AUBURN — St. Dom’s seniors delivered on senior day.
All five of the Saints’ goals were scored by seniors playing their final high school game at Norway Savings Bank Arena in a 5-2 boys hockey victory over Bangor on Wednesday.
All five St. Dom’s (14-4) seniors skaters at least recorded a point. Jacob Lewis led the way with a hat trick and an assist. Senior goalie Alex Roy made 19 saves.
“I think it was (because it was our) last game here,” Lewis said. “We are going straight to the (Androscoggin Bank) Colisee after this game (for the playoffs), we wanted to make it memorable.”
The top four teams in Class A earn a bye into the quarterfinals, which will be held at the Colisee Feb. 28-29. The Saints will be the No. 2 seed.
Bangor’s (7-11) David Brown opened the scoring, firing a wrist shot from inside the right circle to give the Rams a 1-0 lead less than three minutes into the game.
The lead only lasted 57 seconds as Saints forward Jacob Lewis drove to the net and the puck slipped past Bangor goalie Jake Hirsch (18 saves).
“I was happy the first five minutes, and the next shift we gave one up,” Bangor coach Quinn Paradis said. “It was rough from there on out. We played a great third period, it’s a great way to build upon the playoffs. (We) had a tough stretch the last week.”
Lewis’ goal jump-started the Saints.
“We started slow with the senior night, and I think it kind of got them out of order and not ready,” St. Dom’s coach Daniel D’Auteuil said. “But they woke up quick and Jacob did a good job coming out of that corner to get that goal.”
Later in the first period, St. Dom’s took the lead on a power play when Jack Ouellette found his defensive partner Michael Cilley at the top of the left circle, and Cilley’s shot sneaked into a small opening between the post and Hirsch.
Lewis notched his second goal of the game three-and-a-half minutes into the second period when he followed up his initial shot and put home the rebound. Zack Pelletier earned the assist.
Nearly two minutes later, Jaden Webster found the back of the net on a shot that went off a Bangor player’s stick to stretch the Saints’ lead to 4-1.
“We started to feel a little more comfortable,” D’Auteuil said of playing with a three-goal lead. “We started playing more of the bench and started to let other kids that normally don’t get that (chance), we let them get in there tonight.”
Lewis completed the hat trick on a shorthanded goal with one second remaining on the penalty kill. On the goal, which came in the second period, Lewis beat the Bangor defenders and went top shelf on Hirsch.
“It felt good. I haven’t had too many end-to-end goals this year,” Lewis said. “I am not the fastest guy, but that was nice.”
Cooper Ireland stopped the bleeding for the Rams early in the third period when he jammed the puck past Roy and the right post.
Liam Doughty played goalie for Bangor in the third period and stopped all six shots he faced.
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