WINSLOW — Opportunities knocked frequently for both Messalonskee and Winslow on Saturday night at Sukee Arena. Messalonskee was usually quickest to the door.
Jake Dexter notched a hat trick, the Eagles killed off two 5-on-3 penalties and later scored a short-handed goal to finish off the Black Raiders, 5-1.
Brandon Nale added a goal and three assists and Jared Cunningham a goal and two assists for Messalonskee (8-1). Jacob Trask scored the lone goal for Winslow (7-3).
“It’s tough to get in those situations. I would definitely say the refs were not in our favor this evening,” Messalonskee coach Joe Hague said of the 5-on-3 predicaments his team found themselves in. “The boys settled down real well. They played possession; they didn’t chase it around. They did a good job defending them, throwing them off, and then turn and get one (goal) out of it.”
“Not capitalizing against the best team around when you have opportunities, you’re not going to win a game that way. And we had our opportunities,” Winslow coach Andy Dube said. “We were missing the net. We were missing passes. Both goaltenders played very well. Just not capitalizing on opportunities was the big difference.”
Messalonskee outshot Winslow, 42-30.
The Raiders didn’t get any good chances on their first two-man advantage, which last 1:37 late in the second period with the Eagles up, 2-0. In fact, the Raiders were fortunate they didn’t give up their first shorthanded goal with Andrew Beals (37 saves) making nice stops to deny Dexter and Nale.
Winslow put far more pressure on the second 5-on-3, which came four minutes into the third period. But Tuell made several impressive stops, including one on Jake Larsen from right in front to preserve a 3-0 lead.
“He made one, two and then a third one as it was going in. I mean, you can’t argue with a goalie playing like that. It was fantastic. The confidence of a team definitely goes up when a goalie is playing as strong as he is,” Hague said.
Shortly after the Eagles snuffed that power play, Winslow got another 5-on-4, but Dexter found Cunningham on a 2-on-1 off the ensuing faceoff to make it 4-0.
Dexter broke a scoreless tie with his first goal with one minute left in the first period. At 5:19 of the second, he scored his second, taking a pass along the boards from Nale, skating in front and barely squeezing a shot between Beals’ pads.
The Eagles got another late goal in the second period when Nale made it 3-0 with 19 seconds remaining.
Trask got Winslow on the board by converting on the power play with a spinning backhander from the slot at 10:18 of the third.
Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638
rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @RAWmaterial33
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