LEWISTON — The crowd was decidedly smaller, the student fan base softer and the overall aura diminished, but as Saturday night’s hockey game between longtime rivals Lewiston and St. Dom’s crept into overtime, the tension mounted to its tradition palpable state.
Lewiston got its chances early in the overtime and St. Dom’s squandered a two-minute 5-on-4 in the latter half of the eight-minute session as the teams set the stage for a winner-take-all rematch later in the season, skating to a 2-2 deadlock at the Colisee.
“This is what Lewiston against St. Dom’s is all about,” said St. Dom’s coach John Pleau. “It was a great rivalry game, and great welcome to this for Norm (Gagne, the Lewiston head coach).”
“I’ll tell you,” agreed Gagne, “all day the juices have been flowing, and I know if mine were, the kids’ were too. We played a quality team tonight with quality goaltending at both ends.”
Both teams had ample opportunity to score in the extra session, but both goaltenders snuffed out the chances with ease. St. Dom’s senior Brady Blackman saw 13 shots in the third period and nine more in the eight-minute overtime and stopped all but one. Likewise, Lewiston senior Brian Nason saw nine in the extra session, the bulk of those coming on a 5-on-4 St. Dom’s advantage. He, too, held tough.
“When we got the penalty, we really had to step it up,” said Nason.
The Blue Devils caught a break early in the third period and capitalized on a 5-on-3 when Jon Roy tucked home a crossing feed from Toby Poirier at the left post to put the home team ahead 2-1.
The Saints rebounded quickly, while still shorthanded, when Tyler Martin scooped up a bouncing puck at his own blue line and weaved through three Lewiston skaters to get a chance on Nason. Martin’s short side shot bounced off of Nason’s shoulder and into the net moments before he crashed into the iron to knot the score.
“I was falling when I shot it,” said Martin. “I knew if I could get it on net, though, it had a chance.”
The only goal of the first period went to Lewiston’s Toby Poirier when, at 4:20 of the opening frame he fired a wrist shot at Blackman through a screen. The puck missed everyone, including Blackman, and clanged off the far post into the net behind the befuddled netminder to put Lewiston ahead 1-0.
“There was a screen in front and I just wanted to shot it through that,” said Poirier. “It was good to get the lead, but I think we sat back a bit after that, which was a bad thing.”
St. Dom’s had its best chance of the period with 30 seconds left when Alex Tyburski found himself alone at the left post, only to watch as Nason dove to his right and stopped the puck with the paddle of his stick to keep the Blue Devils ahead.
The Saints struck back in the second when Tom Gosselin intercepted freshman Robbie Leeman’s clearing attempt in the middle of the high slot. Gosselin went in alone on Nason, deked left and slid the puck five-hole to knot the score.
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