READFIELD — So, Brock Parks, just how does it feel to be mobbed by your teammates after the biggest win of your high school career?

“That one kinda hurt. They pushed my helmet into the boards,” the Old Town/Orono senior goaltender said with a laugh.

The bruise may be temporary, but the moment likely will stick in Parks’ head for quite a while after his 37-save effort helped eighth-seeded Old Town/Orono stun No. 1 Messalonskee 3-1 in the Class B North boys hockey quarterfinals Tuesday night at the Alfond Athletic Center.

Dylan Davis netted a hat trick for Old Town/Orono (6-12-1), which lost to Messalonskee 7-0 in their lone regular-season meeting Feb. 10. The Black Bears advanced to the semifinals and will face No. 5 Camden Hills (13-6-0) on Saturday in Presque Isle.

OTO dropped its last six regular-season games and appeared to be easy first-round fodder for Messalonskee (14-5-0), which reached the Class B state final last season. But sixth-year coach Chris Thurlow felt his team showed improvement down the stretch.

“We quietly got better, we just worked on our forecheck quite a bit, and I think that was big today,” Thurlow said. “Last time we played them, we never gave them any pressure in their zone, and they were easily breaking up (our chances).”

Thurlow said Parks’ game was the best he had seen from his two-year starter. Parks’ face lit up after someone relayed the coach’s remarks.

“I like to hear that,” he said. “I hope it was. We took that big win and all, but … it’s good to hear that.”

While Messalonskee fired everything it could at Parks, many of the Eagles’ shots were high and wide of the net.

“We missed a lot of nets,” Messalonskee coach Dennis Martin said. “They played well, and we got behind early. Davis made a couple nice plays and they capitalized on their chances. We had a lot of opportunities, their goalie made the plays. We couldn’t finish our chances.”

In the first period, Messalonskee could not solve Parks, who made 13 saves, including three straight Denny Martin missiles from in front of the blue line in a span of 20 seconds. Shortly after the third save, OTO’s Linden Hayes fed the puck to Davis, who deked the puck past Messalonskee goalie Hunter Hallee (13 saves) for the goal with 5 minutes, 31 seconds left in the period.

Davis made it 2-0 with 1:58 left in the period, when he scooped up a turnover in the Eagles zone and put it past Hallee again for the unassisted goal.

The second period was much like the first, as Parks made 12 more saves and Davis scored again. He secured his hat trick when he threaded the puck through three Messalonskee defenders and beat Hallee glove side for the unassisted goal with 3:07 left in the period. 

“It was just what I’ve been kinda trying to do all year, just using my teammates to get the breaks,” Davis said. “I’ve just been able to get the puck into the net all year, and I’m just glad it came at the most important time. I got some good passes from my teammates.”

In the third, Messalonskee finally dented the scoreboard when Grayson Podey scored a power-play goal with 9:47 left in the third. Podey took a short feed from Owen Kirk, delivered a perfect wrister past Parks’ glove side and the previously quiet Messalonskee student section burst into life. Kirk and Denny Martin earned the assists.

With 5:42 left, Messalonskee’s Tyler Hansen flipped the puck across Parks and it appeared to go in and out of the net. The officials ruled no goal, and upheld the decision after they conferred for a moment.

Thurlow called a timeout in an effort to halt Messlaonskee’s momentum.

“We settled down, and our kids continued to battle,” Thurlow said.

The Eagles made another spirited attack on Parks, but got no further. Parks made 12 saves in the period while Davis and Alex McCannell cleared the puck into safety. Then came the final buzzer, and the Black Bears mobbed Parks against the boards.

“He’s had a lot of pucks thrown at him this year, a lot of frustrations,” Thurlow said of Parks. “But he earned that tonight.”

Messalonskee was 1-for-5 on the power play; OTO was 0-for-2.

« Previous

Next »

Related Stories