FALMOUTH — Even as Biddeford hits the meaty part of the 2010-11 schedule, the defending state champions are still finding things out about themselves.
Thursday, the Tigers discovered that they can kill penalties.
Discovered it the hard way, in fact.
Biddeford faced 10 shorthanded situations during its 6-1 win over Falmouth at Family Ice Center, and killed off nine of them, as the Tigers improved its mark to 4-0-2.
“I’m hoping (we) learned something from this,” said Biddeford coach Rich Reissfelder. “We hold ourselves to a higher standard. To take penalties like that. And to have four of the best players on our team in the box at once, is a recipe for disaster.”
The recipe, yes. But the ingredients were not to be found in the cupboard, largely because of the 5-0 lead the Tigers amassed before matters turned chippy late in the second period.
“When we came back in the locker room (for the second intermission),” said senior defenseman Nick Gagne, “we just wanted to settle ourselves down. It was getting out of control out there.”
Biddeford was in control of the scoreboard from the middle of the first period on, after Scott Callahan and Brady Fleurent both scored in a brief 10 second span.
Callahan got his at 6:07, with the Tigers on a power play.
The goal announcement had yet to be made when Gagne fired the puck up the boards to Fleurent, who wheeled in on starting Yachtsmen goalie Jay Hurdmann, before burying his eighth goal of the season.
Then, with 2:35 left in the period, Gagne netted his first goal of the year, when he joined the rush, then parked a cross crease feed from Tyson Nadeau.
“It was a wide open shot,” said Gagne. “I was thinking to myself, ‘if I miss this, it would be bad. It was just wide open.”
Biddeford goalie Jon Fields made some key stops in the second period that helped silence whatever faint comeback noises Falmouth was making.
The Tigers turned one save into a counter attack goal by Bryan Dallaire, which made it 4-0.
“They should have been goals,” said Reissfelder. “Realistically. But it was phenomenal play by Fields. In my mind, that was the turning point of the game.”
Travis Guay scored soon after, before the game devolved into a whistlefest.
However, the Tigers did their best to stick to business, and eventually buttoned down the win via Fleurent’s second goal of the game.
“It’s different,” said Gagne, when asked to compare this year’s club with the championship team of a year ago. “We’ve got more people stepping up. Last year it was just a few people. This year it’s everyone. Everyone has their own job to do. And everyone is doing it really well.”
— Contact Dan Hickling at dhickling@journaltribune.com.
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