Old Town-Orono hockey uses strong 3rd period to upend John Bapst

The John Bapst High School Crusaders erased a 2-0 deficit with a pair of late second-period goals but the Black Bears took charge in the third period, receiving goals from Jacob Davis and Ian Bouchard to register a 4-2 triumph in an entertaining affair at Sawyer Arena in Bangor.

The Black Bears outshot John Bapst 12-3 in the final period en route to their eighth win in nine games.

John Bapst fell to 4-4.

“A huge strength of ours is our depth,” said Old Town-Orono coach Chris Thrurlow. “We’re fortunate. Some other teams don’t have the depth that we have.”

The Davis brothers, sophomore Dylan and senior Jacob, staked Old Town-Orono to a 2-0 lead with goals 16 seconds apart midway through the second period.

But juniors Lucas Gagnon and Hunter Higgins answered with goals just 1:02 apart later in the period to draw the Crusaders level.

Jacob Davis broke the tie at the 3:36 mark of the third period after being set up in front by his brother, who passed it out to him from behind the net.

“My brother and I were talking and we saw that the middle of the ice was pretty open,” Jacob Davis said. “Before that shift, I told him the slot was open, take a quick look to the middle. I saw him go behind the net and both of their defensemen went to him and I yelled ‘Dylan, middle.’ He made a great pass and I got a good finish. I tried to put it over his shoulder and over his glove.”

Left winger Jacob Davis was wide open in the bottom half of the left circle and his wrister to the far side cleanly beat Gavin Bartlett.

“When I heard him call for it, I knew exactly where he was going to be. I barely had to look up. I just took a quick peek,” said right winger Dylan Davis.

Bouchard supplied the Black Bears with a valuable insurance goal with 6:19 to go. He was set up by the McCannell brothers, senior Connor and sophomore Alex.

Connor McCannell wristed the puck toward the net from the right point and Alex tracked down the puck in the crowded goalmouth.

“We had been reading their defensemen and they got down too low. So off a rebound, Alex passed it out to me and I was wide open in the slot,” Bouchard said.

The Black Bears monopolized the puck in the third period with their tenacity and speed, limiting the Crusaders’ offensive zone possession. They constantly swarmed the puck.

“They got momentum early in the period and we couldn’t hang with them,” said John Bapst defenseman and captain Caleb Robbins.

Bouchard called the game’s third period one of the team’s best of the season.

Old Town-Orono got into penalty trouble early in the game but killed off three minor penalties and a five-minute major. The Crusaders picked up a minor penalty during the five-minute major.

“I think we’ve killed off 29 of 30 penalties this season,” Thurlow said. “Penalty-killing is all about heart and guts and we have a locker room full of guys who have a lot of heart and guts.”

The Black Bears opened the scoring when Dylan Davis jammed home the rebound of his brother’s shot that glanced off the post.

His brother extended the lead seconds later when Blaine Murray, who centers the line between the brothers, set him up in front for a tap-in from just outside the crease.

But the scrappy Crusaders fought back.

First, Gagnon drove the net front and swatted home the rebound of a Curtis Brown shot that spilled into the middle of the slot off the chest of Old Town-Orono goalie Aidan Rand.

Just over a minute later, Robbins’ shot from the right point sailed wide of the near post but came out the other side where Higgins used his long reach to shovel the puck into the short side before Rand could scramble across.

Senior Rand finished with 18 saves while junior Bartlett wound up making 20 stops.

It was a good night for the McCannell family. Not only did Connor and Alex help generate Bouchard’s insurance goal, their seventh-grade brother Jake McCannell won $100 and other prizes by shooting the puck through a hole in a board in front of the goal from center ice between the second and third periods.