The Brunswick High School boys hockey team had three golden chances to take control of its Class A contest against debuting Biddeford on Wednesday at Sidney J. Watson Arena in the opening period.

Three power-play opportunities went by the wayside, including a 48- second two-man advantage. In all, the Dragons had nine power plays to Biddeford’s three, including a second two-man advantage in the middle frame, but the Tigers managed to come away with a 6-3 victory, handing Brunswick its first loss, with a visit to Cony at the Ice Vault in Hallowell slated for Saturday night.

To add insult to injury, the Tigers (1-0) took the lead on a power-play goal by Matt Jerome with 6:25 remaining and added a shorthanded empty-net tally in the waning seconds. Biddeford outscored Brunswick 4-1 in the third frame to break open a 2-2 contest through 30 minutes.

“It’s still early on, and we have to move the puck better,” said Brunswick coach Mike Routhier. “I thought the first two periods we skated pretty well and carried the play most of the game, but we didn’t play defense. A couple loose ends on shots from the point cost us.”

Good penalty killing

Brunswick controlled the opening 15 minutes, outshooting the Tigers 10-5. Back-to-back penalties gave the Dragons a two-man edge, but Biddeford goaltender Jon Fields made a big stop on Jacob McGowan with his left leg pad, and Biddeford defenders Evan Loignon and Devon Werthner combined with forwards Jerome and Nathan Crepeau to kill off the remaining time.

Scoreless entering the second period, Brunswick found some life as Matt Brooks skated out from behind the Tigers’ net, shot once, then twice, with the puck deflecting over Fields’ shoulder for a 1-0 lead at 3:44.

Biddeford answered quickly, getting a Kerry Crepeau goal from the slot. Less than four minutes later, Nathan Crepeau deflected a shot from defenseman Josh Pelletier over the glove of Brunswick goaltender Blake Alexander (25 saves) for a 2-1 edge.

On the Dragons’ sixth power play, Brunswick finally broke through. Kyle Woodruff camped out in front of Fields and redirected a point shot from Parker Wild to tie the game 2-2 after two periods.

“One thing we are trying to be is more aggressive and physical, and the bi-product of that is more penalties,” said Biddeford coach Rich Reissfelder. “We had three or four 2- on-1s that we didn’t finish in the second period. The penalty kill did well, especially killing off a 5-on-3 in the second period. That gave us a lot of momentum.”

Brunswick began the third period with two more power-play chances, but Fields robbed Brooks with his glove, while Alexander denied Niklas Lemieux on a shorthanded breakaway to keep the game tied.

However, Biddeford broke through with the man advantage. After failing to score on their second power play, the Tigers made it a 3-2 game when Jerome put home a rebound of a shot by Loignon, and goals by Nathan Crepeau (assisted by Corey Brown and Tyler Bellerose), Lemieux (Jerome) and Wyatt Leblond (empty net, shorthanded) made it a 6-2 game.

“We just have to work through the kinks,” said Routhier, who watched Ryan Maciejewski (assisted by Brooks, Wild) score on the power play with 26 seconds remaining, allowing the Dragons to finish 2-for- 9 with the man advantage. “Biddeford was only skating two lines, but they hung in there, a credit to them, and took advantage of their chances. We had one unit go minusthree, minus-four, and they just weren’t playing defense.”

Fields finished with 26 saves for the win. The Tigers held a 31-29 shots advantage.

Biddeford 6, Brunswick 3

At Sidney J. Watson Arena
Biddeford— 024—6
Brunswick—021—3
First period — No scoring. Penalties: (Bid) Niklas
Lemieux, boarding, 6:35; (Bid) Tyler Bellerose, hooking, 7:47; (Bid) Evan Loignon, cross checking,
12:12; (Brun) Rudy Dumont, holding, 14:48.
Second period — 1. (Brun) Matt Brooks, 3:44; 2.
(Bid) Kerry Crepeau (Devon Werthner), 5:32; 3. (Bid)
Nathan Crepeau (Josh Pelletier), 9:20; 4. (Brun) Kyle
Woodruff (Parker Wild), pp, 10:53. Penalties: (Bid)
Nathan Crepeau, holding, 6:39; (Bid) Niklas
Lemieux, hit to head, 10:48; (Bid) Nathan Crepeau,
high sticking, 11:05; (Bid) Matt Jerome, charging,
14:56.
Third period — 5. (Bid) Matt Jerome (Evan
Loignon), pp, 8:35; 6. (Bid) Nathan Crepeau (Corey
Brown, Tyler Bellerose), 9:07; 7. (Bid) Niklas
Lemieux (Matt Jerome), 12:38; 8. (Bid) Wyatt
Leblond, sh-en, 14:09; 9. (Brun) Ryan Maciejewski
(Matt Brooks, Parker Wild), 14:34. Penalties: (Bid)
Corey Brown, roughing, 3:43; (Brun) Matt Brooks,
interference, 5:14; (Brun) Tyler Sullivan, holding,
7:42; (Bid) Tyler Bellerose, elbowing, 13:33.
Shots on goal — Biddeford 5-10-16 — 31;
Brunswick 10-8-11 — 29.
Saves — (Bid) Josh Fields 26; (Brun) Blake Alexander 25.
Power play opportunities — Biddeford 1-3;
Brunswick 2-9.
Records — Biddeford 1-0, Brunswick 1-1.
Next for the Dragons — Saturday at Cony, 7:40
p.m.