HEBRON —The Poland/Gray-New Gloucester Patriotic Knights felt fortunate to leave the ice after the second period locked in a 2-2 tie in Saturday night’s Eastern Class A opener with Maranacook/Hall-Dale/Winthrop. They had given up too many chances and spent far too much time in the penalty box to feel otherwise.

The third period left the Knights with a whole different feeling, as they scored three goals to hold off the Hawks, 5-3, at Robinson Arena.

Kolby Arnold scored a pair of goals and added an assist and Ryan Davala and Zac Knapp each chipped in a goal and an assist for the Patriotic Knights (1-0). Jared Bornstein tallied a pair of goals and Eric Ogren and Mike Knowlton two assists apiece for the Hawks (0-1).

“We put on the after-burners in the third period,” Arnold said. “They were a little tired, so we just outworked them with the little stuff.”

“We knew if we could keep it simple and play our game, we’d get our chances,” Patriotic Knights coach Aaron Rand said. “The second period wasn’t very good. We had a little bit of a down spell there. But we stayed strong in the third period and really took it to them.”

Arnold’s first period goal gave the Patriotic Knights a little room to work with to start their woeful second period, but the cushion didn’t last long. Bornstein scored on the power play just 28 seconds into the second to tie the game.

Winthrop goalie Cody Patterson (13 saves) kept the score tied with some nifty net work for the first 12 minutes of the period. First he stopped a Cody Girouard shot from point-blank range with his right pad. Then he denied an Adam Healy one-timer off a Sam Mayer pass with his left arm and later swiped away an Arnold rebound attempt with his glove while lying flat on his stomach.

Patterson’s luck ran out at 12:41, though, when the puck caromed off the boards from behind the net to the right circle, where  a wide-open Arnold wound up and fired it under his glove for a 2-1 Knight lead. 

“It just poked out and I tried to pick my spot and somehow it got in,” Arnold said.  

“I think they got a few more bounces than we did,” Hawks coach Mike Fowler said. “Our defensive zone coverage broke down a little bit at key times, and their goaltending was maybe a little stronger tonight.” 

Winthrop knotted the game at 2-2 on Bornstein’s second goal with 23 seconds left in the period. Any momentum the Hawks carried over into the third disappeared quickly as Healy scored what proved to be the game-winner off a turnover at 1:37.

“I was just hustling,” Healy said. “As soon as I came into the zone and that kid passed it, I knew he made a mistake, so I just fell off his stick, looked top-right and got it in.”

Ryan Davala added a power play goal at 7:19 to make it 4-2 Poland/G-NG. Jason Laporte’s backhander off a rebound beat Calvin Shelley (24 saves) to pull the Hawks within a goal at with 2:21 remaining. A penalty on Cam Spiller gave the Hawks a 6-on-4 opportunity with 39 seconds left, but Zac Knapp scored an empty-netter with 13 seconds remaining to end the drama.