LEWISTON – The Cheverus Stags have won the last two state Class A hockey championships, the first by putting Lewiston in an early hole, and Saturday by waiting for Lewiston to dig the hole for itself.
Cheverus had to figure it wouldn’t get a goal 11 seconds into the game like the one that sent it on its way to its first state title ever last year. In fact, when Lewiston came out of the locker room flying and got on the board first on Dan Cloutier’s power play goal 6:22 into the game, a quick start was out of the question for Cheverus.
All that the Stags could do was to wait for an opening to reverse the momentum. Unfortunately for Lewiston fans, the Blue Devils would give them a couple of grand openings, in the form of two 5-on-3 power plays, that would put Wal-Mart or Starbucks to shame and put Cheverus back on top of Class A hockey.
“We knew all season that capitalizing on the power play was going to be a big thing for us,” Stags senior forward Sam Johnson said. “Getting those power plays just boost us. We came in reading the article about (Lewiston’s) penalty killing, and we knew we were going to have to work extra-hard to get those goals.”
“We knew playing here on Lewiston’s home ice, we were going to have to take advantage of every opportunity that was presented us, especially if you get those 5-on-3 opportunities,” said Cheverus coach Jack Lowry. “We needed to be patient, get it to the point and then work it down low and that’s what we did.”
The first 5-on-3 came a mere 1:38 after Alex Arthur made Lewiston pay for its first mistake, a poorly-timed line change, with the game-tying goal. Andrew Joy (holding) and Jon Roy (charging) went to the box together to give the Stags their first power play. A mere 52 seconds later, Johnson scored what proved to be the game-winner off a crisp feed from Arthur.
“We were just doing what we did in practice, just like the coach diagrammed it,” Arthur said. “Just keep putting the puck on the net and the puck’s going to find the back of it.”
“Cheverus showed a lot of composure on the 5-on-3 and you’ve got to give them credit for that,” said Lewiston coach Norm Gagne. “That’s what it takes to win a championship. You’ve got to have that composure.”
The Blue Devils didn’t have that composure late in the second period, and it cost them. A minor for too many men on the ice led indirectly to a holding penalty 11 seconds later. The Stags capitalized little over a minute into their second 5-on-3 when Paul Morrison one-timed a pass from Jon Anton past Lewiston goalie Brian Nason, who was excellent in net once again for Lewiston (29 saves) but was merely overwhelmed by the Stags superior numbers.
“He was outstanding. He kept us in the game, without a question. We just didn’t help him,” Gagne said.
“It was frustrating when we got the too many men on the ice,” he added. “There’s no excuse for that. The guys know who they’re going in for. We thought we took care of that at the beginning of the season. But that was, again, a young mistake. It was one of the sophomores that just got over-anxious and jumped on before his man came off. In a pressure situation, it happens. It’s unfortunate, but it happens.”
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