The Wildcat hockey team shook off their opening-game loss to earn a pair of victories last week.
-
- Presque Isle’s Jake Stevens, left, tries to skate around Black Hawk Gavin Vining during Wednesday night’s game in Houlton. (Staff photo/Joseph Cyr)
-
- Presque Isle’s Bailey York, left, gets knocked off the puck by Black Hawk Jason Collett during Wednesday night’s game in Houlton. The Wildcats won 5-3. (Staff photo/Joseph Cyr)
Presque Isle defeated a pair or cooperative teams last week on the road, besting the Houlton/Hodgdon/Southern Aroostook/Katahdin Black Hawks on Dec. 13 and the Kennebec River Hawks, consisting of players from Waterville and Winslow, on Saturday.
The Wildcats used a strong third period to skate away with a 5-3 victory over the Black Hawks at the John Millar Civic Center in Houlton.
Wildcat freshman Gage LeTourneau broke a 2-2 tie when he scored with 1:34 to play in regulation for the go-ahead goal as Presque Isle edged the Black Hawks. Torey Levesque added an empty netter for the Wildcats with 25 seconds to go as the Black Hawks pulled their goalie in an effort to tie the game.
Colby Carlisle, another freshman, scored twice and Riley Kinney also scored for Presque Isle.
“We did a much better job keeping the puck in the offensive zone tonight,” said Wildcat coach Carl Flynn, whose team fell to Camden Hills, 8-5, in the home opener Dec. 8. “We took advantage of bouncing pucks in front of their goalie and capitalized.”
A.J. Henderson, Nick Delucca and Jason Collett scored for Houlton, which led 1-0 after the first period and was tied with Presque Isle 2-2 through two periods.
Presque Isle outshot Houlton 31-29, with Andre Daigle in goal for the Wildcats and Ian Neureuther in net for the Blackhawks, who are now 0-3 overall.
The Wildcats made it consecutive wins when they defeated the Waterville-Winslow squad Saturday. Three goals by junior Bailey York and one apiece by the freshman trio of Colby Carlisle, Noah Roy and LeTourneau paced the winning offense in the 6-2 triumph.
Connor Demerchant dished out a pair of assists for the Wildcats. Presque Isle held a 38-21 shot advantage, with Daigle picking up the win in goal.
Cooper Hart and Logan Denis scored for the River Hawks (1-2).
Presque Isle (2-1) returns home for a match against Brewer Friday at 7:15 p.m. The Wildcats then turn around and play at Camden Hills the following afternoon at 3:20 p.m.
