It looked like a mismatch on paper.
The 8-1 Bangor High School boys hockey team was sitting atop the Class A North Heal Points standings thanks to five straight wins. It was preparing to play against the seventh place team in Class B North, the 2-4-1 John Bapst-Hermon-Bangor Christian-Deer Isle-Stonington Crusaders, who had lost three straight.
But the Crusaders received 24 saves from freshman goalie Kaiden Kinney and a goal from senior right wing Luke Getto with just 1:07 remaining to stun their intown rivals 2-1 at Sawyer Arena Wednesday night.
Senior left wing Ty Walker had staked Bangor to a 1-0 lead with his team-leading eighth goal of the season at the 9:02 mark of the second period. It was a power play goal.
Junior center Will Bourgeois tied it on the power play 1:46 into the third period, snapping Bangor’s streak of three consecutive shutouts.
Getto’s goal came just two seconds after a Bangor penalty had elapsed.
“Cooper [Lewis] was behind the net and tipped it back to me,” Getto said. “I took it around the net for a wraparound and slipped it in the short side.”
It was his first goal of the season.
Bangor pulled goalie Cody McCue in favor of the extra attacker and generated a pair of chances, including one close-range attempt by Jackson Guimond after he made a determined rush down the ice and fought through some checks.
But Kinney came up big.
“I felt great coming into the game,” Kinney said. “We had a three-game losing streak and this is definitely a huge step, especially against Bangor.”
Just a few minutes earlier, with the score tied, Kinney made a nice right pad save off Walker, who broke down the right side on a two-on-one.
“I could see [Walker] pull back and you rarely see a pass across to the guy going down the left side so I just had to focus on the puck,” Kinney said.
“[Kinney] has been amazing for us,” said swift-skating Crusader defenseman Nick Needham, who turned in an outstanding performance anchoring the defense corps and also assisted on both goals. “It really helps when you have someone solid in net.”
Kinney’s teammates did an exceptional job in front of him, getting numbers on the defensive side of the puck, blocking shots and protecting the net front.
The 14-year-old goalie rarely had to face multiple-shot flurries as his teammates would clear out rebounds or he would cover them up.
Bourgeois tied it from a near-impossible angle along the extended goal line to McCue’s left.
“I got the puck along the wall and saw the goalie was out of position a little bit so I ripped it,” said Bourgeois, who found the short side corner with his team-high sixth of the season.
Sophomore McCue finished with 15 stops for the Rams.
Walker’s game-opening goal came off a faceoff win by Michael Moscone.
Walker swung from left to right across the slot untouched and snapped a 20-foot wrist shot over Kinney’s glove.
John Bapst coach Devin Fitzpatrick said he was very happy with his team’s performance.
“They kept it simple and played disciplined hockey,” Fitzpatrick said. “We have had our share of penalties.”
The Crusaders took just three minor penalties compared with Bangor’s seven.
“We got pucks deep and played physical,” Bourgeois said. “We knew Bangor was number one and we usually play up to [our opponents’] level. A number seven beating a number one feels great.”
“Bapst was the better team tonight,” Bangor coach Quinn Paradis said. “They took it to us. They did everything right against us and we got a little off-script.”
Moscone said they took the Crusaders lightly.
“They were a bottom B team. We thought we were going to steamroll them,” Moscone said. “Their goalie played really well. He stuffed us many times.”
Bangor will play Brewer-Skowhegan-Lawrence on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in its annual Fill the Alfond game at Alfond Arena in Orono. John Bapst-Hermon-Bangor Christian-Deer Isle-Stonington will entertain Houlton-Hodgdon-Katahdin on Monday at 6:30 p.m.
