HALLOWELL — Most coaches will tell you that what’s really important is how a team reacts from adversity. That being the case, Cony/Hall-Dale/Monmouth hockey coach Chad Foye was all smiles Saturday night.

The Rams rebounded from a game-tying goal early in the second period and dispatched of the Gray-New Gloucester/Poland/Oak Hill/Leavitt co-op, pulling away to a 4-1 Class A North win at the Camden National Bank Ice Vault. Senior captain Thomas Arps scored his first two goals of the season in the victory.

It was exactly what Foye was looking for, particularly against a Kings team that was directly ahead of Cony in the most recent Heal point standings — the same team that stung the Rams with a bitter defeat just over two weeks prior.

“I’m really happy with that,” Foye said “I’m happy with the effort, I’m happy with the outcome, but you always want to look to get better, too.”

“I’m glad we stepped up to the task, especially when it got physical out there,” the defenseman Arps said. “The boys were tough, played hard and never gave up. Last time we played them, it got a little physical and ended up getting (goaltender Dalton Bowie) hurt. I’m glad we stood up for him and stood up for ourselves tonight.”

A pair of penalties put Cony (8-4-0) down two men early in the second, and Gray-New Gloucester senior Hunter Soucy was camped on the doorstep to jam home his shot to tie the game at 1-1 at the 2:50 mark. Bowie — who was injured when these two teams first met back on Jan. 11, in a 5-2 Kings win — remained down on the ice following the goal, and he stayed down for attention from the athletic trainer for more than six minutes.

Bowie stayed in the game, and Cony made sure he wouldn’t take any more abuse. The Rams held the visitors without a shot for the next 10 minutes, long enough for Zack Whitney to score on the power play at 10:37 of the second period.

Cony carried that 2-1 lead into the final frame, where Arps scored at 5:42, with a wrist shot from the left point through traffic, and Avery Pomerleau added insurance three minutes later. Bowie (14 saves) was only called upon to make three third-period saves, though two of them were point-blank darts.

In all, Gray-New Gloucester managed just five shots in the 27-plus minutes after tying the score at 1 apiece.

“Some of those were right in tight on him. Some of those were good, hard shots,” Foye said. “(Bowie) stepped up, especially after he got rocked there. I’m really happy with that one.”

Cony scored the only goal of the opening period following a sluggish start.

Cole Lockhart gloved the puck down in the right wing circle and centered for Arps, who cut into the slot off the near point. Arps snapped his shot under the crossbar to the far side for his first goal of the year.

“It was really nice. It’s like a monkey off my back,” Arps said of cracking the goal-scoring column. “I’ve been shooting a lot of pucks and I just haven’t been able to hit the net. I’ve been hitting a lot of glass. I was glad to finally get one, and then I was happy to get a second one, too.”

The goal came on just the third shot of the period for the Rams, who were at least equally effective at closing down opportunities for the visitors. Gray-NG had a hard time generating their own chances in the opening 15 minutes. They finished with seven shots, but four of those came via two power plays in the first half of the period.

Travis Barrett — 621-5621

tbarrett@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TBarrettGWC

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