AUGUSTA – Members of the Cony hockey team did some sprints in the Bank of Maine Ice Vault parking lot and stretched out in the concourse prior to Thursday night’s Eastern A game with Waterville.

Having played the night before — a 7-3 win over Gray-New Gloucester/Poland — the Rams had no practice to prep for the Panthers.

No matter.

Dallas Clark had two goals and an assist and first-year starting goalie Tommy Small had 39 saves to lead Cony past Waterville 5-1.

“I was a little worried coming into it,” Cony coach Chad Foye said. “I was worried about the bad legs and all, but we worked hard. We had to match their effort and we did just that.”

Added Clark: “We knew we had to come in and get prepared, which is why we got here early. We want it. We know we have a lot of potential and we don’t want to waste it.”

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Tyler Leet, Austin Davis and Spencer Buck each had a goal and an assist for Cony (6-2-0), which won its fifth straight game as it starts to climb the Eastern A standings.

Connor Perry had two assists for the Rams as well.

“We played a full game,” Foye said. “We did a good job with the puck and Tommy made some nice saves for us.”

The Rams are in the midst of playing three games in four days – they host Edward Little on Saturday.

Waterville, meanwhile, is heading in the opposite direction. The Panthers dropped their fourth straight game to drop to 2-6-0.

Chris Lee scored the lone goal for the Purple Panrthers, which came late in the third period.

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“We couldn’t take advantage of a few of our opportunities,” Waterville coach Dennis Martin said. “We just can’t get over that hump.”

The Rams led just 1-0 after the first period but put the game out of reach with a pair of goals in the final seven minutes of the second.

Davis made it 2-0 when he beat Waterville goalie Kaleb Kane with a low wrist shot while charging down the right circle with 6:24 left in the second.

Cony went ahead 3-0 when Buck scored in the final minute of the period.

Cony grabbed the early lead when Clark corralled a rebound in the right circle and roofed a wrister past Kane about five minutes into the game.

Kane had made two stops before leaving a rebound out to Clark.

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Small, a first-year starter, kept Waterville scoreless until late in the third with several key saves in the final five minutes of the first period.

He stuffed Dalton Denis with 4:11 left in the period with a nice chest save seconds after robbing Lee from the slot.

Small then made a nice glove save about a minute later off a one-timer from Tommy Samson.

 

Bill Stewart – 621-5640

bstewart@centralmaine.com


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