Trail Blazers hockey falls to Knighthawks in overtime

By Matt Pascarella

The Windham/Westbrook/Bonny Eagle Trail Blazers came out strong with continued effort for three periods in their game against the Marshwood/Traip/Sanford/Noble Knighthawks on Saturday, Jan. 7 at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham but ultimately dropped a heartbreaking decision in overtime.

Windham varsity Trail Blazers sophomore Sam Foley keeps
his focus on the puck as he stays ahead of his opponent and
heads toward the goal in a hockey game on Saturday, Jan.
7 at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham against the
Marshwood/Traip/Sanford/Noble Knighthawks.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA 

The Trail Blazers had a 1-0 lead after the first period which quickly became a 2-0 lead early in the second period. They were unable to hold off the Knighthawks who tied the game 2-2 after the second period.

A scoreless third period sent the game into overtime where the Knighthawks scored the tiebreaker to win 3-2.

“It’s the same stuff we’ve been dealing with all season, passing, clearing the front of the net, basic stuff we need to work on,” said Trail Blazers goalie Westbrook senior Isaac White, who had an impressive 31 saves on 34 shots at goal. “We ... have good moments, but we got to keep doing that, we can’t just have one good moment and then give up. I know we can beat that team we just got to get our head in the game.”

In the first period the Trail Blazers were aggressive and moved the puck well. They began with an immediate shot at goal. Trail Blazers offense was unable to get a number of consistent shots on the Knighthawks’ goal. However, Trail Blazers defense kept the Knighthawks scoreless the entire period.

Some 2.8 seconds remained in the first period when Windham sophomore Sam Foley found the back of the net.

Foley said they need to play better defensively. According to him, a positive of the game was getting the puck down deep and working it towards the net as well as finding people in the slot.

Three minutes into the second period, Trail Blazers Bonny Eagle freshman Mason Caron fired the puck between the posts and the Trail Blazers led 2-0. The Knighthawks tied the game 2-2 after two periods.

In the third period, the Trail Blazers were aggressive, defense held the Knighthawks in place and forced overtime.

Caron said they had too many people in front of the Trail Blazers net, with no one pushing them out and the Knighthawks got a lucky tip to end the game.

“The effort’s there it’s just we’ve been working on shooting more,” said Trail Blazers varsity coach Bobby Fothergill. “I thought our first period defensive zone coverage was really good. We got away from it and started running around and that’s when lanes opened up and [Knighthawks] were able to bury pucks. We have to get better on the long chain side of things.”

Fothergill said they are not going to win hard games if they shoot under 15 shots a game. They learned a lot from this game, and they get better every time they touch the ice, but it will take time. <