Auburn, ME - The Central Maine Community College hockey team opened the season with an exhibition match against Bridgton Academy last night. The Mustangs who had not played a hockey game in 599 days due to Covid, got off to a slow start and were not able to recover from an early 4 goal deficit.

The Mustangs came out of the gate slow and were careless with the puck from the beginning. '' at this level you can't turn the puck over like we did tonight and expect to have success,'' Said Coach Knoren.

"We got out-worked in the first period and credit to Bridgton who immediately put us under pressure from the start,''

Going down 4-0 into the first intermission, the Mustangs were able to find some life due to a couple great shifts to create momentum.  Cody Ivey was able to skate down the right side and beat the goaltender shortside to make the game 4-1, Unfortunately, Bridgton was able to cash in on a Mustang penalty to make the game 5-1.  '' I felt like the team really started to get some momentum in the second period, but unfortunately the fifth goal took that momentum away,'' said Knoren. 

Third period was a back and forth game as the Mustangs tried to find their identity. ''Playing 4 games in 5 days will really test our team, I thought the second and third period was much better and we started taking better care of the puck. "I want to give credit to some of the depth players who kept it simple and got pucks deep and got to work,'' said Coach Knoren.  The Mustangs would end up dropping their home opener 7-1 to Bridgton Academy.

"We can't feel sorry for ourselves; this was a tough reality test but we know what to expect when the puck drops tomorrow in Darmouth for our first ACHA regular season game tomorrow night,'' Said Coach Knoren.

The Men's Hockey team would like to thank all the fans who came out to support the team and are looking forward to being back in our home rink this weekend for two more ACHA Regular season matchups.