MacDonald paces Greely past Cape Elizabeth for Class B South title

Greely’s Jake MacDonald celebrates after scoring the go-ahead goal in the third period against Cape Elizabeth on Tuesday in the Class B South regional final at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston. (Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald)

LEWISTON — It will be a busy day Saturday in the MacDonald household.

Jake MacDonald’s two goals — including the game-winner — helped power Greely past Cape Elizabeth in the Class B South regional Tuesday, earning for the Rangers a 3-2 win at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

The Rangers will face the winner of the Old Town/Orono-Presque Isle game for the state championship on Saturday.

Jake’s father, Blaise MacDonald, is the head coach of the Colby College men’s hockey team. The Mules travel to Biddeford on Saturday to take on the University of New England in the school’s first-ever NCAA tournament game.

“It’s a great feeling,” Jake said Tuesday. “Watching my dad win on Sunday was a really great feeling, and my brother (Cam) is on the team, he scored a couple of goals, it feels great.”

Cape Elizabeth coach Matthew Boutte said he wouldn’t do anything differently necessarily, but just wished his team would have been able to get one more bounce.

“At the end of the day, those are the two of the top four or five hockey teams in the whole state, not just Class B,” Boutte said. “We went toe-to-toe with some good (Class) A teams and so did they. We went toe-to-toe with them already. I said back in December, ‘Look we want to play this team for the right to go to the state championship.’ Simply because we knew it was going to be an unbelievable game. It (stinks) we lost it, but it was an unbelievable hockey game.”

After a scoreless first 15 minutes, the scoring picked up in the second period. The Capers came out with some strong offensive pressure, and it led to a Greely miscue. A Rangers defenseman tried to clear the puck, but Ryan Collins intercepted it. He fired the puck on Karstan Bourgoine and Alex Gliddon banged home the rebound at the 2:25 mark.

“I feel like we executed what we wanted to do very well,” Boutte said. “We created chances, we had enough chances to win the game and we held them to enough goals to win the game.”

Greely (17-2-1) got some puck-luck midway through the period. Jackson Williams’ shot from the right half wall squirted through Cape Elizabeth goalie Peter Haber’s five-hole and trickled to the goal line. Jake MacDonald crashed the net and jammed the puck across the line at the the 7:20 mark. Matt Kramlich gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead when his shot from the left circle beat Haber top shelf 70 seconds later.

“We knew coming in we would have to score some greasy goals,” MacDonald said. “(Williams) threw it in and I saw it trickle past the line.”

Greasy goals have been a topic of discussion for the Rangers the past month.

“We have been talking about that for weeks now, on how everything gets a little harder this time of year” Greely coach Barry Mothes said. “Watching some college playoff games over the weekend, it’s chopping pucks in on rebounds, funny bounces and misdirected plays, 3-2, low scoring game, both teams needed to work for their goals. I am glad we were able to grind it out in the third period.”

Gavin Simopolous tied the game up at two. He was to the left of Bourgoine, slightly behind the goal line and threw the puck into the crease. Bourgoine lost track of it in his feet and knocked it into his own net at the 10:10 mark.

The odd goals continued in the third on MacDonald’s game-winner. Stationed behind the cage, MacDonald ricocheted the puck off the back of Haber and into the net at the 5:33 mark of the third stanza. The goal was reviewed, but the call on the ice stood. The assist went to Williams.

“Jake is a really clutch playoff hockey player,” Mothes said, “He had a fantastic playoff as a freshman last year where he was our leading scorer. He has had a couple really good playoff games so far. He has really has elevated his game, he works hard with the puck and he works hard defensively.”

The Capers pulled Haber in the final two minutes, but took a tripping call with 1:11 remaining. They had one more chance to tie the game when Greely took a tripping penalty with six seconds remaining. Greely won the faceoff, though, and pushed the puck to the half wall to kill the remaining time.

Those were the only two penalties in the game.

Bourgoine made 27 saves in the win while Haber also stopped 27 shots.

nfournier@sunjournal.com

Greely goalie Karsten Bourgoine celebrates with teammate Andrew Eckhardt after their victory over Cape Elizabeth on Tuesday in the Class B South regional final at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston. (Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald)Greely’s Jake MacDonald celebrates after scoring the go-ahead goal in the third period against Cape Elizabeth on Tuesday in the Class B South regional final at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston. Moving in to celebrate with MacDonald is Andrew Moore, left, and Andrew Eckardt. (Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald)Cape Elizabeth’s Gavin Simopoulos reaches for the puck after falling in front of Greely goalie Karsten Bourgoine on Tuesday in the Class B South regional final at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston. (Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald)