Lewiston Porter has more depth this season than coach Kevin Kirsch expected, from the young forwards who have contributed to the Lancers’ 25 goals in their first four league games to the three goalies on the varsity roster.
On Sunday night, sophomore goaltender Nicholas Shotwell made his debut against Lockport, and he recorded a shutout as the Lancers won 5-0.
“I was a bit nervous, but we got out there, we got the win, we got the shutout,” Shotwell said.
The first shot Shotwell faced was a penalty shot in the first period, and he came up with the save. He faced 20 more shots over the course of the game and stopped them all.
“We just wanted to get him a game,” Kirsch said of starting Shotwell on Sunday. “We’ve got three good goalies, and we looked at the schedule and planned it out, and we figured it’s time to get him in the net because we’ve been going at it for a month already. So he started off his first shot, a penalty shot; that’s a little interesting, but he did a great job. Played very solid. Very happy for him.”
“Nick Shotwell played pretty good,” said senior forward Evan Korpolinski. “First varsity start, did super good. The penalty shot in the beginning was huge.”
That, of course, was the save that stuck out the most in Shotwell’s memory.
“I was a bit nervous, but I just ended up stopping it,” Shotwell said. “That’s all that matters.”
As for the offense, Korpolinski scored Lew-Port’s fifth goal. But he was one of only two seniors to score as his younger teammates stepped up.
Junior Braden Regis scored 5:44 into the first period, and senior Kurt Magers followed with a goal 8:47 into the first. Sophomore Mat Carden, who scored four goals in Lew-Port’s win over Kenmore West last Sunday, added to the Lancers’ lead 6:51 into the second. Junior Jacob Lombardi scored with less than three minutes left in the second, and the Lancers carried a 4-0 lead into the third.
Korpolinski carried some frustration from earlier in the game into the third period, as he had failed to score on a few chances earlier. He was bound to put one in the net soon, and it happened just 1:14 into the third.
“I couldn’t hit the net, but finally got one on net and it went in,” Korpolinski said.
Junior defenseman Andrew Carrigan assisted Korpolinski’s goal for his second helper of the game. Sophomore Jacob Thomason also had two assists.
“We got young guys stepping up,” Korpolinski said. “We got a couple seniors stepping up. We’re just doing a pretty good job putting the puck on the net.”
“I’m pleasantly surprised with the depth that we have,” Kirsch said. “Everybody’s chipping in and contributing, so we can roll three or four lines if we need to, so that’s great for them.”
The Lancers worked hard for Sunday’s win.
“We were working hard, getting the puck in their zone, putting the puck in the net,” Shotwell said.
“We’re happy with it,” Kirsch said of his team’s 4-0 start. “The guys are playing hard, working hard, playing a team game. We didn’t know what to expect coming in, so I’m happily surprised. They’re just playing hard. We talk about it in the locker room: play relentless hockey and keep your feet moving and put pressure on the puck, and pressure creates turnovers, turnovers creates opportunities, so the guys are doing a great job.”
Korpolinski wants to see his teammates work even harder and apply even more pressure to their opponent than they did on Sunday.
“We could have put a little more pressure on them because pressure creates opportunities, but we did a pretty good job overall,” he said. “I’d like to keep up winning games and keep the pressure because pressure creates the goals that we score.”
But the 4-0 start is a surprise even to Korpolinski, as his younger teammates continue to contribute and surprise him with what they can do.
“I didn’t expect that coming in at all, but the young kids are stepping up big time,” Korpolinski said.
And Shotwell, of course, is excited to be a part of it.
“It was a great win, and can’t wait to keep pushing it,” Shotwell said. “Four-and-oh. It’s very good. I’m excited about it.”