ORONO, Maine — The John Bapst Crusaders spotted the Old Town-Orono Black Bears the game’s first two goals, but a fluke power play late in the first period helped jumpstart the Crusaders.
John Bapst went on to post a 5-2 Class B North high school hockey victory Monday night at Alfond Arena.
The Crusaders improved to 8-2-1 with its fifth straight win, and Old Town-Orono fell to 4-5 after losing its third in a row.
John Bapst’s top line of sophomore Kodi Legassie between junior Tyler Wheeler and senior Logan Cyr-Ellis again captured the spotlight with four goals and five assists between them.
Legassie had two goals and two assists, Wheeler had a goal and two assists, and Cyr-Ellis had a goal and an assist. Nate Seburn had the other John Bapst goal, and sophomore Dan Sprague finished with 32 saves.
Nick Boutin and Chris Hoxie scored for the Black Bears, and Chase Albert made 32 stops.
Both goalies turned in impressive performances.
Boutin snapped a 12-footer into the short-side corner off a pass out from behind the net by Jacob Gallon just 1:12 into the game to stake the Black Bears to a 1-0 lead. Hoxie extended the lead at the 7:17 mark when the puck popped in the air and he neatly swatted the waist-high puck past Sprague from the middle of the slot off his backhand.
Old Town-Orono held a 15-5 shots advantage until the final three minutes of the period when the Crusaders benefitted from a power play and put lots of pressure on Albert.
Legassie gathered in his own rebound and threw the puck to the net where it deflected in off a Black Bear skate with one second left on the power play and just 14.7 seconds left in the period.
Seburn was credited with the goal.
“I was just trying to make a pass to the back door. We got some puck luck,” said Legassie.
“That goal gave us momentum,” said Wheeler. “Alfond is a nice rink, but sometimes it can get pretty hot. We were pretty sluggish in the first period, but that goal at the end really got us going.”
“The tide shifted after that,” said Old Town-Orono defenseman and captain Austin Sheehan.
The Crusaders dictated play in the second period and scored three times to take the lead for good while outshooting Old Town-Orono 19-7.
Legassie tied it at the 1:23 mark when he skated onto a Wheeler drop pass in the right circle and beat Albert with a rising wrist shot to the far corner.
“It was a great pass, I was calling for it, he recognized it, and one of their defensemen fell down to give me an open lane,” said Legassie. “I saw the open net.”
Cyr-Ellis broke the tie at the 11:44 mark when he took a pass from Legassie, busted to the net and roofed a pretty backhander into the far corner from the edge of the crease to Albert’s left.
Another late-period goal hurt the Black Bears as Wheeler snapped home a wrister from the slot off a Cyr-Ellis pass.
Legassie capped the scoring midway through the third period when he took a nice pass from Wheeler in the right circle and fired a 20-footer past Albert’s blocker.
“We tightened up our defense after the first period and that made the difference in the game,” said John Bapst coach Andy Stephenson. “Our goalie played great, our second line [Nate Reese between Gavin Tanis and Tony Cambria] was phenomenal, and our defense tightened up.”
Old Town-Orono coach Denis Collins said his team “didn’t take the body and that resulted in a lot of odd-man rushes.”