McGuirk, Fields lead Tigers to tie

BIDDEFORD — Biddeford was a team in need of a turnaround, and Wednesday’s 1-1 overtime tie with Lewiston in a Class A boys hockey tilt provided the Tigers with the beginnings of one.

Matt McGuirk’s goal with 4:10 gone in the third period, and goalie Jon Fields’ 36-save gem helped halt the Tigers’ four game losing streak.

The last of those came nine days earlier, a 3-2 heartbreaker against the same Blue Devils, who scored the winning tally with just 4.5 seconds remaining.

“That was sitting in the bottom of the stomach,” said Fields. “It was not a good taste. I didn’t want that to happen again. Especially in front of our home fans. It’s not how you want them to go home.”

Fields had a lot to say about that, especially throughout the first two periods, when the Blue Devils (7-3-1) dominated for large stretches.

“He’s been on fire,” said McGuirk. “He’s probably the biggest part of our team. Especially in close games like (this).”

The only puck to get past fields came off the stick of Lewiston’s Patrick DeBlois at 7:47, while Fields was missing his own stick, which was knocked out of his hands moments before.

“It was just a bad play by me,” said Fields. “I came out a little too far. I was out of position. I think the stick was underneath me when I went down to try to stop what I saw of the puck. I feel like that wouldn’t happen again.”

Not that Fields owed his mates anything, but he provided the Tigers with several bail outs, especially during a stretch straddling the second and third periods when Biddeford (3-5-2) had a string of penalties to quash.

“Penalty kill is actually my favorite time,” said Fields. “Power play is my worst time because I don’t see anything. I like being on the ”˜PK’ and helping out the team. It’s a lot of shots and it’s a lot of action. The more action you get, the more into the groove you get. You just kind of feed off of it.”

The Biddeford attack, which had largely been handcuffed by a ferocious Lewiston forecheck, began to show signs of life late in the second period.

Nik Lemieux nearly scored on a shorthanded breakaway 12:32, but was thwarted by Blue Devils goalie Evan Bourassa.

Another shorthanded chance came at 1:42 of the third, when Matt Jerome just missed a tuck-in at the right post.

“Killing those penalties was huge,” said Biddeford coach Rich Reissfelder. “That’s something we can build on.”

Then, less than three minutes later, McGuirk netted the equalizer from the left circle after pouncing on James Jamieson’s rebound.

“I just skated to it as quickly as I could,” said McGuirk, sporting a white hard hat awarded him by the team for his effort. “I wasn’t really looking for a shot. (But) I saw the goalie get way out of position, so I figured I throw it on net. I saw I had the whole net, so I just put it in.”

The teams traded scoring chances after that, but the contest remained deadlocked.

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