LEWISTON — It was a stark contrast from a performance just 10 days earlier, but on Saturday night, everything clicked for Biddeford, as the Tigers upset Eastern Class A-leading Lewiston 6-3 in a boys hockey clash at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
The Tigers (5-5-1) that skated with one of the best teams in the state looked like a different team than the one that got shut out 8-0 against St. Dominic’s 10 days before.
“Unfortunately I missed the St. Dom’s game ”¦ but I watched it on film,” said Biddeford head coach Rich Reissfelder. “I see guys were running all over the place, it was like they had never been taught a single idea about hockey.”
Biddeford had to hold on early in the game, trying to gain confidence against a skilled, veteran Blue Devils (9-3-0) team.
That confidence grew as the Tigers struck first, less than six minutes into the game. Alex Ruck found a bouncing puck on his stick near the right circle and flipped it at the goal as he was heading toward the corner. The hopeful shot deflected off a Lewiston defender and past Blue Devils goalie Nick Hawk.
“It’s the old saying, ”˜throw the puck to the net.’ If you don’t have anything else, throw it to the net. I think it went off a skate,” said Reissfelder. “In a period that I thought Lewiston carried the play, it gave us the lead going into intermission. That was great.”
“That really helped us out a lot. We’ve been playing behind this whole season, pretty much,” said Biddeford senior forward Nik Lemieux. “So it felt really good to get the first goal for a change, and it gave us that boost that we needed, and we didn’t look back.”
The Tigers were fortunate to head into the first intermission with the lead, as they killed off two penalties and ended the period in a 4-on-4 situation.
Biddeford found itself in another 5-on-4 disadvantage 30 seconds into the second period, as a Lewiston minor penalty expired. The Tigers held strong with a man down, however, and that only added to their confidence.
“Any time you get a kill like that ”¦ every team works on special teams so much that, when you don’t score on the power play it’s a little bit of a bummer. And when you get the kill it gives you that boost,” said Reissfelder. “And I think the guys kind of took that jump, said, ”˜Let’s own this period.’”
Biddeford found more breathing room as Ricky Ruck carried the puck up the left side off a turnover and passed to Lemieux on the right, who beat Hawk to make it 2-0 Tigers six minutes into the period.
Lewiston cut the lead in half on a power play goal by Evan Gosselin four minutes later ”“ the lone time the Tigers’ penalty kill was bested.
Biddeford refused to wilt at that point, as Lemieux again found the back of the net to restore the two-goal lead. Lemieux blocked a Blue Devil pass with his leg in the neutral zone, then carried it up the right side before flipping a shot past Hawk.
“I just got clean breaks. I got some good passes from my linemates, and I was able to finish them,” said Lemieux.
Lemieux nearly completed a hat trick less than a minute later, but Hawk denied him on a penalty shot after Lemieux was tripped up on a breakaway.
“He had a great move on the penalty shot. Nick Hawk made a great save, he just barely came over with that pad,” said Reissfelder.
The Tigers again started a period in penalty kill mode, and again they neutralized the Lewiston man-advantage. Lemieux pitched in on the defensive end, blocking a slap shot from the left point 30 seconds into the period.
“We have a good penalty kill, and we just shut them down,” said Lemieux.
Biddeford goalie Brandon Daigle, who was at the top of his game all night, made one of his best saves 4:25 into the third, as he deflected away a shot by Kyle Lemelin, then recovered in time to make a diving stop on Gosselin’s put-back attempt.
“He did a really good job of squaring up on a lot of those shots. He made some big-time saves,” Reissfelder said of Daigle.
The Tigers used the momentum of those saves on the offensive end just over a minute later, as Ricky Ruck received a pass from Lemieux from behind the net and beat Hawk at the left post, making it 4-1 Biddeford.
Brady Crepeau joined the scoring party for the Tigers 1:03 later, as he snapped a shot past hawk from the left circle.
“I really don’t know,” Lemieux said regarding how a young Tiger team was able to pull away. “We just kept getting shots on net, and they kept going in.”
Lewiston head coach Jamie Belleau used his timeout after that goal, and it paid dividends two minutes later, as Eddie Emerson snapped a shot over Daigle’s left shoulder from the left point.
There was no comeback for the Blue Devils, however, as Biddeford wasn’t done scoring. Ricky Ruck took a pass from Devon Werthner and skated up the right side before beating Hawk at the right post with less than four minutes to play.
Brandon Croteau scored for Lewiston with 1:01 left, but it did nothing to soften the blow that Biddeford dealt to the team with the most Heal Points in Class A.
“A theme that we’ve seen almost throughout the entire state is everybody is kind of up-and-down, everybody has great games, everybody has tough games. When any team puts together three periods ”“ great teamwork, great passing, and playing their positions ”“ they can win,” said Reissfelder. “And that’s what we saw tonight.”
“It feels great. We haven’t been on our game lately,” said Lemieux. “When we want to be good, we’re good. I think we just proved ourselves to be one of the top teams in the state, and we’re just going to build on it and hopefully continue to progress.
“It sends a message, and we know we can beat any team in the state now.”
— Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or sports@journaltribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.
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