With new faces in the lineup, it was some old faces who sparked the L/A Nordiques to a 5-1 victory over the Cape Cod Islanders in front of 606 fans at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee on Friday.
Caleb Labrie had two goals to pace the Nordiques, while Kyle Secor and Clifford Ogle each had a goal and assist.
The Nordiques lineup was bolstered this week when the Jersey Shore Wildcats folded. The Nordiques picked up forwards Adam Colclough, Zach Mullen, Nick Ventura and defenseman Jacob Bennett.
“It’s a good mix with the new guys, they definitely helped,” Nordiques coach Cam Robichaud said. “The forwards are all top-nine forwards, the defenseman is a top D. They are young, they all have eligibility for next season. They complement our guys well, the guys who have been here. Nice to see Caleb get back on the board early in the first with two.”
The Nordiques started off strong. Labrie potted his first of the game and Jacob Bennett set the goal up 1:23 into the contest.
With 6:42 remaining in the period, JP Chauvin potted his eighth goal of the season to give L/A a 2-0 lead. The assists went to Secor and Joshua Malone.
Jay native Esa Maki’s night in Cape Cod’s crease came to an end when Labrie scored his second goal of the period and 23rd of the season with 3:19 remaining. Shayne Plummer picked up his 32nd assist of the season on the goal.
Maki made seven saves on 10 shots. Gorham native Noah Bird came in relief. He made 30 saves.
Michael Errico stopped 20 shots for the win.
Cape Cod scored the lone goal of the second period when Leevi Kervinen scored his 10th goal of the season with Cam St. Amand picking up the assist.
In the third, the Nordiques added to their lead with Secor picking up his fourth goal of the season near the midway point of the period on the power play. Ogle who assisted on Secor’s goal scored late in the period.
“Once we got that fourth one, it knocked the wind out of their sails,” Robichaud said. “I will tell you what, Noah Bird … he played extremely well. He made some big stops today. He had four or five stops I thought were definitely going in that he got a pad or a handle on it. Give him credit, he played really well in relief.”
The Nordiques were 1-for-5 on the power play while Cape Cod was scoreless on its five chances.
nfournier@sunjournal.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
