Messalonskee Hockey Stays Undefeated, Wins Nail-Biter vs Hampden

Our Hampden Academy Hockey correspondent Adrian Ellingwood has been busy. Here are his recaps of Friday and Saturday's games.

Saturday - February 13

The Hampden Academy Broncos ice hockey team faced one of their toughest challenges of the season, the undefeated Messalonskee Eagles on Saturday, February 12 at Sawyer Arena. The Broncos were playing their 2nd game in 2 days.

Midway through the first period at 7:03, Hampden got on the power play. Hampden took advantage of having the extra player by scoring 44 seconds into the power play. Matt Shayne scored assisted by Adrian Webb and Johnny Vickery at 7:47 to give the Broncos an early lead.

At 8:08, Messalonskee got on the power play just 21 seconds after Matt Shayne's goal. Later in the power play, freshman Owen Kirk tied things up at 1-1 with the assist coming from Colby Pawson.

At 12:13 the Broncos got another chance to score with a power play, but 39 seconds into the penalty Morgan Tahsh got a penalty for roughing, which made it a 4 on 4.

After a tightly contested first period, Hampden outshot Messalonskee 16-14. Both teams had 13 shots on goal in the first period, 2 penalties, and the score was 1-1.

With 3:37 elapsed from the second period, the Eagles got on the power play after Max Fleming went to the penalty box for a trip. To make matters worse for the Broncos, another penalty was called, this time against Tucker Leland for a hook at 3:56 to give the Eagles a 5 on 3 power play.

Messalonskee couldn't take advantage of the 5 on 3, but Bryce Crowell scored with 46.6 seconds left in the second period assisted by Brady Doucette and Will Durkee to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead going into the 3rd period.

Messalonskee outshot Hampden 33-30, while the shots on goal were tied at 18 a piece through 2 tightly contested periods.

With 6:55 gone in the 3rd, Brady Doucette got an interference penalty to give the Broncos a power play and a chance to tie the game.

Hampden missed the opportunity to tie the game, so the score remained 2-1, but after Morgan Tash got a penalty for cross checking the game went to 4 on 4 for 35 seconds.

At 8:44, the Eagles doubled their lead with a goal scored by Bryce Crowell on the 4 on 4.

Hampden Academy now needed 2 goals to tie the game. They couldn't find the net until Tucker Leland pulled the home team within 1 unassisted with 45 seconds left. The Broncos called timeout after the goal in hopes of tying the game.

The Broncos pulled goalie Aaron Donovan out of his net as soon as they got possession of the puck from the face off. Hampden couldn't get a good chance to score until Owen Kirk fired the puck into the empty net from his own zone to put the icing on the cake.

Both teams had 47 shots in the game, and the shots on goal were tied at 26. The Broncos suffered their first home loss in this game and their 3rd loss overall in the season, dropping their record to 8-3,  Messalonskee stayed undefeated at 8-0. The Broncos will be at home for their next game against Presque Isle, Monday February 14 at 6:30 pm, while the Eagles will be away vs. Lewiston on February 14 at 5:30 pm for their next game.

Friday February 11 Hampden Defeats John Bapst 2-0

On Friday night, February 11, the Hampden Academy Broncos and the John Bapst Crusaders played against each other for the second time this season, with the previous matchup between the two teams ending in a 2-1 Hampden win.

Early on in the first period, freshman Lucas Dunn scored his 4th goal of the season assisted by Johnny Vickery with just 3:56 gone to put the Broncos in front 1-0.

1:30 later, Morgan Tash got called for interference to give the Crusaders a two minute power play, but Hampden killed off the penalty to protect the 1-0 lead.

The first period ended with the Broncos up a goal but down a man, as Johnny Vickery got a penalty for tripping with 3 seconds to go in the first. John Bapst outshot the Broncos 17-16 in the first period.

The Crusaders couldn't take advantage of their second power play of the night, so the score remained 1-0.

Once again, another penalty was called against the Broncos. This time it was Cam Henderson who went to the box for 2 minutes for tripping, but the Hampden defense stepped up again, killing the penalty for the 3rd time this game.

3:03 later, the Broncos had their first power play of the game, but couldn't double the lead, so it remained 1-0.

With 3:38 second to go in the second period, the Crusaders again had a power play, but weren't able to tie the score so the score remained 1-0 after two periods.

Through the first 2 periods John Bapst was 0-4 on the power play, while the Broncos were 0-1. John Bapst outshot Hampden 18-12 in the second period.

The third period started with a 4 on 4 for two penalties called in the second period. Jeremiah Vadas went to the box for tripping, for the Crusaders. Cam Henderson got a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct by taking a shot just after the horn sounded to end the second period.

With 8:40 remaining in the game, Tucker Leland took a hit while in possession of the puck which the Hampden fans thought was a penalty, but the refs thought otherwise. In that same play Leland got a penalty for cross-checking to give the Crusaders their 5th power play of the game, but yet again, the penalty was killed off and the score remained 1-0.

With 5:51 remaining in the game Morgan Tash scored to give the Broncos a 2-0 lead. Henderson took the puck from the blue line, skated with it towards the goal, and passed it across the crease for Morgan Tash to score on a wide open net.

With 2:45 remaining in the game, Lucas Dunn got a 5 minute major penalty for contact to the head. In that same play, Nate Tibbits of John Bapst went to the penalty box for 2:00 for roughing. The Crusaders couldn't score during the 4 on 4 or during the 45 second power play that they had after Tibbits came out of the box, so the game ended in a 2-0 Hampden win.

Despite all of the penalties in this game, not a single goal was scored on the power play. Hampden Academy increased its record to 8-2 with this win, while the Crusaders decreased to 5-6-1.