LEWISTON — Edward Little freshman Campbell Cassidy made the biggest highlight play of the game, but then had to watch from the penalty box as his classmate made the most important plays of Friday’s Class A quarterfinal.
Freshman goalie Gage Ducharme made 14 of his 28 saves in the third period, the last one a denial of St. Dom’s Lucas Pushard on a wraparound in the final seconds of the game, to secure the Red Eddies’ 1-0 victory over the Saints at Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
Cassidy called it nerve-wracking to have to sit in the penalty box for the final 40 seconds of the game and watch as the second-seeded Saints (14-5) tried to tie the game on the power play.
“I was so worried there, but I knew our goalie was going to keep us in it there,” said Cassidy, who has been playing with Ducharme his whole career. “My faith in him is big.”
Seventh-seeded Red Eddies (10-10) coach Norm Gagne called Cassidy’s tripping penalty “eery,” and not one he wanted to see after his team lost heartbreaking games late earlier in the season.
“I think the last five minutes was really, really crucial,” Gagne said. “And I got to tell you, our freshman goalie played a super game tonight. I mean, he was just outstanding.”
Gagne said his team was able to bottle up the Saints for most of the game, but then the defending state champs turned it on in the final minutes.
“They wanted to win and they just put that little extra out there, even though they were tired,” St. Dom’s coach Dan D’Auteuil said.
The Saints nearly tied it at the end of the second period, and they thought they did, but a replay — much like the bounces, in D’Auteuil’s opinion — didn’t go their way.
A shot came firing in on Ducharme from the right side with 10 seconds to go, then came out of the net area, but the nearby official made an emphatic “no-goal” sign. A replay upheld the call.
“We saw that it hit the back inside crossbar, but from the replay up top they said that it didn’t cross the line, so nothing we can do,” D’Auteuil said.
“We moved on from that, and we just knew we had 15 more minutes to do everything they got, and they did,” D’Auteuil added. “We battled as hard as we could, just couldn’t buy that goal. You know, a freshman goaltender played a hell of a game.”
D’Auteuil also liked how his senior goalie Alex Roy played, making 18 saves, but Edward Little junior captain Will Cassidy sneaked a shot by him late in the first period.
Cassidy’s younger brother was the middle man on the play, and stood at center stage for the highlight. Logan Alexander flipped a pass from the right boards to Campbell Cassidy, whose spinning pass at the right circle found its way to his older brother at the left post.
“Logan, getting his head up, and I’ve been preaching that. If we play with our heads up we make plays, and we did that tonight,” Gagne said.
“I didn’t know where Will was, but Logan was yelling behind me, and then Logan gave it to me,” Campbell Cassidy said.
“It was just huge for us to go up early, gave us all the momentum,” Cassidy added. “Yeah, it was big.”
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