HALLOWELL — Two teams arrived late to Camden National Bank Ice Vault on Tuesday night, but only one of them found their way out of the fog.

Led by junior Avery Pomerleau’s first career hat trick, Cony/Hall-Dale/Monmouth shook off a slow start to post a 5-2 boys hockey win over a Brunswick team that showed up half an hour late for what was supposed to have been a 5:10 p.m. puck drop. The start of the game was delayed nearly an hour.

“When we waited around, it kind of pulled us down. Goofing off in the locker room wasn’t helping,” said Cony defenseman Logan Leadbetter, who had a pair of assists in the win. “Once we settled down, we weren’t really ready for the game. When we started getting into the right mentality and the second period came around, we were ready.”

Leading scorer Cam Wilson had two goals in the win for Cony (2-1-0), which exploded for three goals in the aforementioned second period to take control of the contest. Brunswick dropped to 0-3-1 on the season.

Pomerleau finished with a four-point night and showed an aptitude for scoring in more than one way. He twice tipped home point shots and polished off his hat trick on a second-period breakaway which he finished with a slick glove-side wrister.

“Going to the net was the best way to find a goal,” Pomerleau said. “It was more about effort. When we picked up the pace, things got a lot better.”

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“I’m really happy for him. It was a big game for him,” Cony head coach Chad Foye said of Pomerleau. “He’s got to work on consistency, and we’ve talked about that with him. He’s capable of doing that a lot, but he’s got to realize it and expect that out of himself every night.”

It was a bit of a slog for both teams through most of the first period, with the Dragons finishing up the frame with a 5-3 edge in shots on goal. The Rams successfully slowed the Brunswick transition game but struggled with its own breakouts, keeping the puck on the perimeter but not finding a way to work it into the offensive zone with any regularity.

An interference penalty late in the period put Brunswick on the power play, and Michael Eno beat Dalton Bowie through the five-hole with a wrister from the left circle with Ram defenseman Thomas Arps in the box at 11:53.

Just over two minutes later, Pomerleau potted the equalizer for Cony, tipping home a Tyler Dostie drive from the right point.

It was an entirely different game in the middle stanza, one that Foye wished he could bottle up and use over and over again this season. Cony came out of the dressing room on fire, getting in deep on the forecheck and peppering Brunswick netminder Riley Kirk with shots from high-danger areas.

“I’ll take that,” Foye said. “We came out so flat. Once they scored in the first period, we kind of got our legs moving a little bit and carried it over into the second period. That’s something we’re going to have to work on all winter is playing 45 minute games.”

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Wilson’s third goal of the season came just 1:28 into the period off a one-timer along the ice off a feed from Pomerleau to give Cony the lead for good.

Pomerleau made it a 3-1 lead for the Rams at the 4:29 mark, prompting a timeout from the Dragon bench, though it did little to stem the tide. Just over three minutes later, Pomerleau completed the hat trick — accepting a long clearing pass from Leadbetter at center ice and streaking in unchecked on goal for a 4-1 lead.

“We’re not used to seeing that,” Leadbetter said of the seams through the middle of the ice. “Because they were so low and spread out, when we started spreading out and moving the puck, they just opened up.”

In all, Cony outshot Brunswick 14-3 in the period, holding the Dragons without one until the 9:30 mark, and 33-11 for the night.

Jared Hummer scored midway through the third period to make the game appear closer than it actually was, and Wilson’s fourth of the season came into an empty net as time expired to account for the final score.

“We didn’t seem to be focused on playing hockey (at the start),” Foye said. “We were worried about too many other things.”

Travis Barrett — 621-5621

tbarrett@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TBarrettGWC


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