Brown made 39 saves, including 3 in the shootout, in helping the Leafs beat the Pirates 7-6 in the battle at the MHG Ice Arena.
"I was very pleased with how we played, from start to finish," Leafs coach Will Fay said. "Portland is a good hockey team. They're skilled, and physical and we fought through it. We had a lot of quality goals, and several other great scoring chances. More importantly, we eliminated their prime scoring chances through great team defense, and of course, had great goaltending. The kids really followed the game plan, and deserved the win".
Portland opened up the scoring, and had the Leafs down 2-0 early, followed by a 2 more goals, that were matched by the Leafs in the second period. Scoring for the first for Leafs, on the power play were Matt Delgiudice (Oakland, ME), assisted by Alex Kwon (Los Angeles, CA) & Joel Rosenberg (Sweden), the Leafs added another Power play goal by Fred Hein (N. Reading, MA) assisted by Oleg Popov & Rosenberg.
The Leafs entered the 3rd period down 2-4, but rallied to be leading at one point by a score of 6-4. Scoring twice for Laconia in the 3rd was Adam Krol (Burlington, VT) assisted by Nate Michaud, Cody Reagan (2 assists). Connor Bates (Laconia, NH) added one, assisted by linemate DJ Haskins (Quincy, MA) and new comer Tim Mcaulilffe (N. Reading, MA). Delgiucide added another one late, assisted by Hein & popov. The win was not going to be easy, as the Leafs had a lapse in discipline, putting the Pirates back on the power play, and they scored twice to tie the game at 6 apiece.
Leafs forward Oleg Popov and Alex Kwon finished off Portland in the the shootout, backboned by Leafs goalie Robert Brown.
"This team has worked hard," Leafs assistant coach Chuck Yaeger said about the Leafs "we stood our ground tonight, and never quit.."
