Great teams always seem to find a way to take advantage of every opportunity.
And Camden Hills gave Cheverus/Yarmouth its fair share in the state Class B ice hockey championship on Saturday, March 9, at Cross Insurance Arena.
The cooperative team, made up of field players from Portland's Cheverus High School and Yarmouth High School, converted four of the Windjammer's penalties into three power-play goals, holding off a late Camden Hills surge and making it 4-3. won the state Class B title. victory.
Camden Hills, playing in its second Class B state final in three years, committed four penalties on the afternoon, while Cheverus/Yarmouth went 3-of-4 (75%) on the power play. did.
The Windjammers went 1/2 (50%) on the power play and were able to jump back into the game with two hard-hitting goals in the final two periods and a power play goal with under 30 seconds left. , digging out the hole of the first era.
“The penalties have been our Achilles heel all season, especially on our top two lines,” Camden Hills coach Harrison Rogers said. “At the beginning of the season, we struggled with the same thing. We're a sophomore-heavy team, so we needed our sophomores and two freshman defensemen to step up.”
“They took advantage of their power play opportunities,” he said of a top line that Rodgers said was one of the best in the state.
With this victory, Cheverus/Yarmouth finished the season with a record of 18-2-2, and Camden Hills finished the season with a record of 15-7.
The Windjammers had one win and five losses in games with a one-point difference this season.
Camden Hills team members coached by Rodgers included Caleb Carr, Oliver Adams, Barlow Marshall, Harper Lilley, Mary Hastings, Olivia McManus, Emmett Marshall, Owen McManus, Billy Crusius, and Blake. – Included were Christie, Cameron Brown, Bennett Gardner and Owen Hotchkin. Bryson Heise, Bridger Witbeck, Beauden Trzaska, Kylian Berbick, Matthias Berbick, Luke Watkins, Flynn Lilly, Jacob Talbot, Alden Howard, Landon Hotchkin, Oliver Martens, Ollie Sawitsky, Quinn・Hopin.
Cheverus/Yarmouth team members coached by David St. Pierre include Johnny Wallace, Brady Martin, Matthew Paradis, Quinn McCoy, Cooper Jacobs, Owen Walsh, Lucas Soutuyo and Evan Hankins. , Sam Bradford, Andrew Cheever, Colby Kearns, Matthew Reid, Cole Putnam, Ian O'Connor, Owen Cheever, Harper Erickson, Will Redfield, Thomas Dillon, Lucas Dillon. D'Alessandro, Hakon Yeo, Bryce Pickard, Jonathan Weinrich, David Swift, Ethan Tucker.
In Saturday's title game, Owen McManus scored all three goals for the Windjammers, and Christie, Hotchkin and Howard also had assists. For Cheverus/Yarmouth, McCoy, Andrew Cheever, Owen Cheever and Swift all scored, Andrew Cheever had three assists and Kearns, O'Connor and McCoy added one assist.
Hoppin guarded the net for Camden Hills, making 21 saves on 25 shots, while Tucker played between the pipes for Cheverus/Yarmouth, making 15 saves on 18 shots.
Cheverus/Yarmouth led 3-0 after the first period, but Camden Hills fought back with two goals in the second period to take a narrow 3-2 lead into the third period.
The top seeds wasted little time getting on the board as Andrew Cheever found McCoy on offense with a centering pass and slammed the puck past Hopin just 54 seconds into the game, giving Cheverus/Yarmouth an early lead. They led 1-0.
Then, with 5:01 left, McCoy hit a backhand shot in front of the net. Hoppin made his first successful pad save, but the puck was cleaned out by Andrew Cheever, who deposited the puck and scored the team's second goal of the period.
Shortly after, a Camden Hills tripping penalty sent Cheverus/Yarmouth back to the power play. Four seconds into the man advantage, Owen Cheever drilled the puck into the net from just inside the blue line with 4:21 left in the period to give the Class B South champions a 3-0 victory.
Cheverus/Yarmouth were within four points as O'Connor made a clean showing hitting the post midway through the period. Then Andrew Cheever also hit the post midway through the second period.
Camden Hills had some chances in the first period, but couldn't get the puck to get a clean scoring opportunity.
“We only lost the handle a few times,” Rogers said. “In the first period, we had some chances right away. We created some chances at the close crease.”
Despite the three-point difference, the Windjammers did not lose. And then he got back into the game under the cover of an onslaught from Owen McManus.
On the second, McManus split between two defenders, beat the goalie and slipped in a backhand to give Camden Hills the lead. Then, with 3:14 left, McManus lit the lamp again from the edge of the faceoff circle to bring the Windjammers within one goal.
After the first period, Rodgers had a message for his team: “One shift, one period at a time.” And the Windjammers responded.
“We won in the second period,” he said. “And a lot of that was from Owen, but it was a whole team effort. When you play against a team of heavy upperclassmen, you don't look up, you don't hear the footsteps, you just miss the puck and turn it over. We settled down in the second and third periods. I can't say we were the better team in the second and third periods, but we were on par with them.”
In the opening minutes of the third period, Howard nearly scored the tying goal on a backhand after the puck bounced off Camden Hills when it hit the boards behind the Cheverus/Yarmouth goal.
But after a Camden Hills tripping penalty gave Cheverus/Yarmouth the man advantage midway through the third, Swift received a pass from Andrew Cheever and scored the much-needed insurance goal with 7:33 left in regulation.
The Windjammers got close to scoring with 27.2 seconds left after McManus scored on the power play, and had several low-percentage chances to find the back of the net in the final seconds of the game, but Cheverus/Yarmouth Because he persisted, the time ran out. state title.
Rodgers was proud of his team's efforts against a strong Cheverus/Yarmouth team. Cheverus/Yarmouth became a cooperative team during the COVID-19 season four years ago. Prior to that, the Stags had won two state titles alone, with two to their credit, compared to seven for the Clippers.
By comparison, Camden Hills has won two regional titles in the past four years and also won the “pod” title, or COVID Cup, for teams from central Maine in the 2020-21 season.
“I told my four seniors.” [McManus, Kurzius, Marshall, Hotchkin] I truly believe they are some of the best student-athletes and hockey players in the state of Maine since the beginning of the season when they were 4-5,” Rodgers said. “And they proved that all season long. They never quit. They're always positive and are true leaders. We gave our all, we played until the final whistle, and they showed us all season long. I accomplished that.”
Early in the playoffs, Camden Hills, the No. 5 seed in Class B North, defeated No. 4 Presque Isle 7-4 in the quarterfinal round and defeated No. 8 Old Town/Orono 9-1 in the semifinal round. and defeated No. 3 Hampden Academy. 6 wins and 5 losses in district championships.
Cheverus/Yarmouth, the top seed in Class B South, defeated No. 8 Mount Ararat 5-0 in the quarterfinal round, defeated No. 4 Greeley (Cumberland) 5-3 in the semifinal round, and No. Defeated No. 1 Leavitt (Turner) 3-1. in the district finals.