LEWISTON – It may have been the longest three minutes of his young hockey career.

As time wound down at the World Junior Championships in Helsinki, Finland, Lisbon native Greg Moore, a sophomore forward for the University of Maine, skated in and out of players from Team Canada, playing an extended game of keep-away.

Halfway through a shift that by hockey standards was three times too long, U.S. coach Mike Eaves called a timeout. Then, it was back out onto the ice.

“It meant a lot to me,” Moore said, still sporting a grin from ear to ear. “To think that (Eaves) had that much confidence in me to be there in that situation, that was great.”

The image has been played over and over on sports shows for over a week, and at the bottom of the pig pile that followed the final horn is the sophomore from Lisbon.

“The win was extra special for all of us,” Moore said. “We had all for the most part played together at the Under-18 Tournament two years ago, and to reunite like this and to win gold again, that’s just amazing.”

During the game, Moore and his teammates faced a series of emotions that would make the most fearless of roller coaster riders queasy. After playing even with Canada for a period, a period in which Moore notched his third assist of the tournament, the Americans seemed to self-destruct.

“The bench was pretty down,” Moore said. “After a solid first period, we were OK, but that second period really got us down. We were not playing one of our better games.”

In the locker room, though, the mood seemed to shift.

“We knew that (Canadian goaltender Marc-Andre) Fleury wasn’t having the best tournament, so we all knew we needed to shoot more. In the third, as soon as (Patrick) O’Sullivan sniped the puck over Fleury’s shoulder, we knew then we were back in it.”

As luck would have it, the next two U.S. goals came on fluke situations, the third bouncing over Fleury on a tip in front, and the fourth an own-goal as Fleury banked a clearing attempt off of his own defenseman, Braydon Coburn.

The majority of the players on Team U.S.A. in 2003-04 were also on that Under-18 team in 2001-02, a team that also took home a gold medal at the world tournament.

On a personal level, Moore’s performance in Finland more than made up for what he had called a “disappointing” performance in last year’s tournament.

“He was satisfied this time around,” Moore’s mother Janis said with a laugh. “I don;t know that he would have been satisfied with silver, though.”

jpelletier@sunjournal.com

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