The Presque Isle Youth Hockey Novice team recently wrapped up their season with a trip to Portland. Coach Shane McDougall believed this to be a building year for his young hockey players.
“The team went 3-17 for the season, we played in three tournaments, one of which was in Portland. This season we had a lot of young players on the team and it could be considered a good building year for the Novice program. Only two players will be moving on to Atoms so the Novice team should have a very good season next year. Most importantly, I think all the kids had lots of fun this year,” McDougall stated.
On March 3 and 4, the Presque Isle team traveled to Portland to participate in the Casco Bay Mite Tournament. They battled the stormy weather, but it was well worth the trip for the team, as they played hard and had a lot of fun.
Game one on Saturday was against Casco Bay Wakelin. The PI team had 13 shots on goal and Casco Bay had 24. The final score was an 8-3 loss for the Novice team.
Heinz Schumacher fought hard for PI in the net. Goals were made by Cooper Madore, Denny Young and Reece McDougall. Assists were made by Isaac Madore, Tyler Levesque and Eric Benson.
PI played the Husky Youth Hockey Smith Team in game two and had another tough loss with a score of 6-2. The Novice team had 12 shots on goal and the Huskies had 28 shots on goal. Once again, Schumacher defended the net for PI. Goals were made by Cooper Madore, with an assist by Drenn Belmain; and Gregory Jellison slid one by the goalie unassisted.
After Coach Shane treated the team to a Portland Pirates game on Saturday, it was an early morning start for their third game against the Casco Bay Freeman team. PI had 13 shots on goal and Casco Bay had 29. The final score was a loss for the County team, at 12-3. Reece McDougall scored one unassisted and Cooper Madore scored three, with two unassisted. Helping Madore with an assist was Devin Irelend. Schumacher was in the net.
The team played their final game of the regular season on March 10 against Carlton 3 in Florenceville. The PI team had 10 shots on goal and Carlton had 31. While their defensive game was on, the County team lost with a score of 9-1. Cooper Madore slid the puck past Carlton’s goalie, with an assist by Isaac Madore, and Schumacher defended the net.
Just when the Novice team thought they were done, Plaster Rock invited them over for a scrimmage on March 11. The team had 23 shots on goal and their opponents only had 9. PI was victorious in this match up with a score of 6-2. Tyler Levesque had an opportunity to guard the net for the first time in the season during the scrimmage.
Goals were scored by Cooper Madore, with four, assisted by Sarah Beaulieu; Gregory Jellison and Denny Young each had one unassisted goal sink into the net.
McDougall had help this year from coach Matt Talbot, assistant coaches Pierre Patenaude and Tim Belden and team manager Norma Levesque.
