LEWISTON — Another Monday night, another tie between Lewiston and Scarborough in boys’ hockey.
Figuring out which team is better in Class A this year will have to wait until a potential state championship game meeting, should both teams advance that far. One week after playing to a draw, the Blue Devils and the Red Storm did the same thing this week, settling for a 4-4 tie at Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
“We’d like to win,” Lewiston coach Jamie Belleau said.
“It’s better than losing,” Scarborough coach Norm Gagne added.
Both will have to wait.
The Blue Devils (14-1-2) rallied from a 3-1 deficit to take a 4-3 lead with three minutes left in regulation. Then, Red Storm (13-1-3) senior captain Matt Caron sent the game to overtime by scoring with six seconds left.
Jeromey Rancourt had a chance to give Lewiston the win in overtime, but his penalty shot was stopped by Scarborough goalie Ross LeBlond midway through the extra period.
“That save, I thought the game was going to be over right there,” Gagne said. “Ross has come through for us time and time again.”
The Red Storm finished the game on the power play, but weren’t able to take advantage and get the win.
It was a fitting way for a game that saw 12 combined penalties come to an end.
“Penalties took, I thought, the momentum out of the first period,” Belleau said.
Both teams scored on the power play in the first period. Eric Murray opened the scoring for Scarborough — after being called for the game’s first penalty earlier in the frame — then Rancourt answered for the Blue Devils.
Penalty kills dominated the first half of the second period, then the Red Storm dominated the second half. Skylar Pettingill and Cam Nigro both found the back of the net.
“I thought the second period we got lazy,” Belleau said. “Scarborough is responsible for some of that because they do a lot of little things right, but we just didn’t play.”
Kyle Morin sparked Lewiston’s comeback in the third, scoring twice and assisting on Sam Frechette’s goal to put the Blue Devils on top.
“It obviously shows that they can respond to some adversity,” Belleau said.
“I thought that we didn’t stay aggressive in the third,” Gagne said.
LeBlond finished with 32 saves on 36 shots for Scarborough. Jacob Strout made nine saves for Lewiston.
Both coaches said they were frustrated by “dumb penalties” and “poor decisions” throughout the game.
“I thought all in all … it was a heck of a hockey game, both sides,” Gagne said. “Some say we’ll meet again, but it’s a long road through the playoffs. You’ve got to come ready to play every night. You can’t be doing what we did tonight if we want to get back there.”
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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