Hampden Academy Hockey Beats Messalonskee 4-1
The Hampden Academy Broncos Ice Hockey Team beat Messaloskee 4-1 on Saturday, February 8th. Thanks to our special High School Hockey Correspondent Adrian Ellingwood for the recap.
On Saturday, the Messalonskee Eagles hosted the Hampden Academy Broncos at Colby College in Waterville. After a 4-1 loss against the Eagles in December, the Broncos flipped the script, and split the season series with Messalonskee for the second year in a row.
Not many chances came in the opening period, until the Broncos had a defensive zone face-off with 6:42 to go in the opening frame. Hampden won the face-off, and the puck found its way to Isaac Furrow who immediately sent the puck up to Boston Merrow. As he picked up the puck at his own blue line, Merrow weaved his way through almost the entire Messalonskee team. One-on-one with the goaltender, Merrow slipped a backhand shot past Nathan Kirk's five-hole for one of the goals of the year. The Broncos led 1-0 with 6:28 left in the period.
For almost the whole final minute of the opening stanza, Messalonskee kept the puck in the offensive zone, but Hampden’s defense made it difficult for the Eagles to even get a shot on net. The Broncos defense didn’t let the pressure get to them, and did good enough to let the clock run out on the first period.
Messalonskee held the upper hand for most of the middle period, and ended up getting a goal with less than three minutes before the second intermission. Liam McFadden scored as he ripped a shot from the point through traffic and past the goaltender, with Logan Baron registering an assist. 2:53 remained in a 1-1 game.
The Broncos almost took the lead with about 30 seconds to go, with Lucas Dunn and Miles Shields on a two-on-one, but Dunn’s pass just got away from Shields, and the score would remain tied after two periods of play.
With 11:53 to play, Lucas Dunn was able to retake the lead for the Broncos. His initial shot was saved by Kirk, but he grabbed his own rebound behind the net and got to the far post before the goaltender, scoring a wrap-around goal.
With 6:10 left in regulation, Hampden took a two-goal lead. Gunnar Weil scored with an assist from Boston Merrow, and the Broncos had a 3-1 advantage. To make matters worse for Messalonskee, Owen Kirk was given a ten-minute misconduct penalty on the play, so the Eagles would be without their top scorer for the remainder of regulation. The Broncos certainly had all the momentum to this point, but there was still plenty of time left.
After killing off Matthew Donahue’s penalty that began with 5:22 to, the Broncos penalty kill was put to the test again at 2:41, this time with Merrow in the box.
Unable to find a second goal, Messalonskee pulled Nathan Kirk for an extra attacker, but only 51 seconds remained. This was not enough time for the Eagles to net a second goal, and Lucas Dunn was able to grab an empty net goal as time expired, giving the Broncos a 4-1 win.
Hampden is now 9-4-1, and currently in 4th place in the Class B North Heal Point Standings. Messalonskee falls to 11-3, but remains in first place in the Heal Points. The Broncos next game is scheduled for Saturday the 15th when they host the Cony Rams at Sawyer Arena. The Eagles next game will be on Wednesday, when they visit the Kents Hill Huskies at the Bonnefond Ice Arena.
More From 92.9 The Ticket
