Claes Endre continues to show why he won the NA3EHL Goaltender of the Year award last season. Friday at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee, he stopped all 16 shots he faced against the Cape Cod Islanders for his third shutout of the year in the L/A Fighting Spirit’s 1-0 victory.
The Fighting Spirit move to 13-1 on the season.
“I appreciate theses games, I like a close game,” L/A Fighting Spirit coach Rod Simmons said. “It makes us use our bench, it makes us use our mind. Guys need to play these style of games. We don’t like to play the 5-0, 6-0 games, necessarily. They are fine once in a while but we need to play good competition. I think games like tonight will help condition us for the future.”
The game remained scoreless deep into the third period before Walker Hamilton found Simon Corriveau for his sixth goal of the season with three minutes remaining in the game.
“Hamilton went in the offensive zone for the winning goal, a kid stepped up and hit him, Hamilton knocked him down,” Simmons said. “He still had the awareness to pass the puck in front of of the net where Corriveau was and Corriveau buried it.”
Anton Zemba was solid in Cape Cod’s net, stopping 27 shots in the losing effort.
Both teams were 0-for-3 on the power play.
The Fighting Spirit were missing three key pieces to their power play on Friday night. Colby Siering and Brett Bittner were out with injuries, and Mike Heffernan was sitting out because of a suspension. He will be available for the team’s next game, next Friday night against the Maine Wild.
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