Morgan’s OT goal lifts Blue Devils
By Justin Pelletier
Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Before the start of the third period, Lewiston forward Matt Morgan told his coach that he didn’t feel well. Good thing he felt well enough to make it into overtime.

Morgan, a converted defenseman, snuck a weak backhand past Bangor netminder Aaron Buzzell 41 seconds into overtime to lift Lewiston to a 4-3 win over the Rams at the Colisee on Saturday. With the win, No. 2 Lewiston advances to the Eastern Maine final for the third consecutive year.

“On that goal, I saw that Adam (Longchamps) had the puck on his stick,” Morgan said. “I saw two defensemen go after him, so I moved toward the net. He gave me the puck and I saw that the goalie left his five-hole open, so I flipped it at him and it got through. As far as feeling sick, I think I still am, but it feels much better now.”

The puck did sneak past Buzzell, but it was the goaltender himself that actually knocked the puck across the line with his own skate, overshadowing a tremendous goaltender’s duel between Buzzell and Lewiston’s Nick Langlais.

“Both goalies played well in the 1-0 game at Bangor, that was a goaltender’s duel,” Lewiston coach Tim Smith said. “We expected that again tonight, and we got it.”

For much of the game, Lewiston was looking for ways to contain sophomore Nick Payson, the Bangor sniper that scored all five of his team’s goals against Messalonskee in the quarterfinals.

“We started with a shadow on him,” Smith said, “but we also have confidence in our defensemen, and they didn’t disappoint us, either. In fact, they were telling us as the game wore on that he was getting tired, so then we went back to playing him honest.”

Lewiston muscled back from a 2-1 deficit in the third period to take a 3-2 lead on two goals less than 10 seconds apart with four minutes left in the period.

Jake Girardin knocked home a pass from Jason Dube after a collision at the Bangor blue line left both Blue Devils alone in front of Buzzell.

On the ensuing faceoff, Adam Wilding and Joe Gauthier connected on a similar goal. With the momentum in their favor, the Blue Devils looked on their way to a win.

Payson, however, had other ideas, knocking home a T.J. Vanidestine rebound with Buzzell on the bench for an extra attacker at 14:39 to send the game to overtime.

“On that faceoff after that first goal, we knew we had the momentum and we needed to keep trying,” Wilding said. “We knocked the puck forward right off the draw and Gauthier got it to me and I snuck it in.”

“To come back like that was immense,” Bangor coach Dan Kerluke said. “I think if we had weathered the storm a bit more in overtime, we would have had a chance or two to win it, but Lewiston just overpowered us.”

Bangor didn’t waste any time getting on the board, capitalizing on an offensive error by the Blue Devils 18 seconds into the game.

Lewiston won the faceoff and sent the puck deep into the Rams’ zone. All three Lewiston forwards pursued the puck behind the Bangor net, and the Rams cleared it to center, where Vanidestine and Payson broke out on a 2-on-1. The Lewiston forwards recovered in time, but again overshot the play, leaving Payson alone in front of Nick Langlais.

Vanidestine made a nice pass from the right half-board to the center of the slot, and Payson spun from his backhand to his forehand and slipped the puck along the ice, just out of Langlais’ reach.

Lewiston dominated the early part of the second period, firing five shots at Buzzell and missing on countless others. Buzzell, however, held his ground.

Langlais also came up big, twice stopping point-blank Bangor opportunities in the middle of the period.

Lewiston fed off its netminder’s solid play and tied the game at 9:20 when Wilding finished off a 2-on-1 with a goal to knot the score at one.

But Bangor responded a minute later when Payson again lit the lamp, this time unassisted as he lifted a wrist shot over Langlais’ right shoulder from the left circle.

jpelletier@sunjournal.com

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