HALLOWELL – The Maranacook/Hall-Dale/Winthrop co-operative hockey team features one of the top lines in all of Class A, with Dan Condon, Jared Hanson and Matt Plourde combining to average about seven points a game.
The trio was at it again Thursday night, accounting for most of the damage in a 4-3 win over Gardiner at the Bank of Maine Ice Vault.
Condon had a goals and three assists to power the Hawks (8-4-2). Plourde and Hanson each added a goal and and an assist as well.
“It’s always a battle with Gardiner,” Condon said. “We capitalized on our opportunities and capitalized on the power play, which was nice.”
Alex Nadeau scored two goals and Seth Wing added a goal and an assist for Gardiner (4-9-1), which retired the No. 18 jersey of former captain Teddy Robbins before the game in a short yet touching ceremony.
“We didn’t quit,” Gardiner coach Jeff Ross said. “We battled back. If this were a couple years ago, we would’ve caved, so that was nice to see.”
Robbins, who graduated from Gardiner in 1978, died Feb. 4, 1981 of complications from colon cancer.
A defenseman, Robbins played for Norm Gagne and led the Tigers to the Class B state championship game his senior year.
Gagne, as well as several members of that 1977-78 team, were on hand Thursday.
“He was a special person,” Gagne said. “He was a great leader. I practiced my speech a thousand times and each time it was hard to get through it. It was an emotional night.”
Bessette put the Hawks up for good when he scored a power play goal with 7 minutes, 54 seconds left in the second period to snap a 1-1 game.
Condon, working the point, slid the puck across the ice to Bessette, who ripped it through traffic and past Gardiner goalie Brad Moore to the far side.
Nadeau gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead when he beat Tyler Plante with a low shot from out front just 4:12 into the game.
MHW responded when Plourde scored a power play goal with 3:37 left in the period.
Plourde took a pass from Condon inside the left circle and ripped a shot on net. Moore got his pad on the puck, but it still trickled through and into the net.
“It’s a big win,” MHW coach Andy Dube said. “We knew it was going to be a close one. It always is with these guys. They just kept coming back at us.”
Plante had 28 saves for MHW while Moore had 30 for Gardiner.
Bill Stewart – 621-5640
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