Hampden Academy and Titans (Bangor-Brewer) Battle to 5-5 Tie at Alfond

Thanks to our special High School Hockey correspondent Adrian Ellinigwoond for his story!

On Saturday night, January 17th, Alfond Arena in Orono was home to the annual Fill the Alfond hockey game. The Bangor/Brewer co-op team, the Twin City Titans, played the Hampden Academy Broncos, replacing the traditional Bangor vs Brewer game. In the first ever regular-season matchup between the Titans and the Broncos, the game ended in a 5-5 tie.

In the opening minute, Twin City had the puck in the defensive zone, but Hampden’s Henry Boudreau won the puck in the corner. He dished it off to Miles Shields who fired the puck past the goaltender, giving the Broncos an early lead. Only 41 seconds had elapsed from the game.

Five minutes later, the Titans’ Phil Moscone picked up the puck in the neutral zone, and made his way to the front of the net. Moscone made a cross-crease pass to Peyton Gifford who tied the game with 9:40 to go in the period.

Later in the opening period, Gunnar Weil of the Broncos intercepted the puck in the neutral zone. He quickly found a shooting lane, and scored an unassisted goal to give Hampden a 2-1 lead. That goal with 3:06 left in the period was enough to give the Broncos a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission.

Both teams had power play opportunities in the opening half of the period, but neither side could take advantage. However, with less than a minute and a half to go in the second period, Baylon Cram tied the game for the Titans. His shot from between the face-off circles deflected off of a Bronco stick, and flipped over the goaltender for a goal that was seemingly scored in slow-motion. Mason Bond was given the assist with 1:24 to go in the second period. The lead didn’t last long though, as Henry Boudreau took advantage of a rebound from a Colby Pangburn shot to re-take the lead again. 53 seconds remained in the second period, and the Broncos would hold onto the 3-2 lead for the rest of the period.

Early on in the third period, Hampden went on the power play, and it only took 4 seconds for Brody Miller to give the Broncos a two goal lead with a shot from the blue line. Henry Armell had the assist with 13:28 left in regulation.

Later in the period, the Titans would answer with a power play goal of their own. Alex Johnson won the offensive zone face-off, and the puck went straight to Eddie Goff, whose one-timer went past Aiden Surran in the Broncos net. 6:13 remained in a 4-3 game.

Under two minutes later, Moscone tied the game with a shot from just outside the face-off circle. Peyton Gifford had the assist with 4:36 to go, but the score wouldn’t remain tied for long. Only 32 seconds later, a battle in front of the net was finished off with a goal by Aiden MacFarline, with an assist from Wyatt Allen. The Broncos had a 5-4 lead with 4:04 left in regulation.

With 2:44 to go in regulation, the Titans went in the power play, and after pulling the goalie for an extra attacker, they had a 6-on-4 advantage. Twin City was unable to find the equalizer on the power play, but they managed to keep the puck in the zone, and found a late goal to tie the game. Chase Caron was credited with the goal on a chaotic play in front of the net, with assists from Baylon Cram and Eddie Goff. The score would remain tied for the final 23.7 seconds, so an 8 minute overtime was needed.

Overtime was mostly controlled by the Broncos, but the score remained tied at 5-5. The Titans had the puck in the offensive zone for most of the final minute, but neither side was able to find the game winning goal, and the game ended in a 5-5 tie. Hampden Academy is now 5-3-1. The Broncos will host Cony on Monday, January 19th, at Sawyer Arena in their next game. The Titans are now 3-4-1, and continue their season by hosting Scarborough on Wednesday the 21st at Sawyer Arena.