The Lewiston/Monmouth/Oak Hill’s girls hockey team reacts with shock after losing the North region final on Wednesday night in the Colisee in Lewiston. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
LEWISTON — The third time was the charm for Greely/Gray-New Gloucester.
Leah Walker scored with 2:49 left in the second overtime, giving the Rangers a 4-3 victory over Lewiston/Monmouth/Oak Hill in the girls’ hockey North regional final at Androscoggin Bank Colisee on Wednesday.
“I don’t even know how to describe it, but I just kind of took my breath away and I went like, ‘Oh my gosh, did that actually just happen?'” Walker said. “I would never have thought that I was the one that was going to score that, like I would have hoped, but I didn’t think that it was going to be that when it came down to it.”
The third-seeded Rangers (18-3) finally beat the top-seeded Blue Devils (17-3) in their third try this season, and they finally won the regional final in their third trip in as many years.
“Really knocking on the door for the past few seasons and they finally kind of kicked it in there,” Rangers coach Nate Guerin said. “A lot of Lewiston’s top players are freshmen, so we kind of said we’re not necessarily a better team than them on paper, but we have an appreciation for where we are in the season and what it’s going to take to win this game actually.”
The Rangers scored 14 seconds in, with Molly Horton taking advantage of Courtney Sullivan’s wide shot and bounce off the end boards. Brie Dube fed Jordan Mynahan on a 2-on-1 with Rangers goalie Jordyn Owens to tie it for the Blue Devils with three minutes to go in the first.
“We saw the games that Greely played and they strike quick. They got some outstanding hockey players there, and that was kind of the M.O. They were jumping quick,” Blue Devils coach Ron Dumont said. “So we talked about how we’re going to set up to keep that from happening.”
Sullivan assisted on Madison Pelletier’s goal 59 seconds into the second to re-gain the lead for the Rangers, and Bridget Roberts scored on a breakaway to make it 3-1 less than three minutes in.
“At 3-1 they could have called it quits, packed it in,” Dumont said. “They didn’t. Kept on working.”
Grace Dumond cut the deficit in half with 3:34 to go before the intermission.
Dube tied it with exactly 30 seconds to play in regulation and the goalie pulled, putting in a rebound of Sara Roberts’ initial shot.
“When we were behind, we practiced 6-on-5. I said ‘I hope we don’t need it, but if we do…’ and that worked out for us,” Dumont said.
Blue Devils goalie Camree St. Hilaire made a lunging save on the goal line with 2.5 seconds left to send the game to overtime.
“We just kind of talked about being happy to be in the situation that we were in,” Guerin said. “We’re a shot away at that point. And we kind of had a little chip on our shoulder, we let them back into this game, it’s our job to finish it now.”
The teams traded two shots on goal apiece in the first extra session, and the Blue Devils had the first shot of the second one. But the Rangers had the last three, including one by Pelletier that St. Hilaire stopped at the right post, only for the puck to go behind the net, where it went to Sullivan, then Roberts, who found Walker open in the high slot for the game-winning goal.
“I just knew that I needed to open my mouth, and that’s exactly what I did. I called loud, my teammate looked up, she saw me, she hit me right coming down the middle,” Walker said. “To be completely honest, I just wanted to get the puck off my stick as quickly as possible because I knew that I had to get a hard shot to the net, so I just banged it in.”
“That was just a mad scramble,” Dumont said. “Sometimes that’s the way it goes.”
Owens made 16 saves, while St. Hilaire made 26.
The Rangers now advance to Saturday’s state final against South champion and No. 1 seed Cheverus/Kennebunk.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
Lewiston/Monmouth/Oak Hill’s Gemma Landry scrambles with Greely/Gray-New Gloucester’s Bridget Roberts for control of the puck during Wednesday night’s north final at the Colisee in Lewiston. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)Lewiston/Monmouth/Oak Hill’s Gemma Landry and Greely/Gray-New Gloucester’s Bridget Roberts scuffle next to the bench during Wednesday night’s North final hockey game at the Colisee in Lewiston. Greely/Gray-New Gloucester’s Camilla Lattanzi enters the action from the left. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)Lewiston/Monmouth/Oak Hill’s Katie Lemieux keeps her eye on the goal as Greely/Gray-New Gloucester’s Madison Pellitier plays defense during Wednesday night’s North final hockey game at the Colisee in Lewiston. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)Lewiston/Monmouth/Oak Hill’s Sara Robert takes aim at the goaie Jordyn Owensl as Greely/Gray-New Gloucester’s Camilla Lattanzi tries to interfer during Wednesday night’s North final hockey game at the Colisee in Lewiston. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)Lewiston/Monmouth/Oak Hill’s Grace Dumond slips the puck past Greely/Gray-New Gloucester’s Jordyn Owens to score during Wednesday night’s North final hockey game at the Colisee in Lewiston. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)Lewiston/Monmouth/Oak Hill’s Gemma Landry controls the puck as Greely/Gray-New Gloucester’s Camilla Lattanzi tries top get a stick into the action during Wednesday night’s North final hockey game at the Colisee in Lewiston. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)Lewiston/Monmouth/Oak Hill’s Sara Robert gets tangled with Greely/Gray-New Gloucester’s Camilla Lattanzi during Wednesday night’s North final hockey game at the Colisee in Lewiston. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)Lewiston/Monmouth/Oak Hill’s Sara Robert drives down the ice during Wednesday night’s North final hockey game at the Colisee in Lewiston. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
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