The Kings’ Connor Cyr controls the puck as Brunswick’s Jack St. Pierre tries to get in on the play during Tuesday night’s hockey game in Auburn. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
AUBURN — Brunswick dug deep to get back into Wednesday’s game against Poland/Leavitt/Oak Hill/Gray-New Gloucester, but the Kings’ Connor Cyr dug just a little deeper in the end for his team to pull out a victory it almost gave away.
The Dragons twice came back from being a goal down, and looked to have the momentum at the end, but Cyr scored in the final minute to lift the Kings to a 3-2 boys’ hockey victory at Norway Savings Bank Arena.
“A lot to say about Connor. He was sick the last two days with the flu, and coming in today he really didn’t have the energy that he normally has, and the foot speed,” Kings coach Joe Hutchinson said. “He wasn’t the same guy, but he battled and hustled and played a lot of minutes tonight.”
Cyr’s shot from the high slot with 51.9 seconds left was the Kings’ (6-2) third shot on goal of the period, but their first quality scoring chance. Otherwise it was all Dragons in the final period, out-shooting the Kings 6-3 in the frame.
Brunswick (3-7) was trailing 2-1 entering the third, but Jacob Doring changed that less than three minutes in, firing a shot over Kings goalie Dakota Soucy to tie the game.
“That helped us out. We were fired up and we felt good. The bench felt really good about where we were at,” Dragons coach Michael Misner said. “We had moments where we were starting to control the third period. I really thought that we were going to pull it out.”
The Dragons finished faster than they started, according to Misner, who said his team didn’t start out the way they wanted to. Hutchinson wasn’t overly thrilled with his team’s performance either, but the Kings took the lead 10:24 in with an unassisted goal by Luda Anderhed, who returned from a concussion.
“He was getting a little upset, and he got the puck and he just took it down and made a good first goal,” Hutchinson said.
Aiden Snell — who assisted on Doring’s goal — tied the game up with 1:02 left in the first with a rip from the point.
“Aiden stepped up big for us today,” Misner said. “We had a lot of opportunities off of his shots from the point.”
The Kings out-shot the Dragons 8-2 in the second but had little to show for it. A would-be power-play goal 10 minutes in was deemed to be just a save Dragons goalie Riley Kirk, despite pleading by the Kings players.
“I personally didn’t see it, but my guys were being very adamant about it going, so I was trying to argue that it had gone in,” Hutchinson said. “The boys came over after and said it hit the white pad back and came back and hit the goalie … and that’s how he covered it. The ref said he didn’t see it hit it and come back, he just saw it sitting on the line.”
The Kings instead scored on a Dragons power play later in the frame. Anderhed scored again with one second remaining on a penalty kill 13:35 into the period to put his team up 2-1.
Soucy was the star of the third for the Kings, making a couple saves on breakaways and keeping his team in the game, according to Hutchinson. He finished with 12 saves. Kirk made 15 for the Dragons.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
Brunswick’s Andrew Eno and The Kings’ Luda Anderhed chase the puck aroudn the back of the goal during Tuesday night’s hockey game in Auburn. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)Brunswick’s Aiden Snell pulls the puck away from the goalie, Riley Kirk uring Tuesday night’s hockey game in Auburn. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)Brunswick’s Aiden Snell stumbles over The Kings’ Austin Taylor during Tuesday night’s hockey game in Auburn. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)Brunswick’s Aiden Snell stumbles over The Kings’ Austin Taylor during Tuesday night’s hockey game in Auburn. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
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