Junior hockey: New Jersey continues its winning ways against Maine Nordiques

Apr. 7—LEWISTON — The Maine Nordiques' losing streak continues, but the New Jersey Titans' winning streak is still intact.

New Jersey defeated Maine 2-1 Friday night at The Colisee in an NAHL East Division game.

The Nordiques (31-23-3, 65 points), the third-place team in the East, have lost six games in a row, while the second-place Titans (37-17-3, 77 points) have won six straight, which began March 24 with a 5-3 win over Maine.

New Jersey, the defending Robertson Cup champion, is gearing up for another long playoff run.

"You are seeing a veteran hockey team reestablish their identity," Titans coach Craig Doremus said. "This group has played a lot of hockey over the past 18 months and has won a lot of games. I think for them, they are starting to see where the journey is heading right now."

Zakari Brice made 22 saves for the win in New Jersey's net.

"I thought we came out and played really well," Brice, who's committed to Arizona State, said. "I had to stay in it and had to keep my mind in it, but we got the win — that's what counts."

Maine Nordiques coach Matt Pinchevsky credits his goalie, Thomas Heaney, for keeping the team in striking distance throughout the contest. Heaney stopped 37 shots in the loss.

"We could have gotten Thomas Heaney a scholarship tonight," Pinchevsky said. "Obviously, it was a low-scoring game, and our goalies give us a chance to win every night, but Thomas is a competitor and was laser-focused. It's unfortunate his teammates took the night off."

The Titans controlled the first period with puck possession — they outshot the Nordiques 13-3 in the opening frame. Brendan Dumas put one of those 13 shots in the net by deking out Maine goalie Thomas Heaney (37 saves) and sliding the puck into the goal 6:43 into the stanza. Eric Charpentier had the assist.

"I thought we had some opportunities to put them away early," Doremus said. "I thought we could have been up 3-0 after one, but I thought Thomas (Heaney) played really well for them and that kept them in there and allowed them to get their legs underneath them a little bit."

Maine had a power play late in the first period but struggled to set up in the offensive zone.

"Lack of communication and not having the best awareness around the puck," Pinchevsky said. "It felt like we were giving them the puck and allowed them to keep counterattacking. We started the game playing defense when we are much better on the attack."

New Jersey had three power plays in the first 10 minutes of the second period, but the Maine penalty killers did their job.

Once the Nordiques got to even strength, they started putting shots on goal, but Brice stopped all 10 he faced in the second period. The Titans had 16 shots in the frame.

On New Jersey's first shot opportunity in the third period, Michael Young's backhander slipped past Heaney 28 seconds into the frame. Sylas Oberting had the assist.

"It was huge," Doremus said. "It allows us to make different decisions with the puck and play the game a little differently, and it forces them to probably open up their attack more than they anticipated there."

Nordiques forward Jonny Meiers nearly scored on a shorthanded breakaway shortly after Young's tally.

Maine finally broke through in the third period when forward Filip Wiberg found defenseman John Paul Steele in the slot. Steele ripped a shot past Brice nearly nine minutes into the stanza.

"I think JP took it as it came to him," Pinchevsky said. "He played a solid game and activated at the right time and found some white ice. It was a really nice forecheck by Filip Wiberg. He drove the bus for us. I don't think we went very far, but he definitely drove it every inch of the way."

The Nordiques went on a power play shortly after the goal but only could register one shot on net. They went 0 for 3 on the man-advantage and New Jersey was 0 for 6.

With an empty net in the final 30 seconds of the game, the Nordiques couldn't get a shot off.

"Like I said, the boys were huge by getting pucks out and they really helped me out today," Brice said.

Maine finished the third period with 10 shots and New Jersey tallied nine.

The teams meet again Saturday at 7 p.m. at The Colisee.

In an NAHL game played between the Janesville Jets and Springfield Jr. Blues on Friday, Annelies Bergmann became the first woman to suit up in a Tier I or Tier II junior hockey game under the USA Hockey umbrella.

Bergmann stopped 22 shots for Janesville in a 2-1 loss.

The Cornell women's hockey commit also played for Team USA at the International Ice Hockey Federation's World Under-18 Championship for the past two years. USA's coach was Lewiston native Katie Lachapelle.