Spencer King of Yarmouth defends as Jeremy Phelan of St. Dominic Academy controls the puck during Wednesday’s game. (Portland Press Herald photo by Derek Davis)
YARMOUTH — While it wasn’t the Heal points-rich victory it was hoping for, the Yarmouth boys’ hockey team will certainly take Wednesday night’s 1-1 tie against St. Dominic at Travis Roy Arena.
The Clippers (4-6-2) got an early goal from William Giese and 25 saves from freshman goalie Charles Henry Watson and held on in the third period and overtime.
“We’re fighting for our playoff lives, so we’ll take half (Heal points) anytime,” Yarmouth coach Dave St. Pierre said. “I thought we played well. We battled hard.”
Yarmouth played defense for much of the first period, but the Clippers pounced at 6:10 when Giese intercepted a pass in the St. Dom’s zone, turned and fired the puck past Saints goalie Alex Roy for a 1-0 lead.
The Saints went on the power play at 9:08 and at 10:10, and drew even when Ben Gosselin scored on a rebound of a shot by Zack Pelletier.
Watson made nine other saves in the first period.
The Clippers had their chances to take the lead in the second period, but four shots on a power play were turned aside by Roy, a short-handed rush by Giese was broken up at the last second and Roy made a late save on a shot from Justin Veilleux.
The best opportunity for St. Dom’s came with 2:59 remaining in the second period when Derek Wolverton found a wide open William Fletcher behind the defense, but Watson came up huge and made the save.
Early in the third, Dominic Chasse had multiple chances to give the Saints the lead, but Watson denied him each time.
Kurt Heywood then had a pair of chances for Yarmouth, but Roy made the saves.
With 39.7 seconds to go, Fletcher was sent to the penalty box and the Clippers went on the power play, but couldn’t generate a shot.
Yarmouth started overtime on the power play, but couldn’t convert as Roy stood tall.
“I’m proud of how we played,” St. Pierre said. “We played a gritty game. We played our defensive system really well. That’s a talented team that can put the puck in the net.”
Roy made 21 saves for the Saints (7-4-1).
“We played Lewiston Saturday (and lost in overtime), and I think that game was still in our locker room,” St. Dom’s coach Robert Parker said. “We brought that to the ice. We had some good points and some not-so-good points tonight.
“Their goalie did a really good job. We didn’t take his eyesight away and we didn’t generate enough traffic.”
Dominic Chasse of St. Dominic Academy controls the puck as Cam Miller of Yarmouth defends during Wednesday’s game. (Portland Press Herald photo by Derek Davis)
Matt Sanborn of Yarmouth, left, and Lucas Pushard of St. Dominic Academy vie for the puck during Wednesday’s game. (Portland Press Herald photo by Derek Davis)
Kurt Heywood of Yarmouth makes a move around Jacques Ouellette of St. Dominic Academy during Wednesday’s game. (Portland Press Herald photo by Derek Davis)
Jeremy Phelan of St. Dominic Academy defends as Michael Guertler of Yarmouth tries to advance the puck during Wednesday’s game. (Portland Press Herald photo by Derek Davis)
Kurt Heywood of Yarmouth watches his shot glance off the arm of St. Dominic Academy goalie Alex Roy during Wednesday’s game. (Portland Press Herald photo by Derek Davis)
Aiden Miller of Yarmouth trips over the skates of Benjamin Gosselin of St. Dominic Academy during Wednesday’s game. (Portland Press Herald photo by Derek Davis)
Dominic Chasse of St. Dominic Academy and Matt Sanborn of Yarmouth vie for the puck during Wednesday’s game. (Portland Press Herald photo by Derek Davis)
Send questions/comments to the editors.
