Bangor Rams Hockey Beats Hampden Academy 4-2

We are incredibly lucky to have a young man who is so passionate about Hampden Academy Hockey, who has volunteered to write recaps again for us this year. Thank you Adrian Ellingwood for your contributions again this year!

Friday night, December 8, was the high school hockey season opener for both the Hampden Academy Broncos and the Bangor Rams. Having lost to Bangor the previous week at the preseason tournament in Dover-Foxcroft, the Broncos were in for a tough rematch. However, the Rams were able to start their season with a 4-2 victory at Sawyer Arena.

From the opening faceoff, most of the play was controlled by Bangor. After 3 minutes and 53 seconds of continuous pressure, the Rams were quickly able to find the back of the net. Sophomore Chase Caron scored assisted by Miles Randall for the Rams’ first goal of the season.

A couple of minutes later, Hampden Academy’s penalty kill was put to the test. With 9:42 remaining in the first period, Brody Miller got called for cross-checking while Colin McKay served two minutes for tripping at 6:40. Bangor’s powerplay capitalized on both opportunities, with Richie Trott and Ty Walker getting the goals. With 6 minutes remaining in the first period, it was already 3-0 Bangor.

The Broncos would not give up, though. Just as another Bangor powerplay was about to expire, Hampden’s Keith Brooks found himself on a breakaway off a bank pass from Lucas Dunn. With only the goaltender Cody McCue to beat, Brooks got a shot off and scored his team’s first goal of the season. 3-1.

Bangor outshot Hampden 17-4 in the first period, claiming a two-goal lead going into the intermission. There were already a total of 10 penalty minutes.

Just minutes into the second period, Colin Mckay’s shot managed to find its way through traffic and in, with Keith Brooks credited with the assist. Suddenly, a one-sided affair became an intense showdown.

Despite multiple power play opportunities for both sides, the score remained 3-2. This set up an important and chaotic third period.

As may be expected when these two schools meet, there were many penalties in the third period. In the third period alone, there were 19 penalty minutes, but not much came as a result of those penalties. First, Bangor’s powerplay got a chance with Matt Shayne in the box but that quickly deteriorated once Michael Monscone sat 2 minutes for holding at 12:01.

Nobody was able to find the back of the net until Ty Walker of Bangor fired a shot past Bronco goaltender Aidan Surran doubling the lead, assisted by Michael Monscone with 7:53 left.

Just as before, though, Hampden Academy wouldn’t let this one go away just yet. The Broncos were given a lifeline after Jackson Guimond got called for a cross-check worthy of a 5-minute major and a game misconduct. While the Broncos thought they could find a way back into the game, Lucas Dunn’s tripping penalty just seconds into the powerplay proved to be costly.

As the clock wound down to zero, several more penalties were called but that didn’t change the outcome of the game.

Cody McCue was in net for Bangor.

The final score was 4-2, as Bangor was able to kick the season off on a high note. The Rams outshot Hampden Academy 38-18, as they dominated most of the game. There were a total of 39 penalty minutes, along with 3 powerplay goals and 1 shorthanded. The Rams will face rival Brewer on Wednesday at 6:30, while Hampden will travel north to Presque Isle for their next game on Saturday the 16th at 1 pm.

If you are a coach or manager of a high school basketball or hockey team, we would love to have you send us a copy of your scoresheet/scorebook!. A photo may be emailed to chris.popper@townsquaremedia.com or texted to 207-469-8660. We will then write a recap of the game with a scoring recap on the 92.9 The Ticket website. We need to receive the information within 24 hours of the game to get this done.

The High School Athlete of the Week is resuming beginning the week of December 4th. Please send your nominations via email to Chris Popper by Sunday, December 10th for the Week December 4th-9th. We will then announce the nominations on Monday December 11th. You'll be able to vote once per day December 11th-14th with the Week 1 Winter High School Athlete of the Week being announced on Friday, December 15th.

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