Unfortunately for the Rams it wasn’t enough, and Fournier proved breakable in the third. Fournier made 35 saves, but the Blue Devils put six shots past him for a 6-3 victory in a Class A North boys’ hockey semifinal at Androscoggin Bank Colisee on Saturday night.
“He’s the real deal,” Lewiston coach Jamie Belleau said of Fournier. “I’m just glad that our kids continued to persevere.”
Fournier had limited the top-ranked Blue Devils (15-2-2) to two goals in an overtime loss for Bangor when the teams met at the Colisee during the regular season, then put up a 40-save shutout in Bangor to end the regular season.
That was Lewiston’s last game before Saturday’s semifinal, and the Blue Devils were at last able to solve the junior netminder the third time around.
“If you put six on him, that’s good. That’s a win for you,” Lewiston sophomore forward Alex Rivet said.
The fourth-seeded Rams (10-8-2) scored on their first shot nine minutes into the game. Cam Burpee was able to slide a shot under Lewiston goalie Jacob Strout on the power play.
The Blue Devils had the game’s first seven shots before Burpee got Bangor’s first, and it took Lewiston until its 11th shot to finally beat Fournier. Rivet put back a rebound from Joe Bisson with less than two minutes to go in the first period.
Rivet scored again just seconds before the first intermission, pouncing on a Jeromey Rancourt before firing a shot past Fournier on a power play with 6.7 seconds left.
Fournier was up to his tricks again in the second period, and also was helped out by some luck. One chance slid under him but out of the crease, another was cleared out by a defender, and a second shot slid harmlessly through the crease in the second.
Lewiston couldn’t convert on its first 14 shots of the period, but Griffin Wade made the next one count, slipping a short-handed breakaway shot — one that he actually lost control of — under Fournier with 1:11 to go in the second.
“Derek came in, he’s like, ‘I wasn’t ready for that,'” Bangor coach Quinn Paradis said of Wade’s “whiff.”
Wade’s tally came toward the end of the Blue Devils’ second penalty kill in the last five minutes of the period, and they held the Rams to just one shot combined on the two man-advantages.
“The penalty kill was great,” Belleau said. “Special teams is always important.”
Bangor pulled within one less than three minutes in the third. Trevor DeLaite spun a shot at the net from the left corner and the puck found its way in against Strout.
“I thought we played very well at the start of the third period,” Paradis said.
The Lewiston netminder had robbed DeLaite with the glove 50 seconds into the third. Fournier made a highlight save of his own early on, denying Rancourt on a sprawling save using his leg pad.
Like Strout, Fournier eventually proved beatable in the third. Joe Bisson scored on a Dustin Larochelle pass from behind the net 8:50 in. Sam Frechette scored on a 2-on-1 38 seconds later.
“I think we made an emphasis to get to the net. I think we made an emphasis to be a little more creative in the offensive zone,” Belleau said of finally solving Fournier.
Rivet finished up a hat trick two minutes later to give the Blue Devils a comfortable lead.
“It felt good,” Rivet said of his hat trick. “I felt that we were moving the puck really well.”
“He’s been doing that all year,” Belleau said of Rivet. “He may not have all the points to show it. It’s nice for him to get rewarded for his hard work that he’s done all year.”
Charlie Budd rounded out the scoring, connecting on a pass from DeLaite with 41 seconds left.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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