PORTLAND – Eleven goals on 64 shots hardly sounds like a goaltenders’ duel, but fans at Cumberland County Civic Center on Wednesday night were treated to that – and more.
Bryan Lavoie’s power-play goal with 1:51 remaining snapped a 5-5 tie and lifted the Cheverus Stags to a 6-5 victory over the St. Dom’s Saints in front of a crowd that was, for most of the third period, too anxious to sit.
“The whole game we were trying to shoot low and get the rebounds,” said Lavoie. “It was a nice shot that got through from Tim (Webber) at the point, and the puck just came to me off the goalie’s pads. It was right there.”
The Saints, meanwhile, were scratching their heads about the penalty call.
“It looked to me like (Matt) Manson stepped into (Stags forward Alex Arthur) after he dumped the puck in,” said St. Dom’s coach Bob Boucher. “It looked like a clean hit, and they called holding. To lose the game on a power play coming from a penalty like that. If it had been legit, I can understand. It seemed like we had the momentum. It was there, and then we got hit with that foolish penalty.”
Despite the final score, both the Saints’ Brady Blackman and the Stags’ Mason St. Hilaire turned aside several solid scoring opportunities.
“Both goalies made so many key saves,” said Cheverus coach Jack Lowry.
“Even though it was 6-5, it’s not like it was because of the goaltenders,” added St. Dom’s coach Bob Boucher.
Six different Stags scored goals, while for the Saints, Jon Rutt and Pat O’Neil had two each and Dylan Nadeau added the fifth.
The Stags came out flying in the early going, putting five shots and loads of pressure on Blackman. For its efforts, Cheverus struck first.
With play concentrated at the top of the crease, the puck slid to the point where Adam Horgan fired a slap shot back into the fray. The puck glanced off of Bryan Lavoie, hit Blackman and ricocheted to the right side, where Alex Arthur collected it and banged it into the open net.
As the period wore on, the Saints came to life. They outhit, outhustled and just plain outplayed the Stags for the final seven minutes of the opening frame, but St. Hilaire made all of the necessary saves to keep his team ahead.
“He came up big for us, he really did,” said Lowry. “We are a team and we won as a team, but he really seemed to take us on his shoulders. He played outstanding.”
The teams opened the floodgates in the second, and it seemed as though they decided to take turns.
Cheverus went first, getting goals from Alex Tyburski (whose brothers played at St. Dom’s), Geno DiMillo and Andrew Pochebit to open up a 4-1 lead.
“We saw the players coming back to the bench with their heads down,” said Lowry. “We knew that if we got the next one, it was pretty much over.”
The Saints roared back at the end of the period, though.
Pat O’Neil netted the Saints’ lone goal amid the Stags’ flurry, and he followed a Jon Rutt score at 14:03 with his second of the night at 14:20, pulling St. Dom’s to within one at period’s end.
Cheverus will face Lewiston on Saturday in the Class A state championship game at the Colisee at 6 p.m. in a rematch of the 2002 state final. Lewiston won that game in three overtimes, 3-2.
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