HEBRON – The fact that light travels faster than sound might be one scientific fact players on the Poland/Gray-New Gloucester hockey team will never forget, certainly not after Saturday’s matinee performance against Class B-leading Leavitt.

Ben Piper slipped out of the penalty box with seven seconds left in the third period, corralled a loose puck in the center zone and raced into the Leavitt zone.

“As soon as I felt the two (Leavitt) defensemen hit behind me, I knew I was alone,” Piper said.

Less than one second remained on the clock when Piper’s shot – a high riser from the middle of the slot – tickled the twine behind Leavitt netminder Richard Thibault to lift the Patriotic Knights (6-4) to a 4-3 win over the visiting Hornets (5-3) at Hebron Academy’s Robinson Arena.

“I saw it open,” Piper said of the high glove side behind Thibault. “I knew that was my chance.”

The Leavitt bench attempted to convince officials that time had expired when the puck crossed the line, but the horn hadn’t sounded before the referee’s whistle blew to signal the goal.

“The bottom line is, we needed to pick the guy up out of the box,” Leavitt coach Ron Rouillard said. “We were telling the defensemen to pick him up, but he got free anyway.”

The Leavitt power play had three chances, including the chance with Piper in the box late in the third, but the Hornets were 0-for-3 with an extra attacker.

“That’s been the story of our season,” Rouillard said. “We can’t put it away on the power play.”

“If they want to pass the puck around the outside, they can do that all day,” Poland/Gray-New Gloucester coach Aaron Rand said. “We did a good job containing them in the middle.”

Steven Rouillard was a bright spot for the Hornets. The shifty forward scored all three of Leavitt’s goals, despite being a marked man all night.

“We tried to mark him up all night,” Rand said. “He still shook free for a few seconds, long enough to score.”

The Patriotic Knights had a weapon of their own in Cory Cormier, who tied the game at 11:59 of the third period after his team’s cycle down low created some space for the sniper.

“Our cycle was working all night, and it got me open,” Cormier said.

Poland/Gray-New Gloucester scored a pair of goals in the first period – one from Cormier and one from Gardner Lajoie – to take a 2-0 lead into the second.

Leavitt returned the favor, freeing Rouillard up for a pair early to even things up.

Rouillard put the Hornets ahead at 2:37 of the final frame on a shot that beat goalie Sean Bilodeau high to the glove side, setting up Cormier tying tally with 3:01 to play.