LEWISTON – Dan Rautenberg was in a zone.
With a goal and an assist already to his credit, and with Winslow shocking the crowd at the Colisee by knotting the score at two midway through the third period, Cape Elizabeth coach Jason Tremblay called a timeout.
“I don’t even remember what they said in that timeout,” said Rautenberg. “I don’t even remember.”
Less than a minute after Rautenberg and his teammates gathered around Tremblay, the senior center picked up where he had left off in the first period, taking the puck on his forehand at the left post, shifting it to his backhand and sliding it between Winslow goaltender Devon Grenier’s pads.
“Joel (Balfour) fed me in front and I caught it on the forehand,” said Rautenberg. “I moved it to my backhand and just went five-hole.”
With eight ticks left on the clock, Rautenberg started a cascade of hats fluttering onto the ice from underneath the press box as he capped off a three-goal, one assist performance to secure the Capers’ 4-2 win over the Winslow Black Raiders in the Class B hockey state title game.
“He did out there what he’s done for four years for Cape hockey,” said Tremblay. “It’s great for him to go out this way.”
Meanwhile, all Winslow coach Don Skillings could do was shake his head.
“Dan,” said Skillings. “That was the difference in the game. We had a game plan, we knew what we needed to do, but it didn’t stop him. He stepped it up tonight and took control of the game.”
One of six Cape seniors, Rautenberg gave the Cape faithful something to cheer about early when he slipped past a Winslow defender on the right side and beat Grenier high to the blocker side with a wrister 44 seconds into the game.
“I saw he gave me the far pad,” said Rautenberg. “I just shot it there.”
Rautenberg set up teammate Zack Juliano at the point on one of four Cape power plays, and Juliano floated a wrister through traffic, beating Grenier to the glove side for a 2-0 lead.
After a tight-checking second period, during which the teams combined for seven power plays, the score remained 2-0, but Winslow started to stir near the end of the period.
In the third, Winslow broke through, getting a goal from Matt Bickford at 1:18 and another from Nathan Pelletier at 6:34 to tie the game.
The Black Raiders nearly took the lead at 7:40 of the final frame when John Lizotte broke in alone on Cape netminder Ryan Hatch, but his shot, labeled for the top corner, hit Hatch’s flailing glove at the last second and deflected into the right corner.
Rautenberg scored 35 seconds later and the Black Raiders never mustered another shot.
The win gives Cape Elizabeth its second state title in three years, and its fourth overall.
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