LEWISTON – St. Dom’s hasn’t been alone in its inability to beat Biddeford the last few years. Heck, the Tigers enjoyed something that once was a Saints’ specialty – an undefeated Class A championship hockey season – just one winter ago.

Still, the thought of a program with such a proud history perhaps never knocking off a relative upstart in his entire varsity career left St. Dom’s defenseman Richard Paradis feeling even more feisty than usual.

The chip is officially off their shoulder pads. Paradis’ goal with one minute remaining in overtime Wednesday night staked St. Dom’s to a satisfying, 4-3 survival of Biddeford at Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

“That’s the first team time we’ve beaten them in four years,” Paradis said. “Since I was a freshman, we’ve never been able to beat them. I think they’re our biggest rival besides Lewiston.”

Paradis recovered a loose puck near the blue line, used a fake to knock Cam Madore off his feet and skated into the slot with his eyes locked on Biddeford goaltender Cody Petit.

Petit initially appeared to make his 43rd save of a briliant evening. The momentum of Paradis’ blast knocked the netminder to the ice, however, and the puck caromed off his midsection and into the net.

“I didn’t think it went in,” said Paradis, who was met promptly by a scrum of white-sweatered teammates eager to correct his faulty depth perception after his second goal of the game and 13th of the season.

St. Dom’s (8-5) appeared to have the Tigers tamed when Paradis potted a laser for a 3-2 advantage with 2:59 to go in regulation. Biddeford (7-6-1) forced overtime precisely two minutes later, immediately after pulling Petit for an extra attacker, when Trevor Fleurent’s deflection of a blue-line offering from Joey White eluded St. Dom’s goalie Shayne Curtis.

Three times, the Saints surrendered one-goal leads in a fitting demonstration of this season’s Western Class A logjam.

“It was a great game overall. If we can put together three periods like that every game, we’re going to do well,” said Biddeford assistant coach Karl Clapp, substituting for Rich Reissfelder, who is out of state.

St. Dom’s enjoyed an 8-2 edge in shots on goal in the extra session. Alex Parker rattled the crossbar and Trevar Haefele was robbed by Petit’s sweeping glove inches from the goal line prior to Paradis’ heroics.

“You go into overtime and dominate for all that time, three shifts in your zone, and you’re just worried about the other team getting that one break,” said St. Dom’s coach Steve Ouellette. “It was nice to see Richard finish like that.”

Casey Parker and C.J. Bergeron each scored a first-period goal for St. Dom’s, which avenged a 7-5 loss Dec. 15 in Biddeford. Biddeford freshman Tyson Nadeau tallied in the first period and again in the second.

Curtis (32 saves) and Paradis were stellar defensively for the Saints along with Cam Brown, a forward who was shuffled back as a replacement for injured Donne Larrivee.

“Both teams played really well. It was definitely like a playoff game. I think we’re all looking at the Heal Points wondering what’s going on,” Ouellette said. “These seniors have been a loyal group. When they win games like this, it is all about getting St. Dom’s back to where we all want to see things.”

St. Dom’s staved off the two-time defending champions in textbook demoralizing fashion in the opening period, scoring as a consequence of the opening faceoff and again in the final minute to carve out a 2-1 lead.

Alex Parker won the initial draw and shuffled the puck to Ben Randall along the left side. Randall completed the triangle with a pinpoint centering pass to Casey Parker, who whooshed to the goalmouth and found a seam past Petit at the 11-second mark.

Biddeford benefited from a blistering slap shot and a generous bounce to pull even. Joey White wound up in the slot and uncorked a bid that ricocheted off the dasher behind Curtis with a distracting thud. The puck squirted perilously back to the crease, where Nadeau pounced at 10:23. Ethan Pratt picked up an assist along with White.

Bergeron breathed life into the Saints’ man-advantage and restored the lead with 51 seconds remaining in the period. Spencer Teixeira furnished a feed from the left circle, and Bergeron redirected his offering inside the near post. It was St. Dom’s lone power-play goal in six tries.

Two second-period power plays went by the boards with a whisper, and the Saints needed a stellar stretch from Curtis to keep the game knotted 2-2 at intermission.

“Our penalty kill came up big for us. Being in the box a lot, we get a lot of time to practice,” Clapp said. “We preach to the kids winning the little battles. We won all of them tonight except staying out of the box.”

Curtis’ brilliant denial of Pratt wasn’t enough to prevent the Tigers from achieving the equalizer. With Curtis sprawled out on the ice and desperately trying to reverse direction, Nadeau pounced on the leftovers for this second score with 3:34 remaining in the second period.