Portsmouth met top seeded Coventry  in the first game of the State Championship Finals Wednesday night and came away with a 4-2 loss.  The first period action, in the game at Providence College’s Schneider Arena,  was almost all in favor of the Knotty Oakers as they outshot the Patriots 10-1.  Portsmouth’s strong defensive play and exceptional goal tending by Matt Maggiacomo kept the Oakers off the scoreboard, and the Patriots in the game, the entire period.  At the first intermission the score was still 0-0.  The game did not remain in a scoreless tie for long, however, once play resumed in the second period.  At 1:24 Coventry broke the game open with the first goal of the game.  Circumstances began to shift in favor of the Patriots when an Oakers’ player was called for a 5 minute major penalty for boarding at the 3:00 mark of the period.  2:46 later Team Captain Matt Abraham picked up the puck, skated in on the Coventry net and scored the first goal of the game for the Patriots.  His unassisted power play tally knotted the game at one goal each, with Portsmouth continuing to skate with the man advantage while the penalized Coventry player remained in the box for over two minutes more.  The opportunity failed to develop for the Patriots, though, and just 21 seconds after Abraham’s goal Portsmouth found itself once again behind in the contest.  Continuing to skate shorthanded on the penalty kill, the Oakers broke in on the Portsmouth zone with a two on one advantage and moved ahead 2-1 with their second goal of the evening.  The Patriots continued to pressure Coventry and at 9:36 of the period, it paid off as Mike Maggiacomo slipped a pass to Aaron Towers who fired it past the Coventry goalie to once again even the score.  At the second intermission the score remained 2-2.  Portsmouth generated more offense in the third period and had several good scoring opportunities, though the team was unable to get the puck past the Oakers net minder.  They also tightened up on defense and limited Coventry’s shots on net, but the Oakers were not done.  With just under four minutes remaining in regulation time, the Coventry managed to score the go-ahead goal to lead the contest 3-2.  The Patriots were unable to get another puck past the Coventry goalie in the time remaining, and the Oakers sealed the deal with their fourth goal of the game with a little over a minute remaining in the period.

The final shot tally was 22 for Coventry and 18 for Portsmouth.  The Patriots outshot the Oakers 17 to 12 in the last two periods.  Portsmouth had one goal on five power play opportunities, including the five minute major assessed to Coventry in the second period.  The team surrendered one shorthanded goal to the Oakers.  The Patriots successful on two penalty kill situations in the game.

The victory gives Coventry a one game lead in the best of three series.  Portsmouth will have a chance to even the series in Game 2, this Saturday at 3:00 pm, once again at Schneider Arena.  With a win the Patriots will force a third and deciding game to determine the Division II State Champion, on Sunday at 8:00 pm, at Schneider Arena.