Biddeford’s Colin Petit fires a shot past Thornton Academy goalie Seth Dube during the third period on Saturday night. TAMMY BELANGER PHOTOGRAPHY
Saturday night’s Class A South clash at BIA was no different as the two teams put on a show in front of a packed house.
Just like in their first meeting, it would be the Tigers coming away with a victory as they scored the first two goals and then held on for a 2-1 win over the Trojans.
“It was awesome … a great atmosphere,” said Biddeford goalie Owen Sullivan.
Sullivan and TA goalie Seth Dube would steal the show early on as they made save after save through the first two periods to keep the game scoreless.
“Both guys played well,” said Biddeford coach Jason Tremblay of the goalies. “Dube has been playing unbelievable all year. He’s keeping the goals against at two every game it seems like. Sully kept us in the game and then at the end he made saves in the power play.”
The Tigers would give their goalie a cushion in the third period as Trevor Ouellette collected a rebound off a Liam Turner shot and scored with 7:46 left in regulation to make it 1-0.
“My position in the power play is to get those rebounds and my teammates got the job done. They got it to the net and I just went in hard,” said Ouellette.
Biddeford was called for a hooking penalty just 36 seconds later to give the Trojans a power play, but that wouldn’t stop the shorthanded Tigers from adding to their lead.
Colin Petit made an incredible defensive play to knock the puck away from a TA player and beat Dube on a breakaway to put the Tigers up 2-0 with 6:03 remaining.
“He curled back on the blue line and I knew he was doing it so I just poked it away and the puck got a good bounce,” said Petit.
Tremblay was thrilled to see Petit turn defense into offense.
“It was a great play by Colin Petit staying on (the TA player) coming around. He looped around, and I don’t think he thought someone would stay on him and I think that really turned things around for us,” said Tremblay. “We’ve been working on that, not letting guys out of their grasp and giving them all that room. That was a good play, good heads up play on a really good hockey player from TA.”
Thornton Academy coach Michael Roux took a timeout after the second Biddeford goal as he looked to calm his team down and get the Trojans back into the game.
It worked like a charm as the Trojans got a power-play goal from Reagan Wintle with 5:14 left to the cut the lead to 2-1. Owen Dubois and Chandler Bilodeau were credited with the assists on the goal that got the TA fan section on its feet.
The Trojans got another chance with 3:54 left in the game when Biddeford was called for holding and forced to go down a player.
Sullivan and the Biddeford defensemen would step up during the power play and held off the hard-charging Trojans the rest of the way.
“That was crazy,” said Sullivan of the final few minutes. “I just faced a lot of shots and tried to knock as many down as I can. I had some help with some of the defensemen blocking shots.”
Roux knew his team had its chances to light up the scoreboard, but he gave plenty of credit to Sullivan.
“It was there, we just need to find more scoring. Our power plays need to get a little bit better … we had our chances. Give credit to their goalie, he played well,” Roux said.
The TA coach also praised the play of Dube, who has been one of the best goalies in the state all season long.
“He’s been keeping us in it all year long, (Dube) and our defensive core,” said Roux. “We’re only giving up two goals (per game) and that’s what we ask from our defensive core and our goaltender to keep us in the game. We’ve just got to find more offense.”
One thing that no one could deny was the incredible atmosphere inside BIA on Saturday night.
“It’s great to see this again,” said Roux. “I’ve been around for a while and this is probably the biggest crowd I’ve seen for a long time — since we were winning championships and they were winning championships, so this is great to see.”
“It’s unbelievable. It’s the best atmosphere in high school hockey in my opinion. The rivalry is just awesome … there’s nothing better,” added Sullivan.
Biddeford improved to 9-3 and currently holds the No. 2 seed in the Class A South standings. Tremblay is looking for his team, which has won six straight, to stay focused and even-keeled as the Tigers head into the final month of the regular season.
“We want to be here. We just want to stay here and keep continuing to get better every day. We talked about it, enjoy the win tonight but it’s on to Scarborough on Wednesday night,” said Tremblay.
Roux is confident that the Tigers and the Trojans (5-6) have what it takes to compete with anyone in the state.
“I think both teams have a quality chance at making a good run in the playoffs,” Roux said.
— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.
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