Maine Hockey Journal

Lewiston suffers a tough loss

Lewiston, ME– The Maineiacs put another strong effort for the second straight game but was on the losing end again. The Saint John Sea Dogs came away with the 3-2 victory in front of 2,300 fans at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

“I am not going to make excuses but obviously our guys were a little tired. Our guys didn’t get to bed until four o’clock. I am not going to tell you when I got to bed,” said Maineiacs Head Coach Ed Harding after the team arriving back in Lewiston in wee hours of the morning. “I was ready to win a hockey game.”

The Sea Dogs were lead by Joshua Schram who potted his fourth and fifth of the season. Danick Paquette also had two tallies for the Maineiacs.

“He (Danick) came in a played a whale of a hockey game today,” said Harding. “He can still be an intimidating factor without doing all that little stuff.”

The game was wide open as the Maineiacs fired 36 shots on Karel St-Laurent. Saint John was able to get 34 shots on Peter Delmas.

The Saint John Sea Dogs struck first 1:55 into the period when Joshua Schram found the back of the net. Lewiston would go on the powerplay when Yann Sauve found himself sitting for two minutes just 2:28 into the contest. Mike Thomas and Kyle Dilosa picked up the assists. At the 7:08 mark, Alex Grant was called for roughing. Lewiston had a few chances on the man advantage.

The Maineiacs continued to keep the pressure up. Sean Stagles shot one high from the blueline. It created a second chance but Karel St-Laurent was able to find the puck in the scrum. Alex Beaton had Lewiston’s first real scoring chance when he was beside the net. He wasn’t able to get good wood on the shot.

Maxime Gratchev made a nice individual effort down the ice bust lost the puck in the offensive zone. He was called for tripping with 17 seconds in the period.

It was a better start to the second period as Alexander Beaton made a nice dish to Danick Paquette who potted his 16th of the season. The goal just came 25 seconds into the stanza. The Maineiacs were able to kill Maxime Gratchev’s penalty. At the 2:49 mark, Gratchev returned to the sin bin for hooking.

Saint John appeared to go up 2-1 but the referees waived the goal off. There was no real argument from the Sea Dogs’ bench. At the 2:09 mark, Samuel Finn and Schram got matching roughing calls. Billy Lacasse would go to the sin bin for interference when he ran into the goalie. Lewiston had another shorthanded chance but Paquette couldn’t connect with a teammate.

After some great puck movement, Danick Paquette put home his second of the game. Alexander Beaton and Samuel Finn set the play up. The tally came with 9:11 left in the second. Saint John would answer back with 7:57 remaining when Joshua Schram got his second of the season. Simon Despres got the lone assist.

Mike Thomas would put his team down a man with 6:22 left for interference. Lewiston had a two man advantage for 29 seconds when Simon Depres was called for tripping. Lewiston was able to set the powerplay up but the shots went wide. Paquette almost had his third of the game when he received a nice dish from Pierre-Olivier Morin.

“We didn’t shoot a lot and we panicked a little. We need to take that into practice,” said Maineiacs captain Danick Paquette.

The Sea Dogs came out buzzing around Peter Delmas. Delmas was outside the blue paint and the Sea Dogs had an open cage but Delmas was able to get the glove on it before the puck crossed the line. Saint John would grab the lead when Shea Kewin scored a wrap around goal at the 1:55 mark.

Maxime Gratchev let a blast go and Lewiston pounced on the rebound but couldn’t put it past Karel St-Laurent. Matthew Stoddard would go to the sin bin at the 6:35 mark. With 10:12 remaining, Dany Coulombe would go off for interference. Lewiston thought they had the game tied up when St-Laurent was down on the ground but made a nice recovery to rob Lewiston. Ed Harding pulled Peter Delmas with 67 seconds left in the contest. The Maineiacs peppered St-Laurent but he was able to stand his ground.

“I am getting sick and tired of pulling our goaltender. I like the other team to pull their goaltender on us,” said Harding. Harding thought Delmas played better. “He has been told to be assertive, we want him a top of the crease and wanting him moving his rebounds to the right place, or giving up rebounds.”

Notes: The Maineiacs will get two blueliners back as Denis Reul is returning from the World Junior Championships in Ottawa. Garrett Clarke is returning from the World Under-17 Challenge that was held in British Columbia. Both players will be flying in tomorrow (Monday). Ed Harding is unsure if they will be in the line up on Tuesday night. “Garrett has a little longer haul back then Denis but we will see what kind of shape they are in.”

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply