Windham-Westbrookers Gage Chenard and Tyler Johnson blasted a pair apiece past Marshwood/Traip/Sanford netminder Alex Weeks on their way to a 7-1 win over the visiting Hawks on Saturday night, the 9th.

“It was a good result for the kids,” said WW head coach Greg Leclair. “We played Marshwood/Traip/Sanford a couple weeks ago and were fortunate to come away with a 4-3 win.

“In that game, we spent way too much time in the penalty box and were never able to get into the flow of the game. Tonight, we largely played a smart game that allowed us to take advantage of our depth.”

Chenard fired the opening salvo in WW’s battery of tallies, needing just 1:14 of the first to put his squad up 1-0. Matt Kelley logged the assist.

Leclair expressed pride in Chenard, and the hard work he’s invested in becoming an excellent player.

“Gage has really come into his own this season,” he said. “He’s made a big commitment to improve over the last 24 months, both from a skill and strength standpoint. He’s starting to put it all together.”

The score didn’t budge for another nine and a half minutes, not until Chenard/Kelley’s fellow WWer Tyler Johnson – long one of the team’s most dangerous attackers – popped home the 2-0 point.

WW held on to that advantage for the first half of second. The Hawks finally spoke up, though, Henry Honkonen from John Lyman slashing their squad’s deficit in half. Was Marshwood/Traip/Sanford in this game?

“We were shorthanded on the M/T/S goal,” Leclair said, “and lost our box for a second. Lyman made a nice pass to Honkonen, and he took advantage of us being out of position.”

Maybe for 68 seconds they were. After that? No way, no how. That’s when Chenard earned the leading edge of an avalanche of goals that quickly put a win out of the Hawks’ grasp. John Tibbetts assisted Chenard in doing so; two minutes later, Zack Callahan put WW up 4-1.

It was Callahan’s first game back from an injury.

“Zack’s still working back into form after missing the MOB game,” Leclair said. “He’s obviously a big part of our game and we rely on him to do it all. We’ve been hit by the injury bug a little bit, so we’re without a couple other key contributors as well.”

“We were very good on the forecheck tonight, and did a nice job taking away their time and space,” said Leclair. “Five-on-five, we made it hard on M/T/S, and I think the result was very much deserved.”

Less than five minutes after Callahan’s strike – so, just over a minute into the third period – he assisted Johnson on the 5-1 notch. Five more minutes later, Kelley scored on a feed from Chenard and Logan Heckman. Heckman later capped the evening with help from Jacob Coro and Kyle Paul. 7-1 the final.

WW went 1-3 on the powerplay – Kelley’s goal came a man up. Starting goalie Alex LeBlanc saved 18 of 19 shots; his replacement in the third, young (but technically adept) backup Sean White only faced two pucks, but he stopped them both.

The Hawks went 1-5 on the powerplay. Weeks saved 33 of 40 shots.

The result bumped No. 6 WW to 6-2 in A North, and dropped M/T/S to 0-6-1 in A South. The Hawks are last in their conference at present.

Prior to this year’s merger between the two schools, neither Windham nor Westbrook was having much success on the ice.

“It’s nice to see the record where it is, but we’re by no means satisfied. We came up short in our two toughest tests of the season,” Leclair said, referring to recent bouts with Cony/Hall-Dale-Monmouth (third in A North) and Edward Little (first in A North).

“If we want to have success in the postseason,” Leclair said, “we’ll need to continue to improve…We haven’t necessarily played our best hockey yet. We have a lot of potential. Potential that will need to be realized for this team to achieve the goals we’ve set for ourselves.”

WW travels to Bridgton Academy for a bout with Lake Region/Fryeburg/Oxford on Saturday the 16th. The Hawks visited Leavitt on Wednesday the 13th, and face off at Maranacook/Winthrop on Friday the 15th.

Sports Briefs

Umpire clinics set for April in Gorham

Learn the rules of ASA Softball at upcoming umpiring clinics scheduled for April 3-11 at Gorham Municipal Center, 75 South St., Gorham.

Upon successful completion of the clinics, participants will receive certification and be able to umpire softball games this summer. Contact Scott Tilton at 807-3504 for more information or email scott@tiltontech.net.

Scrapbooking event to benefit Westbrook Youth Football

Westbrook Youth Football will be holding a scrapbooking fundraiser, Crop for a Touchdown, on Saturday, Jan. 30, at the Westbrook Middle School from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. The cost is $40 to register, which includes food, raffles, and lots of fun.

Several vendors will be on hand. If you have any questions, email at westbrookyouthfootball@gmail.com. Whether you are a beginner looking for help to start scrapbooking or a seasoned scrapbooker, you are invited.

WW’s Derek Corbett circles on defense against the Hawks Saturday evening.Westbrook senior John Tibbetts breaks up ice vs. M/T/S on Saturday.Westbrooker Cam Morrison skirts behind a Hawks opponent on Saturday.