BANGOR, Maine — Falmouth dominated the first 16 minutes of Monday night’s Class A hockey game against Bangor, but found itself tied early in the second period.
The Yachtsmen’s fast and furious approach finally helped them to regain the lead for good.
Josh Noyes and Theo Hembre scored 10 seconds apart midway through the period, sparking Falmouth to a 4-2 victory at Sawyer Arena.
“That was real nice,” said junior right wing Henry Norris, who posted two goals and an assist for coach Deron Barton’s squad (1-1). “We just shot the puck on net, got in there, got the rebounds.”
Falmouth outshot Bangor 39-18 and overcame a 35-save performance by junior goaltender Derek Fournier, who kept his team in contention.
“We knew he was good,” Barton said. “We had to take his eyes away; can’t let him see the shots. We’ve got to get him moving.”
Falmouth’s Spencer Pierce made 16 saves, many on long shots.
Sophomore right wing Charlie Budd and senior left wing Trevor DeLaite scored the goals for the 1-1 Rams. Ben Crichton and Cam Cota contributed assists.
Bangor charged out to open the second period. Crichton fed Budd at the right post and he banged it home to make it 1-1 at the 1:36 mark.
“We drew some stuff up on the board and adapted and got one right off,” said Bangor coach Quinn Paradis.
The Rams sustained some pressure, but Falmouth regained the momentum later in the period.
The Yachtsmen went up 2-1 when Noyes scored on the rebound of Alex Grade’s shot from the left point at the 7:57 mark.
Ten seconds later, Hembre burst down the slot, took a feed from David Hawkes and beat Fournier to make it 3-1.
“We gave up two quick ones that kind of took a little life away, but I thought we played very good in the second and third against a great team,” Paradis said.
The goals re-energized Falmouth, which extended the lead at 1:46 of the third when Norris buried Chris Camelio’s pass from behind the net.
“With a goaltender like that, you have to keep pressure on them, you have to get pucks by them,” Barton said.
Bangor responded 1½ minutes later when Cota made a short pass in front to DeLaite, who snapped it past Pierce. But Falmouth wore down the short-shifting Rams.
“We were pretty beat, but we hung in there and I’m proud of them,” Paradis said.
The Yachtsmen dominated the first period but led only 1-0 despite peppering Fournier with 13 shots. Fournier racked up 12 saves, including a nifty right-pad stop on Louis Mainella’s break-in backhander at the 12:46 mark.
Norris staked the Yachtsmen to a 1-0 lead 4:31 into the contest. Parker Wyatt got the puck to Noyes in the circle to the right of Fournier and Noyes fired a hard pass to the far post, where Norris one-timed it into the open net.