ROCKPORT — The senior night celebration for the Camden Hills ice hockey team Saturday, Feb. 15 became even more memorable when the host Windjammers handed Hampden Academy its first loss of the season at the Midcoast Recreation Center in Rockport. 

Entering the game, the host Windjammers knew the expectations were at an all-time high for the showdown Camden Hills would ultimately win 4-2 in front of a packed house. 

“We wanted to pick up as many heal points as possible prior to the post season and most of all we wanted to prevent Hampden Academy from rolling into playoffs undefeated and let the league and ourselves what we were bringing to the post season, said Camden Hills head coach John Magri. “Put simply we put self-imposed pressure on ourselves and made this a big game.”

The scoring opened when Khaleb Hale netted a power play goal three minutes into the contest courtesy a Cooper Leland and Cam Henderson assist. 

With seven minutes off the clock in the opening period, Hayden Thibealut tallied an unassisted goal for the Windjammers, which promoted another tally from Hale, once again off a Leland and Henderson assist merely 25 seconds later. 

“The key to the rest of the game was our 100% commitment to a strong forecheck and heavy work ethic when it came to the back check,” said Magri. “We basically shut down Hampden’s defensemen when it came to quarterbacking their forwards out of the zone and contained their forwards in our end by taking away time and space. It was a two period effort that never waned. The work ethic was something that was commendable across the board. The whole team.” 

Six minutes into the second period, Quinn Brown tied the contest 2-2 courtesy a Camden Powell assist. 

The Windjammers scored twice in the third period with Charlie Griebel (assisted by Nicholas Tausek and Jason Greenleaf) and Ben Wells (assisted by Noah Quesnel) netting tallies. 

In the goalkeeper net, Jackson Bernier recorded 18 saves for the host Windjammers. 

With the win, Camden Hills advances to 10-4-3 on the season with its regular season finale set for Wednesday, Feb. 19 on the road in Bangor against John Bapst at 6:30 p.m.

The Windjammers now sit atop the Class B North divisional rankings with 114.8457 points, just barely above second place Hampden Academy (112.0216). 

Reach the sports department at: sports@penbaypilot.com.