Portland, ME – Zach Sanford and Dominic Corsetto each recorded four-point games as Pinkerton Academy defeated Defending Eastern Class A Champion, Lewiston Blue Devils, 7-3, in the Maine High School Hockey Invitational.

For Pinkerton, the largest independent academy based on enrollment in the United States, it was their first appearance in the Invitational after playing in a tournament based in Salem, NH for the last several years.

“We’ve always done the Salem tournament,” said Pinkerton head coach Casey Kesselring. “We were looking for something that would give the kids a little more of a challenge, a little different competition and exposure and play some teams that we don’t get to see.”

Lewiston hung tough for the first thirty minutes of the game, giving Pinkerton, currently the top-ranked school in Division 1 – equivalent to Class A – New Hampshire boys’ hockey all they could handle with a rough and physical style of play.

The final 15 minutes showed why Pinkerton is constantly considered a powerhouse in the Granite State.

“I think we skated pretty well,” said Lewiston coach Jamie Belleau. “Pinkerton was known to be strong team. They have a pretty talented group especially with that top line with of Sanford, Dudek and Corsetto.”

Lewiston tied the game with less than five minutes to play in the second period.

J.D. Dudek, the son of Joe Dudek who played football for Plymouth State, breaking Walter Payton’s NCAA record for career touchdowns, appearing on the cover of the Sports Illustrated in 1985 as their pick for the Heisman Trophy, was whistled for an unsportsmanlike penalty at the 10:51 mark, setting up the goal only seven seconds later as Devon Beland’s shot from the left circle beat Pinkerton netminder Matt Marchman to even the score at 2.

With 3.6 seconds left on the clock, Pinkerton regained the lead, 3-2, and never looked back as Zach Sanford, a junior who plans to play for the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs next season, jumped on the rebound from Dudek’s initial shot, beating Blue Devils goalie Brian Wigant from the left side.

Pinkerton made it 5-2 scoring twice in the first three minutes of the third period, starting with a snap shot by Mitch Moran from the high slot at 1:32 that squeaked its’ way through traffic past Wigant.

Sanford recorded his second goal of the night with a sharp angle shot from the left side at the 2:58 mark of the period.

Lewiston responded with its second power-play goal of the game – Blue Devils went 2-for-3 in the game with the man advantage – as Kyle Lemelin was credited with the goal as his shot from the right side tipped off Marchman’s glove to make it with 5-3 with 10:40 to play in the game.

Sanford capped off the hat trick, snapping a shot from outside the left circle, beating Wigant to make it 6-3 in favor of Pinkerton.

“(Sanford) is big, can handle the puck and is a really smooth skater,” said Kesselring. “(Dudek) and he are probably two of the better players in high school hockey right now and they’ve played together so long now that they just feed off each other and create matchup problems for other teams.”

Brendan Philippon scored his second goal of the game less than a minute later, ending the night for Wigant in favor of Evan Bourassa.

Lewiston with its’ physical play opened the scoring in the game midway into the first period as Patrick DeBlois, who finished the night with a goal and an assist, ripped a shot through a screen to beat Marchman.

They just ran out of steam as the game progressed as Philippon tied game at 1-1 with a power-play goal just 31 seconds into the second period, followed the go ahead goal at the 5:38 mark by Corsetto.

“We have to play physical in order to have success. I just think we ran out of gas a little bit, but overall, against a very good team, we have a lot of good things to build on and some things we need to work on.”