LEWISTON — The No. 1 team in the Class B South playoffs played like it Friday night. Yarmouth jumped out to a 2-0 lead and pulled away from there, beating Kennebunk 5-1 in a boys’ hockey semifinal at Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
The fifth-seeded Rams (10-9-1), who had to win a quarterfinal on the road Tuesday, got off on the right foot, dictating the pace and possession two minutes in. Then the top-seeded Clippers (15-4) took over. Senior captain Walter Conrad put in his own rebound on a rush just over three minutes in.
Yarmouth hadn’t played since the regular season concluded 11 days prior. Conrad’s goal, however, gave the Clippers the boost they needed after the long layoff. They then added to that lead at the seven-minute mark of the first, with Cooper May’s shot from the right point re-directing off the skate of teammate Owen Ramsay and past Rams goalie Spencer Desrochers for a goal.
“High school athletics in general, momentum is huge,” Kennebunk coach Sean Smith said. “We had our chances to score. We didn’t bury them. That game easily could have gone the other way.”
Yarmouth goalie Dan Latham kept his net empty in the first, highlighted by a glove save against Nate Jewett with four minutes left.
“He’s been there all year for us,” Yarmouth coach David St. Pierre said of Latham. “First year playing varsity hockey for him.”
Desrochers did his best to keep Kennebunk in the game in the second period, making a few difficult saves during the first five minutes of the period — including one off his mask.
He stopped all but one shot in the frame, but couldn’t get all of Patrick Grant’s shot from the slot with five minutes left.
The Rams could do little offensively in the second, putting just four shots on net, and none on a late power play.
“We worked a lot on PK this week in practice,” St. Pierre said.
Kennebunk showed signs of life five minutes into the third period, thanks to a fortuitous bounce. Latham blocked a shot from the right side, but a deflection got over his head and Bo Beveridge was able to poke the puck in through a scrum.
The Rams had a chance to cut the deficit to one on their third power play of the game two minutes later, but Latham kept the net clear.
“Had our chances, especially on that power play, just couldn’t capitalize,” Smith said. “Got to do that against good teams.”
Yarmouth put the game away with two goals in the final two minutes. May scored his second goal of the game and Chris Romano tallied an empty-net goal for the final nail in the Rams’ coffin.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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