AUBURN – The first few minutes of action looked all too familiar.
As the Edward Little hockey team gave up three goals in the first five minutes Wednesday night, the Red Eddies were quickly facing an uphill battle they’ve seen before.
“That’s been happening a lot to us this year,” said EL coach Craig Latuscha. “Against Deering, we were down 2-0. Against Tyngsboro (Mass.), we were down 2-0. Biddeford, we were down 3-1. We’re getting into these huge holes, and it’s hard to get out of those holes.”
EL managed to get as close as 3-2, but couldn’t complete the escape in a 5-2 loss to Bangor.
“We laid an egg,” said Latuscha. “That’s what killed us. We played flat. We played horrible. Nobody was ready to play. They came out and jumped on us. We didn’t play the body like I told them. That put us in a huge hole. If you lay an egg like that, they’re going to jump all over you.”
Bangor’s Andrew Marin and Matt Boehmer each had a pair of goals for the Rams (2-4). Dylan George had a goal and an assist. Both EL goals came from Cam Robichaud.
“We needed it,” said Bangor coach Ted Taylor. “They’re in the same boat. We’re both off to a slow start.”
Bangor took the lead just 1:34 into the game. A shot from the point was stopped by EL goaltender Adam Loudermilk, but Marin put in the rebound. Just over a minute later, Bangor caught EL (2-4) in the middle of a line change. George skated in from the left side for a goal and quick 2-0 lead. Boehmer made it 3-0 at 4:58 with a wrister from the right side.
Robichaud scored on a wrister on EL’s second shot with 6:40 left in the period.
EL’s other goal came on power play at 8:18 of the second.
Bangor nixed EL’s comeback hopes with Boehmer’s second of the night with just six seconds left in the second. He skated out of the corner for a goal to make it 4-2.
“That was big, especially at their rink,” said Taylor. “You always look for that one that changes the momentum. They were chipping away and coming back. We needed that one.”
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