LEWISTON — The Maine Nordiques’ scoring depth was on display during their junior hockey win over the New Hampshire Mountain Kings on Wednesday.
Five Nordiques found the back of the net in a 5-1 NAHL East Division victory at The Colisee.
Tomek Haula and Nils Forselius each had a goal and an assist for Maine (21-6-3, 45 points), which is now in first place in the East Division with the victory.
Haula — the brother of New Jersey Devils Erik Haula — said he and Forselius, who are on the same line, have been putting extra work in to develop chemistry.
“We have been practicing a lot and after practice, just passing the puck around,” Tomek Haula said. “I think that has helped a lot.”
Cam Robichaud, the Mountain Kings coach who lives in Auburn, said the game tilted in the Nordiques’ direction once the expansion New Hampshire (13-15-3, 29 points) club started getting called for penalties in the second period.
“I thought it was a good hockey game,” Robichaud said. “I thought the refs changed the flow in the second period. When the penalties end up 13 to (4), and when you kill that many penalties and you outshoot the opposition 37-36, you are working hard.”
Maine Nordiques coach Nick Skerlick, meanwhile, wasn’t pleased with how his team played in the final 10 minutes.
“We are a first-place team, they probably won’t make the playoffs,” Skerlick said. “It’s really difficult to sit here and say we played a full 60 when we played unintelligent there. It takes away a good effort, making it five in a row. It takes away being in first place; we could have won by 14 goals. That’s what stinks.”
Skerlick added that his frustration with the Nordiques in the final frame came from them playing like the game was over in the third period, not making crisp passes and not being in position.
Most of the first period elapsed before Maine scored the game’s first goal.
After the Nordiques killed off a Jake Bernadet penalty, forward Liam Gilmartin’s pass found Laurent Trepanier in the neutral zone, and Trepanier took the puck into the offensive zone and fired it past New Hampshire goalie Aiden Wright (31 saves) nearly 17 minutes into the first.
“It’s funny, Trepanier struggled at the morning skate with catching and shooting pucks,” Skerlick said. “Gilmartin with a huge block on the (penalty kill), and for Trepanier to sneak that one in was impressive.”
Nick Ramm added to Maine’s lead early into the second period when the puck rolled off Wright’s chest into the crease, and Ramm swatted it into the goal.
Later in the second, Forselius made a pass into the slot to a crashing Haula, whose rising shot snuck in between the near post and Wright, giving the Nordiques a 3-0 lead with under two minutes remaining.
The Mountain Kings had a parade to the penalty box late in the second period and early into the third, which left the Nordiques with an extended 5-on-3 power play. Maine finally capitalized on the man advantage in the third period when Charles Tardif finished off a tic-tac-toe play with defensemen Evan Orloff and David Helledy for a 4-0 lead.
Maine’s Kellen Murphy and New Hampshire’s Devin Nabozny dropped the gloves in a spirited fight on the faceoff following Tardif’s goal. Both got five minutes for fighting and a game misconduct.
Robichaud wasn’t pleased with how the officials handled the fight and said it wasn’t a planned fight to change the momentum of the game.
“In true fashion, the refs called a staged fight. I didn’t even know who was fighting, I just looked up,” Robichaud said. “The kid was probably frustrated because that official was so bad and he probably just wanted to beat someone up.”
Adam Moeller’s (36 saves) shutout bid for the Nordiques ended 12 minutes into the third period when New Hampshire’s Matthew Hale found the back of the net.
“They dumped the puck in and it took a weird hop off the glass,” Moeller said. “I didn’t look up to see if a guy was coming, and I wasn’t prepared for him to bat it in the air.”
Moeller was a draft pick of the Twin City Thunder in 2022 when Robichaud was a co-owner of that team. Moeller, who never played for the Auburn-based junior team, said he thinks the Thunder drafted him because he played well in a showcase in his home country of Sweden right before the NCDC draft.
Defenseman Damon Bossie of Lewiston had one of the two assists on Hale’s goal. He started for the Mountain Kings in his third appearance at his high school home rink this season.
Bossie played with the Thunder last year, when Robichaud was an associate coach in addition to being a co-owner.
“He’s been good; I think he had 13 or 14 points now on the back end,” Robichaud said. “He has a good frame, smooth skater, sees the ice well and he’s adjusting to this level.”
Forselius scored the Nordiques’ fifth goal, which came on a power play after Maine moved the puck nicely around the offensive zone to set up the final tally. Haula and Gilmartin were credited with the assists.
“Five different goal scorers is a really good sign, good for those guys, but I want to commend another good effort by our defenseman,” Skerlick said. “It was another good game. … Our (defense) was really good. Really smart there in the first 50 minutes, and the last 10 got careless.”
NEWS AND NOTES
• The Nordiques announced that their official scorer, Kyle Secor, will drop the puck for the ceremonial faceoff before Friday’s game against the Philadelphia Rebels.
Secor, a former L/A Nordiques player, was one of the 13 people injured in the Oct. 25 mass shooting in Lewiston. He was released from the hospital last week.
Friday’s game begins at 7:30 p.m. The Nordiques and the Rebels also play Saturday night at The Colisee.
• Robichaud — who coached Secor with the L/A Nordiques — had Secor speak to the Mountain Kings before Wednesday’s game.
“He actually came in the locker room before the game,” Robichaud said. “I have used his story for a little bit of inspiration for our team at moments, and I wanted them to get a chance to meet him. So he came into the locker room.”
Robichaud said Secor stayed for about half the game Wednesday.
• Former Lewiston High School and North Yarmouth Academy standout Tanner Anctil is with the Mountain Kings currently but did not play Wednesday because he’s dealing with a lower-body injury.
Anctil started the season with the Mountain Kings’ NA3HL team, potting seven goals and nine assists in 18 games, and is going to stay with the NAHL team for the time being.
“He probably is sticking with us,” Robichaud said. “He was great when we called him up — in his last game, he had two goals. Unfortunately, he has a lower-body injury right now, but he will be back after Christmas.”
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