The Yarmouth boys engaged in another close battle versus a strong, Class-A opponent on Saturday evening at the Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn. Yarmouth was missing two players due to injury, but the light bench dug deep and did its best. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, but the game was closer than the final score implied.
The first period started with a quick goal by the St. Dominic Saints within the first 87 seconds. However, the Clippers quickly composed themselves, righted the ship and kept the puck out of their net for the rest of the period. Charles Henry Watson performed his typical magic show with save upon save, stopping 15 of 16 for the boys in blue. Yarmouth applied its own fair share of pressure at the other end of the ice, but were only able to scrounge up 6 shots of their own. The period ends with St. Dom’s up 1-0.
Period two took a little longer for the scoring to happen as Watson continued to dazzle, but it was St. Dom’s again with the point with just over 4 minutes left on the clock. Yarmouth showed signs of promise with their power-play, but, unfortunately, goals were hard to produce. The Clippers were able to generate 10 shots on net this time around, while decreasing the Saints’ shots to 11. With period 2 over, the score was 2-0 in favor of St. Dom’s.
Like the first, the third period started strong with two teams trying to out-duel each other. Back-and-forth pressure kept the fans on the edge of their seats. Almost four minutes into the period, St. Dom’s found themselves on a power-play and were able to capitalize with another goal. Yarmouth was down 3 to 0, but there was still plenty of hockey to play. A few minutes later, the Clippers found themselves a man up due to a 5-minute, checking-from-behind, major penalty called on St. Dom’s. With little time to spare, the Yarmouth boys went to work chipping away inside the Saints’ defensive zone. The hard work paid off early as Isaac Grondin scored 15 seconds into the man-advantage power-play. With the major penalty being served in it’s entirety, the Clippers remained on the power-play, but their results were unlike the first 15 seconds. The scoring had come to a halt. Yarmouth was able to outshoot the Saints 9-8 in the period, but the final score remained 3-1.
Yarmouth hopes to end their current 2-game losing skid this Thursday (2/6) when they play Cape Elizabeth High School at the Troubh Ice Arena in Portland at 4:00pm. With fingers crossed, Yarmouth is looking forward to a replenished bench. It’s sure to be another great game.
