AUBURN — The Edward Little boys hockey team entered its contest against Bangor having played nine one-goal games.

The Red Eddies played their 10th Wednesday, and extended their winning streak to five games by defeating the Rams 1-0 in overtime at Norway Savings Bank Arena.

After a season that has been riddled with close losses, the Eddies are now 3-7 in one-goal games. All three of those wins have come during the five-game win streak, which has lifted Edward Little (6-10) from 12th to ninth in the Class A Heal point standings.

Jack Keefe was the hero in overtime for the Red Eddies. Reed Chapman fed him a pass in the slot and Keefe beat Bangor goalie Jake Hirsch with 2:18 remaining in the overtime.

The shot was the Red Eddies’ 28th of the game, and the only one to get past Hirsch, who finished with 27 saves.

“We weren’t putting the pucks in the net,” Keefe said. “Everyone was working hard, but weren’t putting puck in the net.”

Another hero, besides Keefe and Chapman, for the Red Eddies was freshman goaltender Gage Ducharme, who made three of his 18 saves in overtime, as Bangor (7-8) controlled play in the EL zone early in the extra frame.

Ducharme’s biggest moment of the game came right before overtime began. Bangor was awarded a penalty shot as time expired at the end of the third period when the officials said Ducharme threw his stick. Ducharme waited patiently Bangor sophomore forward Daniel McCarthy to make his move. McCarthy beat Ducharme, but the puck hit the post to send the game in overtime.

Ducharme said it’s difficult to prepare for a penalty shot on the fly since they so rarely happen. He said he did face a penalty shot in youth hockey last season.

“Not really, you have to do your best and stop the puck,” Ducharme said.

Bangor coach Quinn Paradi said the Rams were in a similar boat because they don’t necessarily practice taking penalty shots.

“We don’t practice a lot of penalty shots, but we do some one-on-one stuff for goalies just to give them some breakaway work,” Paradis said. “It’s one of those things where its uncommon and with the minimal ice time you get, it’s something you don’t work on.”

Edward Little coach Norm Gagne said that in his 49 years of coaching Maine high school hockey, Wednesday is the first time he saw a penalty shot at the end of regulation.

“No, I haven’t, and I wasn’t too happy with it, either,” Gagne said with a laugh. “When they said someone threw their stick, I said, ‘Oh, my God.’ If he would have scored, what a way to end the game like that.”

Both teams had chances on the power play in the game, but EL went 0-for-4 and Bangor was 0-for-3.

The problem for both teams was they often shot themselves in the foot by taking a penalty during power play opportunities.

“I got a little worried on that four-minute penalty (in the first period),” Gagne said. “Then we took a couple of tough ones, and then we had to fight through that.”

Cassidy Campbell was perpetrator on that four-minute penalty, being called for a cross check and an unsportsmanlike conduct. At the end of the second period, Dylan Campbell took a two-minute minor 14 seconds into a Red Eddies power play.

Paradis said he was proud of how his guys bounced back in their second game in 24 hours, the first a 9-1 home loss to Lewiston on Tuesday night.

“Hey, we played well. I got to tip my hat to EL, they played a good game,” Paradis said. “I am happy with my guys with how well we played today, even if the scoreboard doesn’t show the success of the team.”

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