Hampden Academy Hockey Beats John Bapst 5-3 on Crusader’s Senior Recognition Night
Thanks to our special Hampden Bronco's Hockey correspondent Adrian Ellingwood for the recap!
On Tuesday night, February 20th, the John Bapst Crusaders played their final home game of the season on Senior Night, when they hosted the Hampden Academy Broncos. A goal and an assist by Senior Luke Getto wasn’t enough for the Crusaders as Keith Brooks and the Broncos came away with a 5-3 win.
After Will Bourgeois was unable to score on a breakaway, no real chances were created until just a couple minutes later. After winning a battle along the boards, Lucas Dunn carried the puck along the boards, leaving him in a perfect position to fire the puck past the goaltender. Dunn scored with 12:54 remaining in the first period to give Hampden Academy a 1-0 lead on the power play.
With just under 5 minutes to play in the period the Crusaders had a response to the early goal. After winning an offensive zone faceoff, the puck fell to Silas Comstock at the blue line, who made a pass to a wide-open Will Bourgeois who deked around the goaltender and slid a backhander into the net. Bourgeois’ goal assisted by Comstock and Luke Getto came with 4:41 left to play in the period.
Just under a minute and a half later the Broncos would retake the lead. Keith Brooks fired a shot past the glove side of Bapst goaltender Kaiden Kinney with 3:12 to play in the period. Matt Shayne and Lucas Dunn got the assists. Just 22 seconds later it was Dunn who scored on a breakaway from Brooks and Tucker Leland to give Hampden Academy a 3-1 lead.
With 6:59 played in the second period, Brooks would add yet another goal to the scoresheet, this time unassisted from a similar spot on the ice as the first 2 goals. The goal came unassisted with 8:01 to play in the period.
With Evan Veves in the box for slashing, the John Bapst power play unit cut the lead to 2 with Nick Needham’s shot from the point assisted by Owen Marryatt with 1:13 to play in the period.
Hampden Academy would take a 4-2 lead into the 2nd intermission.
Just a minute into the period, the Crusaders would have a chance to pull another goal back on the power play, but were unable to put the puck into the back of the net.
With 3:42 left to play in the period, Keith Brooks finished off his hat trick with his 8th goal in his last 3 games. Brooks pounced on his own rebound, putting the backhander past the goaltender to seal the deal for Hampden Academy with a 5-2 lead.
With just 1:26 to play in the game, Luke Getto scored his senior night goal.
That wasn’t enough, as the Broncos closed out their regular season in style, defeating John Bapst for their 10th win of the season, finishing 10-6-2. The Crusaders fell to 8-8-1, and will play their final game of the regular season on the road against Gardiner/Winslow/Waterville on Saturday.