Westbrook 3

Massabesic/OOB 0

Zach Souza scored for Westbrook just 27 seconds into the first period as the Blue Blazes rolled to a 3-0 win over Massabesic/OOB Saturday at Biddeford Ice Arena. Zach Johnson added two goals for the Blazes.

Souza’s goal came off a steal in the Seastang end. With the Blazes moving back to play defense, Souza grabbed the puck. With no one to pass to, he skated to the right and switched to a backhand for the shot on goal and just like that, it was 1-0 Westbrook.

Things settled down a bit following the goal, with each team feeling out the other. Midway through the first period, Massabesic/OOB got their first penalty of the game when Gavin Campbell was called for tripping. The Seastangs weathered that penalty as they did all five that were called on them during the game.

The Blazes did a great job of killing off penalties as well. They played four minutes of the first period down a man after two separate roughing calls. But the Seastangs couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity.

Late in the first period, Johnson scored his first goal of the game. The puck came loose in the slot where Souza stretched out his arm to tip the puck to Johnson, who beat goalie Jeremy Corthell to lengthen the Westbrook lead to 2-0.

Early in the second period, Johnson tallied his second goal of the game. This time it was an odd man rush for the Blazes. Johnson passed the puck to Tyler Rand who passed it back to Johnson for the score and with 13:20 to play, Westbrook held a 3-0 lead.

The Blue Blazes had their work cut out for them as they tried to preserve their lead. Midway through the second period Westbrook got into some penalty trouble. Following a Seastang penalty, the Blazes were called for two in a row to give Massabesic/OOB a 4-3 advantage. That was short-lived, as Brandon Levesque’s penalty expired giving the Seastangs 29 seconds of five-on-three hockey followed by 1:24 of five-on-four. The Blazes penalty kill was up to the task, and kept the Seastangs off the board.

With time winding down, the Seastangs had another five-on-three chance, but once again they were unable to get the puck past Westbrook goalie Zach Joy and the Blazes held on for a 3-0 win.

“I think we went out and skated hard,” said Massabesic senior Jeff Elliott. “They had 13 shots to our 12 so it was a more even game than it looked like. We just need to learn how to finish.”

Last year the Blue Blazes finished the season with a 10-9 record and qualified for the tournament, Bonny Eagle knocked them out in the first round.

Last year the Seastangs endured a difficult season going 0-18. Elliott says things will be different this year.

“We’re really excited, I mean we had a rough time last year but this is a whole new season and we’re excited about what we’re going to accomplish this season,” he said.