Cony/Hall-Dale/Erskine/Winthrop/Monmouth goalie Landon Foster, left, defends the net as Messalonskee forward Owen Kirk looks to get his stick on the puck during a game last season at Bonnefond Ice Arena at Kents Hill School in Readfield. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
HALLOWELL — It’s strange to picture Maine high school hockey without Shawn Johnson leading the Cony boys team, but as the new year approaches, the Rams are in a new era.
After three decades, Johnson is no longer the man in charge of the red and white. In has stepped Doug Dieuveuil, who is himself growing into the role as his Cony co-op looks to improve on last year’s 2-15-1 mark.
“Being able to grow a team from the bottom up, it’s huge, and it’s an honor,” Dieuveuil said. “Over the past 30 years, Shawn instilled a culture of hard work and a good work ethic, and as we go forward, I can see it in the team. They’re ready to go, and it’s exciting.”
Dieuveuil, a former John Bapst goaltender (Class of 2009) as well as a football player for both the Crusaders and Husson, was an assistant coach for the Winslow/Gardiner/Waterville co-op before being tabbed to replace Johnson in the spring. He also coached youth hockey in Maine as well as in Pennsylvania.
He takes over a roster that, despite last year’s mark, is on solid footing. Most of the players last year have returned, giving Cony, which also draws players from Monmouth Academy, Erskine Academy, Mt. Blue and Richmond, plenty of depth with a roster of 25 kids. Some of the players who got their first hacks at varsity action last year now have the experience under their belts they didn’t have a year ago.
“We have some really good kids, and they’ve really responded well to us as a coaching staff,” Dieuveuil said. “We make a pretty good team as a coaching staff, and the kids see that, so it’s been really positive in terms of both their response to the coaches and how they’re playing on the ice.”
It’s shown as Cony (2-2) has already matched last year’s two wins. The Rams have been competitive in every game thus far, defeating Winslow/Gardiner/Waterville (4-2) and Marshwood/Traip Academy/Sanford/Noble (2-1) and falling to Camden Hills (5-2) and Portland/South Portland (3-2 in overtime).
The Portland/South Portland loss, which came Thursday night, was a tough one for Cony as the Beacons edged the Rams in overtime. Dieuveuil said Cony, which had played its third game in two days after competing in a two-game tournament the day before, said his team’s spirit hasn’t weakened.
“We hate to lose — I don’t think anyone likes to lose — but after the game, we took a few minutes to talk about it and were able to move forward,” Dieuveuil said. “Their morale is up, and they continue to work hard, and they’re excited to come back out and get after it today at practice.”
There are more tests coming for Cony, which faces strong Presque Isle and Hampden Academy teams in early January after opening the new calendar year against Houlton/Hodgdon/Katahdin. To keep the growth coming, Dieuveuil sees a few areas where the Rams can improve.
“I’d like to see us put more pucks in the net and be more solid in the defensive zone in terms of pushing the puck forward,” Dieuveuil said. “I want to play with pace, and I want to be aggressive, so as they keep growing, I’d like to see that improvement in all three zones and to be disciplined.”
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Winslow/Gardiner/Cony/Messalonskee/Lawrence/Erskine/Maranacook/Mt. Blue freshman forward Katie Berard, center, is hugged by teammates after she scored first period goal during a Class A North quarterfinal game last season at The Camden National Bank Ice Vault in Hallowell. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
At 3-5, the Black Tigers don’t have the mark Bill Boardman hoped they’d have at this point in the season. Still, the head coach of the central Maine-based girls co-op isn’t worried.
After the adverse circumstances of last week, Boardman has seen plenty of positives from the Black Tigers’ past two performances. He also remembers what happened last season, when the team looked sluggish toward the beginning of the season but hit its stride toward the second half.
“I certainly thought we’d have one or two more wins than we do at this point, but things are coming together,” Boardman said. “We’re kind of where we were a year ago; we had a slow first half of the season and then rattled off some wins in the second half and peaked at the right time.”
Last week, the Black Tigers, who draw players from Cony, Erskine Academy, Gardiner, Lawrence, Maranacook, Messalonskee and Winslow, suffered a 5-2 loss to Brunswick. That defeat came after the team had only one practice all week as a result of the major storm that pummeled the region.
Although the team started slow that game, Boardman was pleased with how his team seemed to match the Dragons after falling into a 3-0 hole. He took some similar positives from Tuesday’s 6-2 loss to Yarmouth/Freeport, a game that, despite the result, he felt was one of the Black Tigers’ best of the season.
“Even though we lost that game, I think it was one of the toughest games we played; it was a positive loss for us,” Boardman said. “I think ice time has been a factor just because of weather and school cancellations. … That Brunswick game, we had one practice before that, and they had been practicing all week.”
The Black Tigers have gotten the bulk of their offense from Katie Berard, who leads the state in goals scored (20) and total points (30). Elsewhere, Leah Michaud, who switched to forward this year after playing defense her entire life, has slowly settled in with seven goals of her own.
Last season, the Black Tigers started 4-3 before finishing the regular season 9-2, a stretch that included six straight wins to enter the postseason. It’s something Boardman fully expects to happen again with the second half of the campaign just around the corner.
“That’s kind of how our program is,” Boardman said. “Something we talk about all the time is peaking at the right time and developing our players over the season. That development is a big piece, and I think we’re seeing that and are ready to win some games.”
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