For the first time in program history, the Bangor High School hockey team will be playing for a state Class A championship.
Junior right wing Marc-Andre Perron notched his first hat trick of the season and senior left wing Jackson Guimond scored goals 1:10 apart in the second period to lead the third-seeded Rams to a 6-3 victory over seventh seed Portland/South Portland/Deering/Waynflete at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland on Wednesday night.
The Rams instituted varsity hockey during the 1985-86 season.
Bangor improved to 14-5-1 and will take on the winner of the other semifinal between top seed Lewiston and fifth seed defending state champ Thornton Academy of Saco in Saturday afternoon’s 3:30 p.m. state championship game at the Cross Insurance Arena.
The Beacons wound up 10-9-1. It was only the third time this season they gave up more than four goals in a game.
“We moved the puck real well. We had a lot of back door plays,” said Bangor 13th-year Bangor head coach Quinn Paradis. “We knew we needed to get the goalie (Michael Zaccaria) moving, which we did.
“Our defense also played very well. We kept everything to the outside and limited their number of shots. They only had 15 shots,” Paradis pointed out. “With the exception of a small letdown in the third period, we played a strong game at both ends of the ice.”
Bangor sophomore goalie Cody McCue finished with 12 saves while junior Zaccaria finished with 21. Zaccaria had made 44 stops in a 2-1 quarterfinal upset win over No. 2 St. Dom’s of Auburn.
Perron gave the Rams a lead they would never relinquish as he scored the only goal of the first period with linemates Randall and Chase Caron earning assists.
It was his team-leading 11th goal of the season.
Guimond scored at the 3:09 of the second period to make it 2-0 and, after Tobey Lappin scored just 15 seconds later, he restored the two-goal cushion at the 4:19 mark.
Linemate Ty Walker assisted on both of Guimond’s goals, which were his sixth and seventh goals of the campaign.
Ian House assisted on Lappin’s 18th of the year.
Bangor picked up a pair of important insurance goals on the power play later in the middle period.
Randall scored his eighth off assists from Perron and Michael Moscone at the 6:53 mark and Perron extended the lead at the 14:17 mark with Randall and Preston Henry registering assists.
Perron completed his hat trick 3:06 into the third period with Randall accumulating his third assist of the contest.
Ben Paulson got one back 18 seconds later, his seventh of the season off a Jack McArthur assist.
Lappin added his second of the game with 5:58 remaining.
