South Portland/Freeport/Waynflete’s Andrew Whipple and Kyle Halvorsen notched a pair apiece on Saturday to lift the riots over the so-called Mob of Massabesic/Old Orchard Beach/Bonny Eagle. The Riots played catch-up for the better part of two periods, but Whipple’s second of the evening gave them the lead for good, while Halvorsen’s iced a 5-3 cake.

The win moves the Riots to 2-1 on the year; they opened their schedule with an OT win over Westbrook, but followed that up with an 8-1 loss to No. 1 Cheverus.

Robinson wasn’t happy with his squad’s play in their first bout, and saw some similarities to that sluggish performance on Saturday.

“We did come out flat in the first here, and I hate to say it, but it’s something with this building,” he said, chuckling. “We just come out [flat here].”

But overall, Robinson is pleased with the progress his boys are making.

“We had a tough game against Cheverus the other night, but the final score doesn’t show how we played. My guys were moving,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Mob slips to 0-1 thus far; their first game, scheduled for Dec. 6 at Cony/Monmouth, was postponed.

Robinson had praise for the Mob and their leadership.

“Coach Blair is a very good coach,” he said. “He knows his stuff.” The Mob is freshly merged this year; Bonny Eagle and Massabesic/Old Orchard Beach were two separate outfits last season.

In a contest that quickly turned chippy, players soon started logging time in the box Saturday night. The Mob got on the board first when Whipple drew an early interference call and Travis Marsh, assisted by Justin Miles and Collin Meeks, poked a powerplay rebound past Riots goalie Jason Halvorsen. 1-0.

It took the Riots roughly six minutes to answer, but answer they did. Waiting out front of Mob goalie Mat Bridges, Aidan Schifano evened the tally on a rebound of his own after Whipple and Kyle Halvorsen worked together to feed him the puck. 1-1.

The Mob inched ahead again with just under a minute to play, when Kyle Whitman broke up the left side of the ice, dodged the Riots’ D, and lifted a backhander top-corner past Jason Halvorsen in net. 2-1.

For much of the middle 15 minutes, the most noteworthy occurrence was a pair of coincidental minors – noteworthy in part because half of it belonged to Whipple, his third trip to the sin bin already. A player who picks up five or more penalties in a single game has to sit the following match.

Whipple emerged from the box and soon scored – a snappy, top-corner wrister past Bridges following a faceoff in the Mob end of the ice – only to go back in again 26 seconds later. He’d tied the score, 2-2, but was treading dangerously close to a game suspension.

Robinson wasn’t impressed with the penalty call. “That was junk; that was a clean hit,” he said. “[Whipple’s] other ones were definitely penalties, but that wasn’t.”

Whitman landed himself in the box 28 seconds after Whipple, bringing the action to four-on-four – and Kyle Halvorsen almost immediately scored, another Riots goal directly following a faceoff in the Mob’s end. The Riots took the lead for the first time, 3-2.

But the Mob tied things up once more with roughly 10 to play in the third. Cameron Roy pickpocketed the puck near center-ice to thwart a nascent Riots assault, then ducked into their zone, juked past their defense and beat Jason Halvorsen in net for 3-3.

Two and a half minutes later, Whitman landed himself in the box again. It would’ve been a simple minor for roughing, but his vocal frustration earned him a 10-minute misconduct alongside.

The Mob had killed all but six groan-inducing seconds of Whitman’s two minutes when Whipple grabbed the lead once more for the Riots, picking up the puck near the Mob’s left face-off dot, cutting hard right through multiple defenders, and beating Bridges for 4-3.

“Once we started getting the puck down in the offensive zone – we started cycling the puck, and keeping it low, and that was opening up our points, so we were getting shots up there,” Robinson said, “and they started coming up and playing the points, and that was opening it up down there – seriously, this rink is huge for high school kids. It’s a lot of room. Once you can get them moving, you’re going to open up space.”

With 40 seconds remaining, Blair yanked Bridges and threw a sixth Mob attacker into the fray. The maneuver didn’t pan out, however. Instead, Kyle Halvorsen broke out from the Riots’ end with the puck, skated the length of the ice, and shuffled home an easy empty-netter. 5-3 the final.

“Defensively, we just did a pretty good job of getting the red and pounding it in,” Robinson said. “And that’s all I ask of those guys. We lost a couple a veteran defensemen to graduation last year, so we’re pretty young. All I’m asking from them is block shots, get it to the boards, get the red and get it deep. We were able to do that. Keep it simple.”

The Riots play again on Thursday the 18th, when they travel to York. The Mob have road games on both Wednesday and Thursday, at Marshwood/Traip and at Kennebunk, respectively.

The Mob’s Spencer Shields pushes past Riots defender Will Armstrong to next face Will McMullin.The Mob’s Jacob Picard and the Riots Ian Young clash near the boards.Mob attacker Cameron Roy keeps a step ahead of the Riots’ Aidan Schifano.The Riots’ Ian Young harangues Mobber Branden Roy.Will McMullin gets a glove on the Mob’s Justin Miles.The Mob’s Collin Meeks crashes in on Riots goalie Jason Halvorsen.Andrew Whipple lifts a Riots shot into the right pad of Mob keeper Mat Bridges.The Riots Andrew Whipple rips a late-game shot toward the Mob goal. Collin Meeks can’t quite shoulder Whipple aside.