LEWISTON — Dominik Bogdziul may not want to get on the bus that takes the Jr. Senators home to Binghamton, New York.
The 18-year-old scored five times and added two assists in the Jr. Senators 11-0 victory over the L/A Fighting Spirit on Sunday afternoon in front of 435 fans at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
He now has 24 goals and 40 assists in 21 games this season.
“He has been a very consistent player for us,” Binghamton Jr. Senators coach Chris Laganiere said. “We really count on him to spark us offensively. So far, he has done that for us.
“It’s not just him, it’s other guys. The two other guys he plays with — Conor (Landrigan) and Ryan Reifler — they are two good players as well. That line, they complement each other and feed off each other.”
Reifler had two goals and two assists, while Landrigan had a goal and three assists.
The Jr. Senators completed the weekend sweep of the Fighting Spirit. They also won 5-1 Saturday night when Bogdziul had a pair of goals and two assists.
“We talked about yesterday’s game where he played 54, 55 minutes of good hockey, like, we can play with that team,” L/A Fighting Spirit coach Rod Simmons said. “Then we had some tired penalties at the end, a couple of mental breakdowns; that’s what happened. We came out with a good jump today, but we fell into breakaways and one goal off our skate and in. We are down 3-0 with the drop of the hat. So it takes the steam out, you know what I mean?”
Bogdziul opened the scoring 4:18 into the game, with Reifler ad Cole Skelly getting the assists.
Reifler made it 2-0, scoring after serving a penalty. He stole the puck away from a Fighting Spirit defender at the right circle, then proceeded across the ice and slipped the puck in on the backhand at the seven-minute mark of the opening period.
Bogdziul struck again while the Jr. Senators had a five minute power play that was the result of L/A’s Kyle Secor being sent off for contact to the head. Bogdziul’s marker came with 6:43 remaining in the opening period on an unassisted effort.
Binghamton was 2-for-5 on the power play, while the Fighting Spirit were scoreless on their two chances.
Bogdziul continued his goal-scoring prowess by tallying the first two goals of the middle frame. Reifler set up the first one 2:48 into period. Bodgziul made it 5-0 as he unleashed a wrister from the slot that was set up by Skelly and Landrigan at the 6:21 mark.
That goal sent goalkeeper Michael Errico to the Fighting Spirit bench after making eight saves on 13 chances. Chris Schmitt relieved Errico and had six saves on four shots before being pulled for Errico. In Errico’s second stint in net he made seven saves on nine chances.
Binghamton’s Steven Schmitt made all 32 saves for the shutout.
“We don’t care what the score is, but obviously in that situation where he has a chance for a shutout, you could hear the guys on the bench, we preach it as well, ‘Lets play for Schmitt, lets play for our goalie,'” Laganiere said. “He helped us in the beginning of the game.”
Landrigan tallied his 24th goal of the year at the 9:05 mark aided by Bogdziul’s helper. Landrigan assisted on Reifler’s 13th goal of the season, with William Darling adding a secondary assist. Jeremy Wilber potted his 20th goal of the season on the power play as Bodgziul notched his 40th assist of the season. Tyler Uravage also had a helper on the goal.
“They are a good skating team, I won’t take (anything away), they are skilled,” Simmons said. “You know what? Their goaltender faced (32) shots and he didn’t waver. We got beat by a better team today. We told our guys they had to rise to the occasion. Adversity builds character.”
Jack Allen made it 9-0 early in the third period. Bogdziul made it 10-0 6:34 into the third, and Wilber scored his second of the game with 1:41 remaining.
nfournier@sunjournal.com
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