BANGOR, Maine — When the puck was dropped for the opening faceoff between John Bapst and Houlton in their high school hockey playoff game at Sawyer Arena on Tuesday, the John Bapst Crusaders found themselves staring at a familiar jersey.
Their own.
The Houlton team had forgotten their jerseys, so they had to borrow John Bapst’s gray jerseys while the Crusaders wore their black jerseys.
The black jerseys beat the gray jerseys 5-0. John Bapst moved on to the Class B North semifinals on Friday.
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this,” said Houlton coach Tony Marino. “It was really bizarre. It was hard to keep track of who was who.”
The Houlton Blackhawks are a cooperative team that also includes players from Hodgdon and Katahdin schools.
“It was interesting,” said Blackhawks junior center and leading scorer Pat Marino, Tony’s son. “It was tough. You look up and you see ‘Crusaders’ and it’s like the same jersey.”
The younger Marino was wearing Owen Marryatt’s No. 15 John Bapst jersey instead of his usual No. 9 Blackhawks jersey.
“But it really wasn’t that bad because it was gray versus black so, in the end, it didn’t really matter,” Pat Marino said.
John Bapst standout senior defenseman Nick Needham said the game was “a little interesting but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”
“It was a simple mistake,” Needham said about the jersey situation. “Everyone forgets their jersey at some time.”
Like Houlton, John Bapst is a cooperative team that also includes players from Hermon, Bangor Christian, and Deer Isle-Stonington.
“It was a little weird looking at the other team and seeing our own jerseys,” said John Bapst senior center and leading scorer Will Bourgeois. “It confused us.”
Blackhawks coach Marino said the mixup stemmed from the excitement provided by a parade and escort for the team as it left Houlton.
“We haven’t made the playoffs in a while,” said Marino, explaining the high level of excitement. “It was all right. Worse things could have happened.”
After the first period, John Bapst goalie Trenton Zetes, who was backing up Cam Leighton, approached the Houlton goalie, whose first name is also Trenton, Trenton Soucy, and they had a good-natured chat.
Soucy was wearing Zetes’ gray jersey.
“I asked him how it felt wearing a different number,” said Zetes. “We were chatting it up, having a good time.”
They had their picture taken together after the game.
It wasn’t the only mirror-image moment, with some game action featuring players going head-to-head while wearing the same jersey. At times, for example, it seemed like Bourgeois was playing defense against himself. But that was Houlton defenseman Ryker Forbush wearing Bourgeois’ gray jersey.
John Bapst Athletic Director Dan O’Connell had never witnessed something like Tuesday night’s jersey situation before in any sport, not in 21 years as a coach and 15 as an administrator. But he said the Crusaders were happy to help out.
“Absolutely, let’s play hockey,” O’Connell said before the game. “The Houlton kids came all the way down here to play a playoff game, and we want to support them every way we can. And if that means lending them a set of sweaters so we can get this playoff game in, we’ll do it.”
As for the game itself, the top-seeded Crusaders received two goals and an assist from Needham; a goal and an assist apiece from Bourgeois and senior defenseman Silas Comstock; and a goal from senior left wing Marryatt along with two assists apiece from junior left wing Cooper Lewis and sophomore defenseman Owen Hart.
Sophomore right wing Nate Marryatt, Owen’s brother, had an assist and freshman Leighton stopped all seven shots he faced.
Junior goalie Soucy was outstanding for the Blackhawks, making 36 saves including several top-notch stops.
The hard-working Houlton team turned in an admirable effort but the top-ranked Crusaders were simply too skilled and too fast.
Needham and Bourgeois were difference-makers with their speed and skill.
Bourgeois opened the scoring with his 22nd goal of the season as he took a pass from Comstock on a two-on-one and fired a shot from the left faceoff circle that slipped between the pads of Soucy with four minutes left in the first period.
Comstock scored his fifth of the campaign from a similar spot just 1:47 later.
Needham scored his 12th of the season just 46 seconds into the middle period and the Crusaders added third-period goals by Owen Marryatt, also his 12th, and Needham.
“The kids worked really hard. I was proud of their effort,” said Marino. “We’re very young and very inexperienced.”
John Bapst improved to 17-1-1 and is now 10-0-1 in its last 11 games. The Crusaders will now face their Sawyer Arena partners and fifth seed Hampden Academy, 11-7-1, in Friday night’s semifinal at the Jack Kelley Rink in the O’Neil and O’Donnell Forum at Colby College in Waterville.
The game time hadn’t been determined as of Tuesday night.
Second seed Cony of Augusta and its eight school co-op team will meet third seed Messalonskee of Oakland in the other semifinal.
BDN Sports Editor Matt Junker contributed to this story.
