Gorham 3
South Portland 2
On Saturday, Gorham and South Portland, two of the best teams in Class A Western hockey so far this season, hooked up in a game that certainly lived up to its billing.
With two undefeated teams going head-to-head, it seemed fitting that it took overtime to settle the score, with Gorham (6-0) handing the Riots (6-1) their first loss of the year, winning 3-2 on an overtime goal from senior David Gushee.
The game-winner was the second power play goal of the contest for Gushee, who also had an assist to go with his two goals. Just 20 seconds after South Portland’s Zachary Griffin was sent off for tripping at 3:48 of overtime, Gushee got a hold of the puck and beat the Riots defense, shooting the puck past South Portland goalie Dominic Desjardins for the winning goal at 4:08 of the extra period.
The game was a close one the whole way through, as both teams played a tight defense throughout the first period, with the Red Riots killing off two consecutive penalties, including a 1:21 stretch where they were down 5-on-3.
Gorham finally broke through at 13:40 of the first as Gushee took the puck at the blue line, faking a shot and wheeling over to the face off circle, he fired a pass over to Spencer Violette, who put a high shot home to give the Rams a 1-0 lead at the end of the first.
The second period got a little chippy, as a total of seven penalties (four on Gorham and three on South Portland) were called. Gorham took a 2-0 lead at 3:15 of the first as Gushee scored an unassisted goal just eight seconds after South Portland’s Dustin Matthews was called for interference.
South Portland cut the lead to 2-1 at 6:16 of the period on a nice breakaway goal from sophomore Josh Cobb. With the puck deep in the Riots’ end of the ice, sophomore defense Zach Horton hit Cobb in stride just over the blue line and Cobb streaked in all alone, beating Gorham goalie Nate Holloran.
Tempers started to flare soon after that, as a little over a minute later, a scuffle broke out in front of the Gorham net. Punches were thrown, and when the dust settled, South Portland had a five-minute power play, thanks to a major penalty on Gorham’s Elliot Bidwell (who was also given a game misconduct). Soon after that, Gorham took another penalty, giving the Riots a full two minutes with a 5-on-3 advantage, but the Riots were unable to take advantage, and went into the second intermission down 2-1.
It appeared that score would hold, as both teams played tough defense through the first 14 minutes of the period. But with just 51.2 seconds left, the Riots got the tying goal. South Portland senior Brandon Martin broke into the Gorham end and got a clean shot off on Holloran. The goalie stopped the initial shot, but allowed a rebound, and Martin pounced on the rebound for the tying score.
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