Maine Hockey Journal

Depleted Cheverus rosters handles Gorham

Gorham, ME – Despite having three top players out due to suspensions, the Cheverus High School boys’ hockey team beat Gorham, 4-1, Saturday afternoon at USM Ice Arena.

“We had three of our more significant players out and that hurt us tonight,” said Cheverus coach Dan Lucas, who’s led his team to a 6-1 start.

After a sluggish start for both teams, Cheverus managed to put together a string of solid shots late in the period on a power play. Low and hard slap shots from the blue line led to multiple rebound opportunities with Gorham goalie Nate Holloran out of position. Cheverus just couldn’t seem to get a good stick on the puck and never managed to capitalize.

Gorham came out in the second period and scored a goal 1:20 after the puck drop. Cheverus skated in the zone with numbers and baked a shot off the cage of Cheverus goaltender Max Boucher. Gorham team co-captain Conner Smith won the scrum in the corner, sending the puck in front on the net and fellow co-captain Steve Broy beat Boucher for a 1-0 lead.

The Rams stayed aggressive during the second period and outshot the Stags 8-4. Cheverus’ play gradually digressed throughout the game and their play in the second was selfish and disorganized.

Goalie Max Boucher made the biggest individual impact for either team and had 17 saves on the night.

“We had our chances, we had our chances all game long, it just didn’t happen,” said Gorham coach John Portwine. “We need to score more goals. “We’ve struggled putting the puck in the net. Not to take away anything from [Boucher], he’s superb.”

The third period Cheverus came out on a long power play and team scoring leader Liam Fitzpatrick finished on a one-timer sent from behind the net by Tommy Sullivan just 56 seconds in.

“We had 1:54 on the power play coming out so we drew up a play at intermission and got one. We played with more momentum from there,” said Lucas.

Cheverus scored again at 9:27 to take a 2-1 lead when chaos in front of the net sent the puck straight up in the air and John Cella knocked it in on its way down. Defenseman Harry Ridge recorded his second assist of the night on the goal.

Cameron McLain scored an empty net goal on a shot from his own blue line as time expired to complete the scoring.

Nate Holloran played well in net for the Rams recording 27 saves on the night. Cheverus heads to Brunswick for a game Wednesday night and Gorham also plays away against the Bonny Eagle.

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