MIRAMICHI - The Miramichi Rae's Yamaha Rivermen dropped two in a row with a 5-2 loss to the Moncton Flyers in N.B./P.E.I. Major Midget AAA action Saturday at the Lord Beaverbrook Arena.
Rivermen assistant coach Carl Watters said some of the Flyers' goals came off lucky bounces that managed to get past the Rivermen goalie.
"You take those couple goals out of there, it's a different ball game."
Moncton broke the game open early with three goals in the first period. None of them were soft as Miramichi goalie Julien Daigle faced 36 shots through two periods of play.
The game winner came off a shot that trickled in behind Daigle as he sprawled out and tried to sweep it out with his glove, but caught it just after it slid past the goal line.
Tommy Bezeau scored the Rivermen's first goal with 2:23 left in the first on hard shot that slipped in over the Flyers' goalie Aaron Hamilton's left shoulder.
Moncton struck twice more in the second and shut out the Rivermen to take a four goal lead into the third.
When the teams came back on the ice, Berthier Robichaud replaced Daigle in net and managed to stop all 11 shots in the third period.
The Rivermen scored the period's only goal when Chris Ingersoll's shot hit Hamilton's arm and deflected into the net.
Rejean Martin, Alexander Scully, Sawyer Hannay all scored a goal a piece and Allain Saulnier netted a pair in for the Flyers.
After the game, Watters said it was hard for the Rivermen to come back once they got behind.
"The kids have to be mentally strong enough when they get behind. They have to be able to pull themselves out of it."
Last week the Rivermen lost 6-0 to the Saint John Vitos, but Watters said he didn't think the lopsided loss had much to do with Saturday's game because Moncton is a first place team.
"They played like a first place team."
As for the usually solid Daigle's struggles Saturday night, Watters said he had trouble holding on to the puck against the Flyers.
"He seemed to be fighting the puck a lot."
The loss dropped the Rivermen to 10-17-1 before their Sunday game against the Fredericton Canadiens.
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