The Winslow High School boys hockey team still seeks its first victory, although it was oh-so-close last week.

First, the Black Raiders (0-9-1) pushed Old Town (7-3-0) in a 6-3 loss Wednesday. Then came a 3-3 tie with Skowhegan.

It’s all about baby steps, Winslow coach Corey Lessard said.

“We’re slowly improving,” he said. “We’re having our ups and downs. We played pretty good against Old Town. We fought back. Saturday against Skowhegan, we did much better. I’m feeling like we’re making progress. Winslow is not used to losing and we did hit a point where the kids were frustrated. Expectations are high, but it’s hard to keep those expectations. But we’re getting better.”

Winslow, which didn’t have much depth to begin with this season, is playing without key forward Cam Grenier, who is out with a knee injury.

Lessard said he has had to break up his lines.

“We’ve moved some players around to give us more offense,” he said. “But in doing that we went younger on (defense). We’re playing some kids more than what we’d like.”

Winslow next hosts Waterville (1-10-0) at 5:40 p.m. Saturday.

“It’s always a good rivalry, and I expect our kids will come ready to play,” Lessard said. “I know they are struggling over there, too, but this is always a good game.”

• • •

Several hockey teams won’t play games this week because of exams.

Messalonskee coach Mike Latendresse says the week-long break from competition will allow his team to get some much-needed practices in.

“This is a big week for us,” Latendresse said. “We are preparing for the second half of the season. We will get four practices in. It’s rare you get to practice this much in a week during the season.”

The Eagles (6-1-0), who play Lawrence at 7:40 p.m. Saturday at Sukee Arena, are challenging Brewer (9-1-0) in Eastern B.

Latendresse said he plans to focus on special teams play this week.

“We’ve been OK on special teams, but we’ll have the opportunity to work on the power play and situational play. We want to add to what we’ve been doing already.”

• • •

Lawrence will make two long road trips in 10 days thanks to a postponement at Presque Isle last Friday night.

The Bulldogs (2-6-1) were scheduled to play last Friday at Presque Isle and then Saturday afternoon at Houlton/Hodgdon before returning to Fairfield.

However, inclement weather postponed the game with Presque Isle from Friday to Jan. 23.
Lawrence still played at Houlton/Hodgdon last Saturday.

“We’ll have two big road trips,” Lawrence coach Dave Richard said. “It’s tough. We had a 12-hour day to Houlton and now we have Presque Isle on Monday. But what can you do? We have to play the games. We’ll make the best of it.”

Lawrence and Presque will face off at 4 p.m. Monday.

• • •

Waterville dropped to 1-10-0 after a 7-0 loss to St. Dominic on Monday. The Purple Panthers played a strong first period, but allowed six goals in the second period en route to the difficult loss.

Waterville coach Dennis Martin said the Panthers are struggling to play a complete game.

“We haven’t had one all year,” he said. “We haven’t put together a whole game all season. It’s real frustrating. We’re getting frustrated as a team.”

The Panthers are ranked at the bottom of the Eastern A Heal points.

“We just have to stay focused and keep playing hard,” Waterville senior captain JT Whitten said. “We have to try to stay upbeat. We just have to keep going.”

• • •

When Messalonskee and Waterville played Jan. 10 at Alfond Rink, they raised money for breast cancer research. Part of the proceeds and the raffle went to the Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care in Augusta. 

The teams raised $410.

Bill Stewart — 621-5640
bstewart@centralmaine.com