PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Torey Levesque said his Wildcats were motivated following remarks from head coach Carl Flynn heading into their quarterfinal matchup against Camden Hills.
“Our coach told us before that it wasn’t going to be a blowout and to expect a one-goal game, so we wanted to prove him wrong,” said Levesque, a junior defenseman and team captain.
The Wildcats, ranked third in Class B North, did just that, breaking out to a 5-0 lead after two periods while going on to defeat No. 6 Camden Hills, 7-2, in the Feb. 27 quarterfinal playoff game played at the Forum.
The teams had split their regular season matches, with Camden Hills winning at the Forum on Dec. 8, 8-5, and the Wildcats bouncing back with a 6-3 victory in Rockport Jan. 27.
Presque Isle, now 13-6 on the season, needed just five minutes to break into the scoring column, with sophomore Connor DeMerchant supplying the opening goal on a rebound off assists from freshmen Gage LeTourneau and Colby Carlisle.
“We came out hard, forechecked hard and overall we just came out with high intensity,” Carlisle said.
A five-minute penalty late in the period could have allowed the Windjammers to get back in the game, but instead led to a swing in PI’s favor.
The short-handed situation spanned into the early stage of the second period and junior Thomas Patenaude scored 32 seconds in off assists by Jake Stevens and Levesque to double the Wildcats’ lead.
“I thought we were aggressive in killing off that penalty, and scoring, really gave us some momentum,” Flynn said.
Presque Isle then converted on a pair of 5-on-3 power play opportunities midway through the period, with Stevens cashing in on the first one off a Levesque assist and Carlisle getting the other with assists from Riley Kinney and LeTourneau.
Carlisle then scored off assists from LeTourneau and freshman Noah Roy with 1:46 to play in the second to make it 5-0.
“The one thing we did better today than what we’ve done all season is that when we had scoring opportunities, we made the most of them,” Flynn said. “We made some pretty plays and had some nice passing.”
Camden Hills received goals from Bryce Tyler and Liam Haining in the third period as they finally solved Presque Isle goalie Andre Daigle, who made 11 saves in the match. But Patenaude scored a nifty goal on a one-handed shot from the right side and DeMerchant also netted his second goal to do away with any thoughts of a Camden Hills comeback.
LeTourneau assisted on Patenaude’s goal, while DeMerchant’s came courtesy of passes from Carlisle and LeTourneau.
The win was the first recorded by the Wildcats on home ice in the playoffs since 2010, when they blanked Orono, 7-0.
“We were hyped for it and knew the pressure that came with it but we fed off it and came out strong,” Levesque said. “We never really let up and played a great game overall.”
Matt Czuchra made 25 saves for Camden Hills, which finished with an 8-11 record.
Presque Isle will next square off against No. 2 Waterville/Winslow in the semifinals on Saturday, March 3 at 5 p.m. at Colby College in Waterville. The winner advances into the ‘B’ championship game to be played Tuesday, March 6, at the University of Maine’s Alfond Arena beginning at 7 p.m.
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- Wildcat freshman Colby Carlisle scored on this slap shot while defended by Camden Hills’ Quinn Brown during the Feb. 27 quarterfinal playoff game held at the Forum in Presque Isle. (Dave Allen Graphics)
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- Wildcat junior defenseman Torey Levesque takes a shot on goal against Camden Hills defender Quinn Brown during the Feb. 27 Class B hockey quarterfinal held at the Forum in Presque Isle. (Dave Allen Graphics)
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- Presque Isle junior Thomas Patenaude puts a wrist shot over Camden Hills goalie Matt Czuchra’s right shoulder during the second period of Class B North hockey quarterfinal game held at the Forum in Presque Isle Feb. 27. Quinn Brown of the Windjammers defends the play. (Dave Allen Graphics)
