LEWISTON — Lewiston boys’ hockey team needed another third-period comeback Saturday night to defeat Bangor 3-2 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
The rally occurred during a heart-pounding final few minutes, as all three of Lewiston’s goals were scored with 3:08 or less remaining in the third period.
Blue Devils head coach Jamie Belleau is glad his kids pulled out the victory, especially since the effort they showed didn’t reflect the score for most of the game.
“The most thing I am pleased about, I think that’s the best first period we played,” Belleau said. “… We had a lot of positives to say to the kids in the first and second intermissions. They scored two goals on two mistakes, so we can learn from that, because playoff hockey, that’s what can happen.”
Belleau was pleased how the players bounced back against a team as good as Bangor (11-3) after losing to South Portland/Freeport/Waynflete 5-1 on Wednesday.
On the losing side, the Colisee continues to haunt the Rams after they gave up a two-goal lead. But head coach Quinn Paradis hopes they have a few more trips to Lewiston this winter, during the postseason.
“Eventually, hopefully, the curse goes away,” Paradis said. “We came a lot closer today, we had had a big-character test and look forward to get another chance at them in the playoffs. My goaltender did everything he could for us. Unfortunately, again, we ran out of gas in the third period. (Being) in penalty trouble was the deciding factor at the end.”
Goalie Jacob Henry was outstanding for Bangor, stopping the first 25 shots he saw in the game.
After making key saves throughout the night, it was a shot that looked like an easy stop that beat him. Lewiston’s Sam Payne unleashed a shot from the blue line that stayed on the ice the whole way and went right through Henry’s wickets with 3:08 remaining.
Henry made 28 saves on the night, while Shawn Chabot had 16 saves for Lewiston.
The Blue Devils (14-2) officially grabbed the momentum 44 seconds later when Ben St. Laurent found a loose puck in front of Henry’s cage to tie the game up.
“It was a pretty crazy period,” Ben St. Laurent said. “We got some lucky bounces and we must have (outshot them at 3-to-1 ratio). I got a lucky bounce on my stick, and I managed to poke it in.”
Amidst the celebration, a Bangor player was knocked down by Blue Devils forward Michael Belleau and a penalty was called and the Rams went their fourth power play of the evening. The Rams caught a bit of a break when a big hit that sent a Lewiston player head-first into the boards ended up not being a penalty, but moments later Bangor wasn’t as lucky when Zach Burpee was sent to the box for tripping with 2:06 remaining.
Three of the four Bangor power plays ended because it took a penalty.
“The game is meant to be hard, the game is meant to have adversity, you got to weather the storm,” Belleau said. “You got to be mentally strong and I thought we kept our composure towards the end despite that.”
Ryan Pomerleau played the role of hero by tipping in a Sam Laroche shot with 33 seconds remaining in the game. It was the Blue Devils first power play goal on six chances.
“I think that was a momentum shift right there,” Pomerleau said of Burpee’s penalty. “We got that power play and we went to work on it.”
After being outshot 14-3 in the scoreless first period, Bangor who got on the board first. The puck was moved around in the Rams’ offensive zone and Burpee let go a slap shot at the top of the left circle at the 5:56 mark.
Bangor went into the second intermission with a 2-0 lead after Josh Sherwood lifted a backhander past Chabot with 1:14 remaining in the period.
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