AUBURN – Edward Little hockey coach Jamie Belleau stresses quick puck movement to his players. Wednesday night they used Belleau’s philosophy to beat Skowhegan 10-1.
The Red Eddies scored in flurries with three goals within a 50-second span in the first period, two more within 48 seconds in the middle period and Kevin Pontbriand, who finished with five goals, registered a natural hat trick in the first four minutes of the third.
“Anytime you get a game that’s a little lopsided you want to move the puck,” said Belleau. “I thought the kids moved the puck really well and didn’t make a lot of mistakes.”
Matt Nadeau got things rolling for the Red Eddies (3-3) at the 5:45 mark of the opening period. As he was racing Skowhegan defenseman Andrew Provencal for the puck at mid-ice, he lifted the defender’s stick from his hands. He collected the puck and raced in around the other defenseman before deking starting netminder Jared Johnson (20 saves on 23 shots).
Nadeau helped trigger a three-goal barrage near the end of the period. Ben Mooney faked a shot from the point on a power play and sent a centering pass to Nadeau in the slot. Nadeau touch passed the puck to a streaking Pontbriand on the back door to give EL a 2-0 advantage.
Seconds later Chris Carver put one in over Johnson on the short side and EL went up 3-0 with 46 seconds left in the period. That closed the night for Johnson who was replaced by Ben Jordan (23 saves on 30 shots).
That move didn’t exactly slow down the Red Eddies. Jordan saw his first shot 11 seconds later as Pontbriand converted a Corey LaRue pass for a 4-0 lead to close the period in which the Indians (0-5) found themselves outshot 24-3.
“We came in with three guys low,” said Skowhegan coach Scott Holmes of his team’s defensive strategy coming into the game. “It was a tough game, they took it to us.”
Skowhegan received its lone goal early in the second period as Victor Gagne broke in on EL goalie Kris Bennett and wristed a shot past him. That goal proved to be one of the few quality shots on Bennett (15 saves) as most of the Indians’ shots came from outside the zone on dump ins toward the net.
After a Nick Merrill goal, EL defenseman Jacob Marcum scored twice on one shift with assists coming from Matt Nadeau on both tallies. Marcum’s first goal came on a slap shot from the point off a cleanly won face-off from Nadeau. His second was a shot from a tough angle along the endline that beat Jordan.
The third period was spent almost entirely in the Skowhegan zone. Pontbriand connected on a shorthanded goal as he stole the puck away from an Indian defenseman in the corner to the left of Jordan before powering his way to the front of the net to stuff a low shot home. He then added two even strength goals to close out the scoring.
“It was one of those nights that everything (I shot) went in,” said Pontbriand. “It’s a good confidence builder. Coach stressed moving the puck and not being selfish.”
Belleau was pleased not only with his team’s puck movement, but it’s power play as well.
“Our power play is improving,” said Belleau. “If we’re going to make the playoffs we’re going to have to capitalize on the power play.”
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