He said it benefited his team in a come-from-behind victory over Lewiston on Monday night, but it also bit his team against St. Dominic Academy on Wednesday night.
The Yachtsmen couldn’t come back from an early deficit, and the Saints held on for a 2-1 win in a Class A clash at Norway Savings Bank Arena.
Before the ice was even dry the Saints (5-2) were on the board. Senior captain Noah Toussaint ripped a shot from the left side that was deflected away by Falmouth (7-1-1) goalie Spencer Pierce, but Toussaint eventually got the puck again and scored 16 seconds in.
“I had a little screen on the defenseman, so I tried getting a nice low shot for my center (Mack Pelletier) to come in (and) get the rebound,” Toussaint said. “There was a big scrum out front of the net, I had to curl back in, and I had an open shot so I just put it in.”
“Couldn’t ask for a better start,” St. Dom’s coach Bob Parker said. “To be going through the first period with a 1-0 lead, and it happened so early, it kind of gave us some confidence, and it just helped us build along the way and play a competitive hockey game.”
Few Yachtsmen shots got through to St. Dom’s goalie Kyle Welsh early, but the visitors came on strong late in the first period. That transferred over to the second, where Falmouth put six shots on Welsh during an extended power play.
The Yachtsmen sent 14 shots the senior netminder’s way during the middle period, but none got by, keeping it a 1-0 game heading into the third period.
Pierce did his part to keep it a one-goal game as well. The junior stuffed Toussaint on a breakaway with time winding down in the second.
The Saints had just 13 shots on goal to Falmouth’s 22 through two periods, but the hosts led where it mattered most — on the scoreboard.
“You have to work hard against a very good team like that,” Parker said. “If you don’t, they’re going to bury you right away and you will be out of the game really quickly. So you got to at least work as hard as the other team, and I thought we did, and it showed out there.”
“We saw them play against Lewiston, and they were so strong on Lewiston,” Toussaint said. “They kept (giving) hits, they were hustling, and we had to do the same (tonight).”
Barton said his team that played Wednesday night wasn’t the same one that knocked off Lewiston two days prior.
“Hockey karma always wins. The best team out there, right? So if you don’t respect the game, then hockey karma will beat you,” Barton said. “And that’s what happened to us tonight. We just didn’t respect the opponent, we didn’t respect ourselves, and we didn’t respect the game. When you do things like that, now you give confidence to the opponent.
“We weren’t getting to the puck first, we weren’t moving without the puck.”
The Saints — or more specifically Justin Keaney — did those two things to give his team a two-goal lead 97 seconds into the third. With St. Dom’s on the power play, the puck squirted out into the slot, and the senior alternate captain got to it first before firing a shot past Pierce to make it 2-0.
“They were taking a lot of shots, and a lot of shots they were taking were pretty quality shots, so getting the goal No. 2 was crucial because I didn’t want to admit it, but they were possibly going to get a goal and they did,” Parker said. “But getting that goal No. 2 just helped us secure it, secure the win.”
The Yachtsmen kept coming, the game still within reach. They just needed to find a way to get a shot past Welsh (33 saves), who was seeing everything.
The only shot he didn’t see was the only one Falmouth scored on. Brendan Hickey flipped a shot from the right corner toward Welsh, who was screened in front and was still trying to find the puck after the whistle was blown with 2:30 left on the clock.
“Now you get the puck to the net quickly, you crash the net, good things happen,” Barton said. “But you can’t do it with two minutes left in the game.”
Falmouth put two more shots on Welsh, but to no avail. The Yachtsmen pulled Pierce for an extra attacker with less than a minute to go, but had to put him back in after an icing call. He tried leaving his crease again but had to turn around and dive to stop a late St. Dom’s shot just to keep it 3-1.
“It was a let-down game,” Barton said. “You have a win like we did against Lewiston. It was a very emotional game, very physically draining game. It’s always tough to rebound, no matter who you’re going to play. It’s a good lesson. It’s a good time of year for that to happen to us.”
Falmouth will play some familiar foes its next two games. The Yachtsmen host Lewiston on Saturday, then have a rematch with St. Dom’s at home next Tuesday.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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