WATERVILLE — The Cony hockey team handled an aggressive Waterville forecheck with relative ease Wednesday night, showing no signs of panic in its own end. The Rams played with confidence and poise in the offensive zone, burying many of the chances it generated.
Throw in a solid goaltending performance from Matt Swan and Cony scored one of its biggest wins in the last three seasons, edging perennial Eastern A playoff contender Waterville 4-2 at Alfond Rink.
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“To come up here and win in this rink, with all their tradition, is huge,” Cony coach Chad Foye said. “It doesn’t matter what their record is. This is Waterville and they will get their wins. This is big for us.”
Keiffer Cantara scored a pair of first-period goals and Dallas Clark added a dandy in the second for the Rams. Dylan Cheever also scored and Swan stopped 28 shots for Cony (2-1-0).
“We want to show people we are a different team from last year,” Clark said.
Added Swan: “It’s a momentum-booster to get that. We battled.”
J.T. Whitten and Aaron Saucier scored for Waterville (0-4-0), which trailed 2-0 after the first period and 4-1 after the second.
“Frustrating,” Waterville coach Dennis Martin said. “We finally put in an effort in the third period but we waited too long. You can’t expect to win a game when you play one period. They outworked us and outplayed us. We need to get going. We need a spark.”
The Rams entered the season with playoff aspirations despite finishing 4-13-1 last season. But as much as Waterville is a different team from last season — it graduated five of its top scorers — so, too, is Cony.
For starters, the Rams are a veteran team that doesn’t rattle easy. That was clear early in the second period when, after Whitten scored to pull Waterville within 2-1, the Rams quickly answered a minute later on a nifty goal from Clark.
Skating across the slot, a well-covered Clark was protecting the puck before spinning around and beating Waterville goalie Cody Thibodeau with a back-handed shot to give Cony a 3-1 lead.
“We needed another goal because (Waterville) had momentum,” Clark said.
Cony jumped on Waterville from the get-go, scoring two power-play goals in a seven-minute span.
Cantara opened the attack by stuffing a loose puck past Thibodeau with 8:28 left in the first period. Cony defenseman Zach Gagne got a good shot on net from the point and Cantara banged home the rebound to the near post.
“We battled hard in the corner and I got a rebound and put it in,” Cantara said.
Six minutes later the Rams again went on the power play, and again they converted.
Cantara got this one, too, on a rebound from out front with 1:40 left in the first period.
“It was big to get the lead because we didn’t want them to get momentum,” Cantara said. “It felt good.”
Bill Stewart — 621-5640
bstewart@centralmaine.com
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