AUBURN — The Poland/Leavitt/Oak Hill/Gray-New Gloucester boys hockey team had a quick-strike offense Wednesday in an 8-2 victory over St. Dom’s at Norway Savings Bank Arena.
The Langevin brothers — Talen, a junior and Breck, a sophomore — played a factor for the Kings (7-5). Talen recorded his second hat trick in the past week and Breck scored twice.
“I just liked the energy on the bench, the team got going and it was fun to see all the boys smiling,” Talen Langevin said.
The Langevins play on the same line and have that brotherly chemistry of knowing where each other is.
“We have been on different teams together and we have played with each other before,” Breck Langevin said. “We have both seen each other play hockey.”
Talen has seven goals in his past three games and Breck has scored five times in that span.
“Breck had a great game,” Kings coach Jason Rouleau said. “Both he and his brother played really well for us the last couple of weeks and games. I think that’s Talen’s second hat trick in the last week. Both have been pouring it on.”
Will Keach scored twice for the Kings as well.
The Saints (6-8) didn’t have their A-game, according to coach Dan D’Auteuil, after playing well in their previous games.
“We were great the last two games, we beat Biddeford and we played EL — we played them in overtime,” D’Auteuil said. “Tonight, we laid a big egg; it was terrible. We told them each period, ‘You have to find it in your heart.’ Now we are battling and potentially not making playoffs.”
The Saints had the early advantage, with two power plays, but the Kings got a special-teams goal first. On a St. Dom’s power play, Talen Langevin stole the puck at the Kings’ defensive blue line. The Kings forward moved into the offensive zone but got his stick slashed out of his hands by a Saints player before getting a shot off and he was awarded a penalty shot.
Langevin skated in on the penalty shot, nearly lost the puck, but kept his shot low, beating Saints goalie Jayden Lynn.
“There’s always nerves going down 1-on-0; you just have to focus in and shoot,” Talen Langevin said.
Langevin said that was his favorite goal he scored Wednesday.
Rouleau said the team practices breakaways at the end of practices.
“We have a couple of drills at the end of practice that practice breakaways and shootout,” Rouleau added. “So yeah, we work on it.”
The Kings scored two quick goals in the second period. Breck Langevin extended the lead to 2-0 on the man-advantage at the 4:02 mark. Talen Langevin potted his second goal 35 seconds later.
Conner Boulay continued the Kings’ momentum when he found the back of the cage for a 4-0 lead 6:16 into the middle period.
St. Dom’s had a short 5-on-3 power play and once the first penalty ended, freshman Ben Dumais put home a rebound in the slot to get the Saints on the board 10:16 into the second period.
Breck Langevin notched his second goal just past the 12-minute mark for a 5-1 Kings lead, beating Lynn with a long-distance slap shot.
Breck Langevin said when getting the pucks on goal, good things usually come.
“You just have put shots on net and they will go in at some point,” Breck Langevin said.
Miles Frenette scored For St. Dom’s early in the third period when his dump-in hit the boards, then off of Kings goalie Kade Knight (22 saves) and into the goal.
“We kept telling them that people have come back before,” D’Auteuil said. “We just have to keep doing it. Every time we got that one step forward, we took a step back. We gave up that easy goal that we shouldn’t have given up. The whole team, the effort wasn’t there, from goaltending, defense, the forwards, it wasn’t there.”
Keach scored a power-play goal 2:27 into the third, and Talen Langevin followed that with his hat trick goal 28 seconds later for a 7-2 advantage. The goal ended Lynn’s (11 saves) night in goal and Ashton Additon (four saves) came on in relief.
Keach later netted his second tally for an 8-2 lead.
Rouleau was glad that the Kings had multiple lines clicking Wednesday.
“It’s great you have three lines that you can put out in any situation,” Rouleau said. “Tonight was our white line and the red line that was working hard. Talen’s line being the white line and Will’s being the red line.”
Timothee Ouellette scored on a shorthanded breakaway, beating Knight with a backhander late in the third period for the Saints’ third goal.
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