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Mar. 14—AUBURN — The second Battle of the Bridge lived up to the hype.
Lewiston and Edward Little skated to a 4-4 boys hockey tie at Norway Savings Bank Arena on Saturday night.
Lewiston had two goals apiece from Evan Knowlton and Daxton St. Hilaire, while Edward Little had four different goal-scorers. Campbell Cassidy and Wesley Clements each had a goal and assist.
St. Hilaire had the tying goal that sent the game into OT while Lewiston was on a five-minute penalty kill with the goalie pulled.
“The kids had a great practice yesterday, and I felt we were going to come out strong,” EL coach Norm Gagne said. “We played a lot of good teams this year and to end the season 8-1-1 is good. I only wished we pulled it off. In the Battle of the Bridge you want to win it.”
Both teams came out firing in the opening half (halves were played this season in boys hockey because of COVID-19 protocols). Every time the Red Eddies entered the offensive zone they put the puck on Lewiston goalie Keegan McLaughlin.
The strategy worked with just under four minutes remaining in the half as Campbell Cassidy put a shot on net and Tate Morse came in and collected the loose rebound to give the Red Eddies a 1-0 lead.
“We had a long week, we knew we were going to play EL and we were looking forward to playing EL,” Lewiston coach Jamie Belleau said. “We knew EL was a talented team and the kids responded well, but we took too many penalties and we dug ourselves a hole, but we responded. I would have rather responded without being down a man.”
Lewiston quickly responded as Knowlton put home the tying goal off a rebound 47 seconds after Tate’s goal. Tanner Anctil and Damon Bossie had the assists.
Edward Little came out strong in the second half. On the second power play of the game goalie Gage Ducharme found Cassidy, who skated into the offensive zone on the right wing and ripped a shot from the right circle that beat McLaughlin 3:20 into the period.
The Blue Devils response wasn’t as quick as it was in the first period but just like EL’s second goal, Lewiston’s second goal came on the power play. Bossie had the initial shot but St. Hilaire jammed home the loose rebound at the 8:13 mark.
Morse thought he scored his second goal of the game 20 seconds later as he crashed the net on the back post, but it was ruled he kicked in the puck and the referees waived it off.
The Red Eddies did take the 3-2 lead as a Marius Morneau point shot was deflected by Clements, which changed directions on McLaughlin and he couldn’t stretch far enough to get the leg on it. The goal came at the 14:34 mark.
Lewiston struck off the ensuing faceoff as Knowlton put home his second goal of the game 11 seconds later.
Jack Keefe scored the go-ahead goal as Clements’ drop pass to the high-slot was blasted in by Keefe.
“I was feeling pretty excited, we were up on the scoreboard,” Keefe said. “But things just didn’t work out in our favor.”
A little over a minute later, Lewiston took a five-minute major for high-sticking that put the Blue Devils shorthanded for the remainder of regulation.
With McLaughlin pulled, The Red Eddies missed a chance to ice the game as a shot behind the red line missed the open net.
Lewiston took advantage of the Red Eddies’ missed opportunity as St. Hilaire potted his second goal of the game with 41 seconds remaining to force overtime.
“We knew we had to get something going, we were just flying guys, we were just getting everything to the net and shots count, we buried it,” St. Hilaire said.
Both teams had chances in the extra session, but nobody could light the lamp for the fifth time for their team. When the buzzer sounded, both teams were unsure if it was the end of the season. They wanted a finish to the instant classic, but it was decided the game would end in a tie.
“It would have been nice to (continue) to play… 5-on-5. I would have kept playing sudden-death,” Belleau said.
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