The Maine Nordiques held off a late charge from the Northeast Generals on Friday night and picked up a 3-2 NAHL junior hockey victory at the New England Sports Village in Attleboro, Massachusetts.
This was the second of a three-game stretch between the two teams. The Generals came away with a 7-5 victory Wednesday at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee. The teams play again Saturday in Attleboro.
The teams meet again later this month (Dec. 20-21) at the Colisee.
“For us, part of the fun is building these rivalries,” Maine Nordiques coach Nolan Howe said. “I think the league does a good job setting it up — where we play a lot within our division. I think night in and night out, it’s a battle in this league and no easy games. That’s why we are proud to be a part of this level of hockey, we are here to be challenged and we embrace it.
“I think anytime you get to see the same team a couple times in one week or several times over the month or throughout the season, you start building up those rivalries.”
Maine’s Stefan Owens continued his strong play against the Generals. After scoringas two goals in Wednesday’s loss, Owens opened the scoring Friday to give the Nordiques a 1-0 lead.
The goals on Wednesday snapped a five-game pointless streak for Owens.
“With Owens, when he’s not scoring, he’s a major contributor on our team,” Howe said. “Whether that’s on the wing or (at center), on the power play, on the penalty kill. So. We trust him in a lot of scenarios, it’s good to see him find the back of the net again like he did on Wednesday.”
Tyler Cooper tied the game up at 1-1 for the Generals.
Maine’s Cannon Green scored early in the second period off an assist by Lewiston native Cole Ouellette. Ethan Prout extended the Nordiques’ lead to 3-1 late in the second.
The Nordiques outshot the Generals 22-11 in the middle frame.
“It was a great road period, we really drove a lot of pucks to the net,” Howe said. “At the end of the first, we thought we were over-stick-handling and trying to get a little too fancy. I thought the second period, we kept it really simple, but within that simplicity, our speed and compete level allowed us to generate a lot of chances.”
Kyle Gierman cut the deficit to 3-2 for the Generals in the third period while teams were playing 4-on-4.
Goaltender Marco Duronio, who was recently called up from the Maine Nordiques Development Program 18U team, made 39 saves in the victory. He was promoted after Connor Androlewciz was loaned to the Sioux City Muskateers of the Tier I United States Hockey League.
Connor Bradford made 38 saves in the loss for the Generals.
NA3HL
L/A Nordiques 5, Colonials 1
LEWISTON — Lewiston native Sam Frachette and Gardiner native Joe Clark each had two goals to pace the L/A Nordiques to a 5-1 victory over the Danbury Colonials on Friday at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
Segei Anisimov contributed a goal and an assist for L/A. Hans Watson and Payton Hughes each had two assists in the victory, and newly signed goaltender Brogran MacDonald made 30 saves.
Brandon Cope scored for Danbury and goalie Alex Fernandes made 25 saves.
The Nordiques host the Maine Wild on Saturday at 7 p.m.
USPHL Premier
Thunder 7, Kings 1
AUBURN — Josh Dow had two goals and an assist as the Twin City Thunder defeated the South Shore Kings in a USPHL Premier contest at Norway Savings Bank Arena on Friday.
Danylo Sukhonos scored a goal and set up two others for Twin City. Matt Poirier, Raphael Lajeunesse and Tomas Brezina each had a goal and an assist, and Igor Shevchenko added a goal for the Thunder.
Chris Mott scored for South Shore.
The Thunder travel to Hudson, New Hampshire, on Wednesday to take on the Northern Cyclones.
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