The Falmouth boys hockey team had a plethora of power-play chances during Friday’s Class A game against penalty-prone Bangor, including a full two-minute five-on-three advantage and a five-minute major.
The Yachtsmen didn’t convert on any of them but did get a shorthanded goal from junior right wing Johnny Konon to take the lead for good in their 4-3 victory at Sawyer Arena.
“We have a lot of young players but they’re hockey players,” said Falmouth coach Deron Barton, whose roster includes 13 freshmen and sophomores. “It’s always a battle when we come up here. You never know the outcome. I’m glad we got the win.”
Konon scored twice and junior center Owen Drummey notched a goal and two assists as Falmouth improved to 2-2-1.
Bangor, whose 25 penalty minutes included a 10-minute misconduct and a five-minute major, fell to 3-3.
Freshman winger Tanner Cole also scored for Falmouth while sophomore Sean MacDonald had two assists and junior goalie Sam Kidder made 19 saves.
Senior center Ben Brook scored twice for Bangor and David Brown added a power-play goal with 6.5 seconds left. Sophomore goalie Jake Hirsch made 35 saves, including 19 during the third period when the Rams spent eight minutes and 17 seconds shorthanded.
“Penalties killed us,” Brown said. “We didn’t give up any power-play goals. We were really good on the penalty kill. But it’s hard because it’s very hard to get scoring chances on the penalty kill and killing penalties wears you out.”
The teams were tied 2-2 after the first period as Brook sandwiched his two goals around Falmouth tallies by Konon and Drummey.
Konon’s go-ahead shorthanded goal that gave Falmouth a 3-2 edge came on a breakaway off a high MacDonald clear as he got behind the Ram defense.
“The puck was just laying on the blue line,” Konon said. “I took it and my mind went blank. I made one [fake] and shot and it trickled in [between Hirsch’s pads].”
Drummey set up Cole’s goal to make it 4-2 with a cross-ice pass through the low slot.
“[Cole] fanned on the first one but it hit his skate and he snuck [his second attempt] under the goalie’s glove,” Drummey said.
Brown scored Bangor’s final goal while the Rams had a six-on-three advantage with Hirsch on the bench in favor of an extra attacker.
Brook opened the scoring just 1:13 into the game when he converted a two-on-one by redirecting a Daniel McCarthy feed through Kidder’s pads.
Konon tied it 2:46 later by chipping a MacDonald pass past Hirsch at the far post.
Drummey made it 2-1 at the 5:54 mark when he stickhanded around a Ram defenseman and snapped an in-close wrister past Hirsch’s glove.
Brook scored the equalizer 11:20 into the match when he finished off a Drew Dorr feed just 11 seconds after the Rams had killed off a two-minute, two-man disadvantage.
“We played very well,” Drummey said. “Everyone contributed. It was a great team win. We have great team discipline. Coach [Barton] enforces it.”
Bangor coach Quinn Paradis said a five-minute boarding major assessed early in the third period took the Rams’ momentum away.
“We were never able to get back into the game,” he said. “They scored on mistakes we made in the second period and we paid for it. They’re a good club but we’re right there [with them].”