BRUNSWICK — Mt. Ararat/Lisbon/Morse kept shooting, and shooting, and shooting against Lake Region/Fryeburg/Oxford Hills on Thursday night. All those shots were almost for not, as the Eagles faced defeat with less than a minute left to play. But clutch goals by Tyler Halls and Tyler Lacascio turned near-certain defeat into a 4-3, overtime victory over the Ice Cats in a Class A boys’ hockey game at Watson Arena.
The Eagles (6-4) had nearly double the number of shots on goal as the Ice Cats (3-8-1), and kept adding to that total with a 3-2 deficit in the third period. Ice Cats goalie Trent Spaulding kept turning away shots — many in bunches — as time ticked away.
Spaulding stopped 15 shots in the first 14 minutes of the third before teammate Cam Hill went to the penalty box for roughing. The Eagles had already pulled goalie Cade Charron and had a 6-on-4 advantage looking for the game-tying goal.
That goal came with exactly 40 seconds left, with Halls firing a shot from the top of the right circle as Spaulding was screened by Cam Grant.
“He was great,” Eagles coach AJ Kavanaugh said of Halls, who made the call to put Grant in front of the net. “He kind of started slow. But as the game gets tight, the game gets kind of into the desperation mode, he picks his game up. He’s done that for us all year long.”
The Eagles then dominated the eight-minute overtime, pelting eight shots at Spaulding as the extra period went into its eighth minute. The ninth shot finally felled Spaulding and the Ice Cats. Lacascio took a pass from Noah Austin and didn’t miss on his shot from near the left post with 25.7 seconds remaining. Austin also assisted on Hall’s game-tying goal.
As big as the comeback win was for the Eagles, it was equally as devastating for the Ice Cats, who led for much of the game.
“We can look at it as a tough loss, or we can look at the game in its entirety,” Ice Cats coach Dave Lepage said. “It’s tough to lose an overtime game like that, but we’re pretty proud of the way we played.”
The Eagles recorded the first four shots of the game, but it was the Ice Cats who converted one first. Huxley Lovering beat Charron from between the circles on the Ice Cats’ first shot 2:32 into the game.
“No matter what the shot count is, any hockey team’s going to play better when they’re in the lead,” Lepage said. “They came out with a flurry. We came out and put the first goal in the net.”
Nick Austin answered for the Eagles five minutes later, re-directing a pass from Austin Fournier between Spaulding and the left post.
Halls nearly made it 2-1 with five seconds left, but hit the side of the net with a shot. He then missed just wide one minute into the second period.
An Ice Cats power play five minutes into the second quickly turned into 4-on-4, then a 4-on-3 in favor of the Eagles. The hosts had chances on the man-advantage, and had a short two-man advantage, but the Ice Cats instead took advantage of the situation. Nick Lepage, guilty party of the first Ice Cats penalty, jumped out of the box, got behind the defense, and scored 11 seconds after being freed for a shorthanded goal.
Kavanaugh called it a “very big, deflating goal,” but for the Ice Cats it was “absolutely huge,” according to Lepage.
“Smart play. Comes out of the box, goes straight to net with it,” the Ice Cats coach said. “Hockey’s a funny game like that.”
The Ice Cats scored another special-team goal later in the period. Kaleb Currier connected from the top of the right circle on the power play with just over three minutes left.
Nick Austin cut the Eagles’ deficit in half with 10.6 seconds remaining in the second.
“Nick Austin played the game of his life — two goals,” Kavanaugh said. “Smallest kid on our team, camped out in front of the net, scored both his goals from being good net-front presence. That was huge momentum swing for us late in the second.”
Despite giving up four goals — one in each period — Spaulding finished with 42 saves for the Ice Cats.
“Trent played a heck of a game,” Lepage said. “He played lights out most of the game. He’s done that for us all year long.”
Lepage didn’t let the stunning turn of events sour his outlook on the game, focusing instead on the heart and effort his team showed against a hungry opponent.
For Kavanaugh and the Eagles, it was a sweet victory — and a much-needed one at that.
“The full Heal points are huge,” Kavanaugh said. “They’re a Class A team. They’ve had a few wins. They’re probably going to win some more, especially with the way they play in net.
“A tie would have been good, much better than a loss, but the win was huge.”
wkramlich@sunjournal.com.
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