BIDDEFORD — Having seen his team fall six straight times to Thornton Academy, Biddeford boys hockey coach Rich Reissfelder admitted his team had a bit of a mental block when it came to playing its rival.
On Saturday, it took the Tigers just 16 seconds to break through that mental barrier that had been building for nearly three years.
After falling behind 2-0 and trailing 2-1 after two periods, Biddeford tied the game up three minutes into the third when Corey Brown found Zack Thompson out front for a one-timer from close range.
The Tigers then took the lead 16 seconds later as Brown’s slap shot made its way to the back of the net, a one-two body blow that the Golden Trojans couldn’t recover from as the Tigers went on to a 4-2 victory in front of a packed house at Biddeford Ice Arena.
It was Biddeford’s first victory in the series since the Trojans’ shocking 4-3 victory in the Western Maine Class A final back on March 11, 2011, a game that had turned the tide in a matchup the Tigers had previously dominated.
Thornton went on to take each of the next five contests between the two after that, including a 4-2 win earlier this season, before Biddeford reversed that score line Saturday.
“It’s a big step for us, it shows our progress,” said Biddeford senior captain Nik Lemieux, who had a goal and an assist. “Before the game coach told us that it didn’t matter for the points or the standings like the other games do, it was just between us and T.A.
“Since I’ve been playing high school hockey we haven’t beaten T.A., so this feels great.”
After Brown’s goal put the Tigers ahead, Thornton took a penalty just over a minute later when Eric Profenno was called for hooking. Biddeford took advantage, taking a two-goal lead when Lemieux’s pass across the crease was banged in by Kerry Crepeau.
“We’ve learned that T.A. doesn’t give up, so we knew that goal was big to end up with the W,” Lemieux said.
“The fourth goal I thought was the big one,” Trojans coach Jamie Gagnon said. “When you’re within one goal you know you’re just one shot away from tying the game and getting momentum back on your side. But you go down by two, now you’re starting to press. We’d killed all but 20 seconds off that penalty; that one was the killer.”
Thornton took five penalties in all ”“ including three in the final period ”“ compared to Biddeford’s one.
“It comes down to discipline and poise, and I thought we lost our discipline there and we certainly lost our poise, and the game started to slide away,” said Gagnon, who lost for the first time in six games against the school he had led to two state championships. “In this league you can’t take those penalties. I thought we handled them pretty well on the kill but we just ran out of gas.”
Everything was going right for Thornton early, starting with the opening goal with 1:50 left in the first. The move started when Owen Lemoine beat a defender down the left and rushed into the Biddeford zone, where his centering pass was whacked into the net by Jimmy Remmes.
Just 14 seconds after the intermission Lemoine and Remmes hooked up again, with the former going in back of the goal and again finding the latter out front for a shot that whistled over Tiger goalie Brandon Daigle’s right shoulder.
But Biddeford got the break it needed with 3:39 left in the second, when Thornton turned it over in the neutral zone and the Tigers pounced. Brady Crepeau picked the puck up and found Ricky Ruck streaking in down the right side, and a pass to the front of the net was tipped home by Lemieux.
“A 2-0 lead is tough, especially in a full building, and you give away that first goal and momentum starts to swing a little bit,” Gagnon said. “In the neutral zone I thought we were playing pretty well, but we turned the puck over and it kept leading to rushes.”
“I think we just needed to pop a goal,” said Reissfelder said. “If felt like we had a ton of quality chances in the first and second and just needed to get one in the back of the net.”
Biddeford started the third period on the power play and couldn’t convert, but did find the equalizer just over a minute later as Brown picked the puck up on the end boards and slid a perfectly weighted pass to Thompson, whose shot left Thornton goalie Andrew Huot with little chance and tied the game at 2-2.
It was the same scenario as the first time the teams had met back on Dec. 21, when after conceding the first two goals, Biddeford stormed back to level the game at 2-2 with an early third-period goal.
In that game, Thornton regrouped and scored a pair of late goals to pick up the win, but this time the Tigers went ahead before the Trojans could catch their breath.
Straight off the next faceoff the puck was dumped into the Thornton zone, where the Tigers won the battle for possession. The puck was re-cycled out to Brown in the left circle, and the senior let go on a slap shot that beat Huot for the eventual game-winner.
“Coach has been making sure that we run the forecheck well all season and the first guy down took the body,” Brown said. “I ended up getting the puck, taking a shot and it ended up going in. It was a good bounce for us.”
“Not only did we get the third goal, but we got it right away,” added Reissfelder. “I think you could see in their body language a little bit of, ”˜Oh man, they came all the way back.’”
Biddeford outshot Thornton 30-17 in all, including 12-4 in the final minutes. It was the second time in a week the Tigers had dominated the third period after they scored the last three goals of the game in a 4-4 tie with defending Class B state champion Greely last Monday.
“All year we’ve had the mentality to play three periods of hockey and something’s bound to go our way,” Brown said. “Something clicked and we came out for the third period just all fired up and the goal scoring got contagious. Once we got one, we just kept on getting one after the other.”
The win moves Biddeford (6-5-2) ahead of Thornton (6-5-1) and into third in the Western Class A MPA Heal Point standings. But as Reissfelder stressed to his team beforehand, the victory has the potential to be bigger than that.
“This was a big mental advance for us to beat T.A,” Reissfelder said. “They’ve had our number for three years. We’ve played them tough, but they’ve just seemed to have that extra bounce, that extra kick that they need.
“For us to have that tonight, hopefully it pushes us through February.”
— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or cdunbar@journaltribune.com.
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