South Portland 4
Massabesic/OOB 3
Bob Basinet netted the game-winner with just under two minutes to play in the third period to give South Portland a 4-3 win over Massabesic/Old Orchard. It was the Riots second victory of the season as they overcame a two-goal deficit to earn the win.
The Seastangs drew first blood in the first period when Cameron Wyman sent a long pass to Keith Petrin. Petrin ripped one-timer past South Portland goalie Robby Morong for a 1-0 advantage. Just 14 seconds later, the Seastangs were at it again as Brandon Levesque took a shot from just outside the crease and it skipped off Morong’s glove and into the net and suddenly Massabesic/Old Orchard had a 2-0 cushion.
“They outplayed us at the beginning,” said South Portland coach Bart Keinath. “We were standing around too much, we were bunching up too much. We really couldn’t get into a flow. I don’t think we took the team as serious as we should have and they’re a better team than I think we gave them credit for to start. They played hard.”
South Portland’s Nick Griffin cut the deficit in half a short time later when he stuffed the puck between goaltender Jeremy Cortell’s legs. Both teams were making runs back and forth and things stayed even. The Riots tied the score with just over a minute to go in the period. James Keenan fired on net and Cortell stopped the shot. Or so it seemed. The puck trickled into the net between Cortell’s pads and the game was tied, 2-2.
“I think it got a little nerve-wracking,” said Seastangs coach Ben Rocheleau. “We as a coaching staff try to keep the intensity alive and try to keep the kids encouraged throughout the whole game. But I think sometimes they have a tendency to get down on themselves and kind of think they let up the team. So we need to work on that and try to keep the motivation up the whole game.”
Five minutes into the second period, the Seastangs reclaimed the lead. Adam Rosenthal launched a wrist shot from the circle that beat Morong on the glove side. The goal came with one second left on a two-man advantage.
“I think we had the momentum in the first two periods,” said Rocheleau. “We definitely came out strong. The kids were on fire for the first time in four games.”
With just 15 minutes to play the Seastangs clung to their one goal lead. Two and a half minutes into the final frame, The Riots tied the game when Nick Fornwalt scored from the top of the circle.
“We’ve been harping on the kids to stay spread out and look for the pass first,” Keinath said. “I think the kids are really trying hard and they want to win. They want to do a lot on their own and they think they can beat the kids in front of them and they can, but then there are four more guys behind him.”
The Riots did spread out and start passing as they kept the puck in the Massabesic/Old Orchard end of the ice for the bulk of the third period.
“When we started passing the puck it made their defense play a little more honest,” Keinath said. “They had to watch the puck and protect the pass a little bit more and that opened up some skating lanes for us and we were able to pass more effectively. I don’t think we tried any harder in the third period or skated any harder in the third period than we did in the first and second, we just played a little smarter.”
With all that time the Seastangs spent in defensive end, they were only able to record two shots in the third period.
“I told the kids in the locker room ‘South Portland’s going to come out with a big bang and all the intensity because they want to win the game just like we do,'” Rocheleau said. “We just couldn’t get the puck out of our zone. We broke down structurally on defense. All we had to do was shoot the puck, plain and simple. We just couldn’t do it.”
The game appeared headed to sudden death despite the Riots keeping the puck in the offensive zone. All that changed with 1:52 remaining on the clock. Cortell lost sight of a rebound and Basinet was there to stuff it in the net. Rosenthal managed a shot at the last second for the Seastangs, but it didn’t find the back of the net.
With the win South Portland improves to 2-2. They were scheduled to play Portland Saturday before participating in the annual high school hockey invitational.
“It’s a new year without Timmy Clark who was our almost complete offense last year,” said Keinath. “The kids are really having to find their way more as a team and more as a full line rather than one or two players trying to score all the goals.”
“I think the biggest litmus test for us in a game like tonight was not getting too down and realizing that we just needed to try something different,” Keinath said. “One player wasn’t going to beat the whole other team. We needed to pass the puck and work as a team. That’s what worked in the end.
The Seastangs are still winless this season, but Rocheleau sees some positives.
“I think we are heading in the right direction,” he said. “We’re putting the puck in the net more than what we did last year. We’re becoming structurally more sound and more unified as a team. We’re not Mustangs, we’re not Seagulls, we’re Seastangs. The name may sound kind of funny but the kids take that name right to heart. They’ve become unified and they’re proud of it more importantly.”
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