the hero for the Dragons, as he sent the puck into the net, but the goal was immediately waved off by an official.

“The net came off before the puck went in,” Misner lamented. “That’s just one of those things.”

“I guess the net was off before they got the puck in,” said Dave St. Pierre. “We got some good fortune and we’ll take it.”

After Patterson saved a shot from Swift, Patterson came out to knock the puck way from Peters before he could reach it.

Patterson then saved shots from O’Connor and Moll.

At the other end, Marro rushed in looking to end it, but McQuarrie made the save. McQuarrie then turned aside two shots from Stern-Hayes, as well as bids from senior Sid Pols and Zavitz.

In the final minute, Swift missed just wide and at the other end, McQuarrie saved a shot from Marro.

With 4 seconds to go, Brunswick earned a faceoff in the Cheverus/Yarmouth zone and pulled Patterson for an extra attacker, but it never managed to unleash a shot and the contest ended in a 3-3 tie.

“We had some opportunities, especially in overtime having a goal called off,” said Misner. “We just have to play smarter. We got too overly emotional. It’s always an intense game when we play these guys. Our emotions got the best of us and we let them back in it.”

“We gave ourselves a chance to win,” Dave St. Pierre said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who can put the puck in the net. We generated good rushes. We didn’t get the pucks going to the net as well as I would have liked, but credit to (Brunswick), they play good defense.”

The Dragons had a 34-32 advantage in shots on goal and Patterson was his usual solid self, making 29 saves.

“Having Luke back there is amazing,” Misner said. “He got a little freaked out at the end there when we pulled him, but we were just trying to give ourselves a chance to score.”

For Cheverus/Yarmouth, McQuarrie came up big as well, making 31 saves.

“I thought Neal played one of his better games this season,” Dave St. Pierre said. “He did a great job on his angles. He swallowed pucks up, didn’t allow rebounds. He’s worked hard all season. Team-wise, we’ve committed to defense. We’ve given up too many goals the last few games and we’re trying to get better at that.”

Winding down

Both teams still have several games remaining, but with the postseason nearing, victories are a paramount concern for playoff positioning.

Cheverus/Yarmouth (now ranked third in the Class B South Heal Points standings) looks to start a new win streak when it goes to Greely Saturday. The squad then travels to Leavitt next Wednesday.

“We’re playing well, but we still have a lot of work to do,” Dave St. Pierre said. “We have a lot of quality opponents in front of us. There are still areas where we can improve. We always want to play a tough schedule. We line up good opponents because it makes us playoff-ready. We want to be in tight games.”

Brunswick (currently first in Class B South) stays on the road to take on York Saturday. The Dragons then have a home-and-away series with Greely Thursday and Saturday of next week.

“We have to move on,” said Misner. “We have goals we want to achieve and that’s what we’re focusing on. We want to go into the playoffs on a high note and we want to get healthy.”

Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net.

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