PORTLAND—Toby Lappin looked across the ice, saw the Scarborough Red Storm on the other side and he found all the motivation he needed for Thursday afternoon’s boys’ hockey contest at Troubh Ice Arena.
That’s because Lappin is still driven to avenge a painful playoff from two years ago and it’s safe to say he accomplished his goal in this one.
Lappin’s, Portland/South Portland/Deering Beacons went ahead to stay on his goal just 36 seconds in and Lappin and Ben Palson added goals to make it 3-0 after one period.
Twice in the second period, the Red Storm found the net, courtesy goals from senior Olin Pederson and senior Tyler Kenney, but the Beacons got two of their own, as Lappin completed a hat trick on the power play, then Lucas Milliken scored a goal.
After Danny Fitzgibbon scored for the Beacons early in the third period, Kenney answered for Scarborough, but one final goal from Lappin slammed the door and produced a 7-3 victory.
Lappin scored four times as the Beacons improved to 8-6 on the season and in the process, dropped the Red Storm to 2-10-1.
“That (overtime semifinal round loss in 2022) still haunts me a little bit,” Lappin said. “I still remember it, so whenever we play them, I have that in the back of my head.”
Fast out of the gate
The union of the former Portland/Deering co-op with South Portland has been a success this winter. The Beacons started with a 4-2 loss to St. Dom’s, then defeated Scarborough, 6-3. After a 4-2 home loss to Falmouth, the Beacons were beaten by visiting Fryeburg Academy (8-5), but they turned around and downed visiting Windham (3-1) and host Cony (3-2). After a 4-3 loss at Falmouth, the back-and-forth continued with a 2-1 home win over Lewiston, a 5-1 loss at Edward Little and wins over host Greely (3-2, in overtime) and visiting Biddeford (4-1). The Beacons lost at reigning Class A champion Thornton Academy (3-1), then responded with a 4-2 home win over Old Town/Orono in their last outing, last Saturday.
“At the beginning of the season, we were still kind of building and getting to know each other and now, we have chemistry,” Lappin said.
“Right from the jump, it’s been great,” said Joe Robinson, who co-coaches the Beacons with Jeff Beaney. “The kids have gotten along since summertime and I’ve known Coach Beaney for a long time. We’re very fortunate.”
The Red Storm, meanwhile, have been more competitive than their record would suggest, with four of their losses coming by a single goal and three others coming by two goals.
Scarborough lost its first four games: 6-3 at home to the Beacons, 3-2 at home to Windham, 2-1 at Thornton Academy and 2-1 at Marshwood. After wins at Kennebunk (4-3) and Biddeford (4-0), the Red Storm were beaten by visiting Marshwood (4-2) and Edward Little (1-0), lost at Falmouth (5-0) and Windham (3-1) and after tying visiting York (2-2), Scarborough fell at Bangor (4-2) and at home to Thornton Academy Tuesday by a 5-0 margin.
Thursday, the Red Storm continued their recent trend of slow starts while the Beacons reversed theirs and went on to victory.
Lappin set the tone just 36 seconds in, pouncing on a loose puck, skating in and beating Scarborough sophomore goalie Bryce Bellerose with a shot that put the home team on top for good.
“That was huge for us,” said Lappin. “The last couple of games we’ve gotten off to really slow starts and we had to dig ourselves out of a hole and it was a struggle. Coming out hard and getting in the first goal, that momentum carried us through the whole game.”
“It was nice to finally score first,” Robinson said. “I feel like the past five or six games, we’re always trailing right off the bat. We needed to jump out like that. It was good for us.”
Scarborough hoped to answer, but Beacons goalie Michael Zaccaria denied a shot from junior Quinn Staples and after the Red Storm went on the power play, Zaccaria turned aside bids from Kenney and Pederson and saved a shot from junior Wyatt Grondin and a rebound from sophomore Nick Harmon.
Then, at 7:48 of the first period, Lappin scored for the second time, from Henry Cossaboom in transition, to double the lead.
Scarborough went on the power play again and again came up empty, as Harmon had a shot saved by defenseman Ian House, then Harmon was denied by Zaccaria, as was Staples.
At 12:26, the Beacons extended their lead even further, as Palson scored out of a scrum in front.
After Zaccaria turned aside shots from Kenney and Grondin, the Beacons took a 3-0 lead to the first intermission.
“When we came into the locker room after the first period, I told the boys we had to build off that because I knew Scarborough would come out angry and come out flying and we had to be ready,” Lappin said.
The Beacons were ready and after Lappin hit the post and Hewitt Sykes had a shot saved by Bellerose, Lappin completed his hat trick at 1:41, scoring from Sykes and Palson on the power play.
“It’s great to score, but I had the boys behind me the whole time,” said Lappin. “I wouldn’t have been able to score without them. The goals started with the little stuff that we work on in practice.”
“Toby’s played well all year and as of late, he’s come on really strong,” said Robinson. “He’s up there in scoring. He’s a very important player for us.”
At 3:01 of the period, Scarborough finally broke through, as Staples got the puck to Pederson, who finished, but at 7:04, Milliken scored on a rush, from Parker Sipos, to restore the four-goal advantage and end the night of Bellerose, who was replaced by freshman Reed Marston.
The Red Storm again pulled within three when Kenney fired a puck off Zaccaria and in on the power play at 13:02, but the Beacons would put it away when the third period began.
At 2:02, Gavinn Mullen set up Fitzgibbon for an insurance goal.
At 10:16, Scarborough got another power play goal, courtesy Kenney, but after Zaccaria saved a pair of shots from sophomore Kyle Gambardella, Lappin fired a puck into an empty net (from Sykes) at 13:36 and that slammed the door on the 7-3 victory.
The Beacons got 23 saves from Zaccaria.
The Red Storm got nine saves from Bellerose and seven from Marston, but couldn’t dig out of their early hole.
“We seem to find ourselves behind early in games,” said Scarborough coach Eric Wirsing. “We work hard and play hard, but we can’t overcome the deficit. Unfortunately, that’s been the cycle we’ve had this season. Then, we get tired, we get frustrated and take penalties and put ourselves in bad positions and give up more goals.”
It’s getting late
The boys’ hockey regular season has just two weeks left and both the Beacons and Scarborough are hopeful of finishing strong in their final four games and moving up the standings.
The Red Storm (currently ranked 11th in the Class A state-wide Heal Points standings) return to action Saturday at Lewiston. Scarborough then finishes with home games versus Fryeburg Academy, Falmouth and St. Dom’s.
The Red Storm, who last missed the playoffs in a non-pandemic year in 2017-18, need some wins to finish in the top eight and make it to the playoffs.
“We’re just trying to be consistent as far as development,” Wirsing said. “We knew we had a young team and that we’d have ups-and-downs, but if we’d won a few of those tight games, it’s a different story. We’ll get back to work tomorrow and try to get better. This is a big week. We had TA, this game and we go up to Lewiston. We need to get some wins and get in the fight for the playoffs. I can’t say Saturday’s our last chance, but we really have our backs against the wall to do something.”
The Beacons, meanwhile, are ranked sixth in Class A. They play at Biddeford Saturday, then host Bangor, visit Marshwood and close at home versus Marshwood.
“It’s been a back-and-forth season, but we have momentum going into the end of it,” Lappin said. “I think we have an opportunity to make a run. It’s going to be a close battle with the top teams. It’ll come down to who wants it most.”
“We just want to get in the tournament,” said Robinson. “It’s even more wide open this year. We just have to get a little bit better game by game. I think we’ll be alright.”
Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. For game updates and links to game stories, follow him on Threads: @foresports2023
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