GORHAM – The third-ranked Gorham boys hockey team hosted the No. 6 Portland in a close Western Class A quarterfinal contest Tuesday that saw the Rams edge ahead, then struggle to maintain its lead against a resurgent Portland offense.
The game charged ahead scorelessly until deep in the second, when Rams junior Jared Wood finally managed to break the ice, earning two quick goals. Eventually, Gorham would add a third, by Spence Cowand. The Rams then withstood a furious Portland rally in the third period to take a 3-2 win.
“My first line played really hard,” Gorham coach Jon Portwine said. “My three seniors, Spence Cowand, Chris Hardy, and Blake Babineau, but Jared Wood finished. Jared had two goals, big goals. He’s been good all year, started making good decisions, and I’m happy for him.”
Portland finishes its season at 14-5. The Rams improve to 12-6-1, and face No. 1 Falmouth (15-3-1) in the semifinals at the Colisee in Lewiston on Saturday.
Play in the first period was fast-paced and end-to-end. The Rams generated most of the offensive opportunities, beginning by winning the opening face-off. They rattled off their first few shots in the initial minutes before Portland could finally move the puck into Gorham territory long enough to register a stab at junior goaltender Justin Broy. But Broy proved as good as his number (1), making the first of four saves in the period. ?
On the other end of the ice, Bulldogs goalie John Gatti likewise stood impenetrable, despite the Rams’ repeated chances to net the puck behind him. Four minutes in, he turned aside a Gorham snowbird breakaway, one of 11 saves he had in the period. Seconds later, his team nearly took a 1-0 lead when Broy, sprawled on the ice, lost track of the puck, which slipped from beneath him and loitered in the crease. Portland couldn’t convert, however, before Broy regained the puck and play was whistled dead. The first 15 minutes would continue to frustrate the teams, and end with the score stuck at 0-0.
Portland showed signs of mounting aggression early in the second, controlling play in Gorham’s end for a stretch and tallying a couple quick shots. Even when Chandler Sturgeon landed in the penalty box, a minor for high sticking, Portland continued to press, logging more time on offense and successfully icing the puck on the Rams’ first couple trips up the ice. Gorham settled down halfway through the power play, moving the action squarely into the Bulldogs’ end, though Portland successfully defended until they returned to full strength.
It wasn’t until nearly 12 minutes had elapsed in the second that the stalemate broke. Assisted by junior Mick Mansir, Wood shoved the puck past Gatti, sending the Gorham skaters crashing into a celebratory embrace. Shortly thereafter, Bulldog Luigi Grimaldi landed in the sin bin, two minutes for tripping, giving the fired-up Rams a power play. With 30 seconds to go before the buzzer, the earlier scene repeated itself almost identically: Wood again scored on a Mansir assist, and five players slammed as a happy mass into the boards, directly in front of their student fan contingent.
After 30 minutes of play, Gorham was up 2-0, having hashed 21 shots to Portland’s nine.
Just over three minutes into the third period, Bulldog Mike Fuller found himself incarcerated for tripping. Gorham had the man advantage, but lost it again, when their own Chris Hardy earned a minor for interference. Four-on-four hockey ensued, but despite having one less stick on the ice, the Rams nevertheless managed to score again, with Blake Babineau feeding Cowand for the goal.
The situation looked grim for the Bulldogs. Around the nine-minute mark, they had a couple strong shots, but none managed to slide past Broy, and when he killed play with a nimble glove save that stoked his team’s supporters in the stands, the Rams appeared to have all the momentum.
The Bulldogs, however, weren’t about to run away, tails tucked between their legs. Zach Luce fed Chris Eye a bouncy puck, which Eye managed to shunt past Broy, giving Portland a glimmer of hope. Then, 25 seconds later, senior Caleb Fraser passed to junior Antonio DiPietro, who ripped a low-flying wrister from near the blue line across to the far corner of Broy’s goal, making the score 3-2 and putting the Bulldogs back in the hunt.
“They’ve got a couple dangerous guys on their first line,” Portwine said. “And I ran a trap with my second line against theirs that seemed to work for a while. But once Portland got a little momentum, they kind of took it to us there, at the beginning of the third.”
Portland, Portwine said, has made a habit of hanging tough with the Rams.
“Hard work on their part [allowed Portland to get back into the game],” Portwine said. “They really played well. It was nothing that we did – we were playing the same game, but we knew Portland wasn’t going to go away. We played them before, and last game I think we were up 4-1, they came back in the third period and tied it up, and we had to beat them in overtime. Portland’s a great team; they just don’t go away.”
The clock working against them, Portland created chances here and there, but couldn’t tie. With 30 seconds to play, Gatti rushed to the bench and a sixth attacking Bulldog hit the ice in his place. But Portland couldn’t get the one shot they needed, and when they lost the puck past the blue line with only seconds to play – not nearly enough time to clear and regroup – the jubilant Gorham bench cleared.
Portwine had high praise for several of his players, goalie Broy first and foremost.
“He was fantastic” Portwine said. “You take away the 30 seconds that he let in those two goals, he was amazing,”
Gorham’s Spence Cowand winds up a wrister from the top of the Portland zone. Staff photos by Adam Birt
Gorham senior Spence Cowand breaks away from a Portland defender at the USM Ice Arena Tuesday night.
Gorham’s Blake Babineau and Portland’s Luigi Grimaldi race toward a puck that has squirted away from Portland goalie Jon Gatti.
Portland’s Chris Eye advances on Gorham netminder Justin Broy in the teams’ Western Maine Class A quarterfinal matchup Tuesday night.
Gorham’s Tucker Buteau rides a Portland player into the boards Tuesday night.
Gorham’s Spence Cowand drives toward the Bulldogs’ net.
A Portland defender drives Gorham senior Blake Babineau into the boards at the USM Ice Arena Tuesday night.
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