John Bapst Beats Messalonskee 3-1 for Northern Maine Class B Regional Championship
The John Bapst Crusaders beat Messalonskee 3-1 on Wednesday night, March 5th for their 1st Class B Regional Northern Maine Championship
Here's the recap of the game from our special High School Hockey Correspondent Adrian Ellingwood.
On Wednesday, the 5th of March, the John Bapst Crusaders and the Messalonskee Eagles met in the Class B North Regional Final at Alfond Arena in Orono. After a 3-1 win in early January against the Eagles, the Crusaders once again emerged victorious, and advanced to the state title game.
In the opening minutes, Messalonskee looked the dominant team, but it was John Bapst who opened the scoring. With his team’s first shot of the game, Owen Marryatt scored the opening goal, with an assist from Owen Hart after 2:55.
Less than three minutes later, the Eagles got a well deserved tying goal, courtesy of Owen Hart’s 38th goal of the season. Parker Grant was given the assist, as 9:36 remained in the first period of a 1-1 game. The score would remain tied after 15 minutes of play.
The Crusaders had multiple good looks on the power play in the first half of the period, but couldn’t take advantage of the extra player.
Late in the period, with 1:50 to go, John Bapst was able to take the lead. Marryatt’s initial shot was stopped by Nathan Kirk, but Cooper Lewis swooped in to grab the rebound and give the Crusaders the lead. John Bapst took a 2-1 lead into the second intermission.
Down by one, the Eagles didn’t create enough chances in the opening ten minutes of the final period to level the score. With just over five minutes to go, the Crusaders had an offensive zone face-off, which was won by Marryatt. The puck came out to the point, where Nick Needham sent a shot on net. Kirk thought he had got enough of it, but the puck just barely got past the Freshman goaltender and ended up in the net. Exactly 5 minutes remained, and John Bapst now had a two goal advantage.
Unable to answer, the Eagles pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker, but only 1:32 remained. Even after going on the power play and having a 6-on-4 advantage, they couldn’t get the puck past Crusaders goaltender Cam Leighton, and the clock would eventually run out.
Messalonskee’s season ended with a record of 15-6 after finishing in 3rd place in the Class B North Heal Points. John Bapst currently has a record of 19-1-1. The Crusaders will play in the Class B State Championship game for the first time ever, against the #1 seed from the south, Cheverus/Yarmouth. The Class B State Championship will be on Saturday, March 8, at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland. That game will begin at 10:30 a.m., immediately followed by the Class A State Championship between Kents Hill and Thornton Academy.
Thanks to Adrian Ellingwood for all the reports this season!
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