Windham’s Zack Callahan blew up the scoreboard at the University of Southern Maine Friday afternoon, hashing four goals – including a natural hat trick – in a 6-3 Eagles triumph over Bonny Eagle/Massabesic/Old Orchard Beach. Callahan elevated Windham from an early deficit, securing the game’s momentum; though the so-called “Mob” fought back late, their efforts ultimately fell short.

“I come out trying to pick up the intensity quick and play fast and put them back on their heels so they don’t really see it coming,” Callahan said. “I play one shift at a time and whatever happens, happens. If I get the puck in front of the net, I’m going to put it in.”

“It was a good win; we played well,” said Windham head coach Greg Leclair. This was a game where [Massabesic/Bonny Eagle/OOB]’s had a good season, they’ve played some teams tough. We were interested to see how they’d come out.”

The win bumped the Eagles to 3-2-1 on the season; the team hovers in sixth in A East. The Mob slipped to 2-6 under the weight of the defeat. They linger in A West’s ninth slot, just outside playoff contention – but of course, plenty of games remain on the schedule.

The Mob’s Kyle Whitman opened the scoring, just 2:22 in. Whitman, in perfect position in front of the net, redirected the puck past Eagles keeper Clayton Owens when teammate Travis Marsh centered it from outside-right.

1-0, but the Mob’s advantage soon vanished. Another two minutes in, Callahan picked up the biscuit following a faceoff in the Mob’s end; Callahan skirted right and flicked a wrister past Mob goalie Mat Bridges for 1-1.

Thirty seconds later, Callahan repeated the feat, this time swooping at high-speed from way out to snatch a Keegan Pock rebound and deke past Bridges for 2-1 and another notch in his proverbial belt.

Barely a minute and a half after that, Callahan capped his hat trick, again dashing in from outside to shuttle a Pock rebound past Bridges. If the Mob couldn’t slow Callahan down, they were in for a severe thrashing.

Luckily, they did – manage to slow Callahan down, that is. Unluckily, Pock, just a freshman, was happy to pick up where his elder linemate left off. 10 seconds into the second period, Pock made it 4-1 on a redirect in front.

It wasn’t an especially surprising goal, actually; Pock had been generating shots all along. He was due to score.

Midway through the period, Callahan earned his fourth, grabbing hold of the pack in Windham’s own half of the ice and rushing up the left side to fool Bridges low and across.

Interestingly, the game was Callahan’s first on the attack in some time.

“I moved up from defense, so I wasn’t really settled in with anyone,” he said. “I only had one practice at forward with that line. And they’re younger, too, so I was a little worried about that.

“But coming into the game, they really worked the systems well and put the puck on the net. Putting the puck on the net gave me the rebounds to put it in; I just happened to get lucky on the line. They really worked hard, and it worked out for us.”

Not that Callahan was surprised when he and his linemates coalesced.

“I had confidence. [Jack Gresh] I’ve played with my whole life, and [Keegan Pock], I’ve seen him play and he’s a good player. So I was confident that we could move the puck around and come out with a victory.”

Callahan had missed a recent stretch with an injury. When freshman Logan Heckman filled in for him on defense – and performed admirably – Leclair made the decision to award Heckman the spot and shuffle Callahan forward.

“We were going to try to work Logan in gradually,” Leclair said, “and with Zack [being injured] last week, we were really pleased with what we saw out of Logan and said, ‘You know what? Let’s live or die by it.’ If Zack can score three goals and we only give up one additional one, we’ll take it.”

Pock tallied a second point to begin the third, after sidling past the Mob defense to earn a brief one-on-one with Bridges. 6-1.

The Mob fought back, then. With just under 10 minutes remaining, Eryca LeClerc fed the puck to Tanner McClure, who drove the length of the ice and slipped the puck to Whitman, who scored near-side for 6-2.

Whitman completed his own hat trick with just 4:14 left on the clock – not enough time even for wishful thinking. When the buzzer sounded, the Mob found themselves on the short end of the stick, so to speak. 6-3 the final.

Four goals is a big game in hockey. But Callahan’s skills are obvious to Leclair. “He’s the type of kid who can pick the puck up, go end-to-end, fire the puck, make moves, get teams off-balance and create chances for others. He’s so shifty and so quick, if he can get on top of a defenseman, he can get by them before they can get their feet turned.”

Callahan isn’t the Eagles’ only weapon, though. “Our last game, Tyler Johnson had our only goal,” Leclair said. “Up until tonight, he was leading the team in goals. Jack Gresh has got a couple goals in the game we played against Gray-New Gloucester, he had two goals in a 5-3 win, huge goals; Zack had one goal.

“We brought back six of our top seven scorers from last year. We’ll take our top six against anyone on our schedule, by and large.”

It all adds up to a positive vibe among the Eagles. “I’m excited by where we’re at. Aside from the Westbrook game, we’ve won the games we should. We hung in there against two tough teams. It’s going to be a fun race to the finish in the East. You only get seven teams in, and five of them are perennial favorites.”

“For the rest of the season, we’re set,” Callahan said. “We’re looking good and I think we’re going to have a winning season this year; I really feel like this is going to be the best year so far in our program’s history.

“With the competition that we’ve faced and the competition that we have ahead, we’ve already passed two of our hardest games – Portland and Noble. We stood up pretty good to them. We suffered two losses there, but taking those losses really pushed us forward and made us want to win more and play better hockey.”

Windham’s next bout is at Lake Region/Fryeburg/Oxford Hills on Saturday the 10th. The Mob travel to Gorham on Thursday the 8th.

Bonny Eagle’s Travis Marsh dashes up-ice for the Mob. Marsh assisted teammate Kyle Whitman on the game’s opening goal.Windham’s Gage Chenard keeps a stride ahead of Bonny Eagle’s Robbie Axelsen.Windham’s Zack Callahan, seen here boxing out Bonny Eagle’s Tanner McClure, posted four goals – yes, four – in the Eagle’s 6-3 lashing of Bonny Eagle/Massabesic/OOB.Jeremiah Merrill plays keepaway with a determined, diving Branden Roy.