BIDDEFORD — There were no first-time playoff jitters for Biddeford freshmen Nick McSorely and Trevor Ouellette on Tuesday night.
Both players scored twice to lead third-seeded Biddeford to a 6-3 win over South Portland/Freeport/Waynflete in a Class A South boys’ hockey quarterfinal at Biddeford Ice Arena.
Down 3-2 with five minutes left in the second period, the Tigers (13-6) scored four unanswered goals to advance to Saturday’s regional semifinal against No. 2 Falmouth (12-5-1).
“It’s hard to stay calm, but it’s a long game,” Biddeford Coach Jason Tremblay said. “These guys are pretty resilient. They’ve battled back from 3-1 leads in the third with five minutes to go three or four times this year, so I don’t sweat it on the bench. They take care of business.”
Biddeford goalkeeper Owen Sullivan finished with 15 saves, and Liam McGibbon had 24 for South Portland (10-8-1).
In the first period, Biddeford scored 21 seconds into the game before South Portland tied it 1-1 in the final seven seconds. McSorley put the Tigers on the board during a scramble in front of South Portland’s net for a 1-0 lead.
“I was going to the net and I kind of got knocked down by the two (defensemen),” McSorely said. “I got back up and it was right there, and I just put it right in.”
Though the Tigers ended the first period with an 11-3 advantage in shots on goal, South Portland snagged some much-needed momentum before the buzzer when Owen Patrick broke loose and took the puck to Biddeford’s net before passing it to Eric Walker at the last second, and Walker buried the equalizer.
“They get that goal with seven seconds left and we give them a little bit of life,” Tremblay said. “They took advantage of it.”
The Red Riots came out strong in the second period and took the lead with five minutes left. But Biddeford responded with two power-play goals to end the period ahead 4-3. Biddeford had seven power-play opportunities in the game while South Portland had four.
“Special teams are huge in the playoffs,” Tremblay said. “We worked the last three practices on special teams, and I thought it really paid off this game.”
Trevor Ouellette scored from his brother, Trenton Ouellette, 4:41 into the second to put the Tigers up 2-1 before Bradley McMains tied it again with a goal from Gus Lappin halfway into the period. Aidan Schifano gave the Red Riots their first and final lead of the game with a short-handed, unassisted goal.
“Our captains just kept us calm, and we kept going back at it,” Trevor Ouellette said. “It’s a great feeling.”
McSorely answered back 15 seconds later with a power-play goal from Liam Turner and Logan Magnant when he tipped in Turner’s shot from the point. Trevor Ouellette scored another power-play goal – assisted by McSorely – with 48 seconds left in the second. Biddeford kept rolling in the third with a pair of goals 30 seconds apart when Colin Petit scored from Ian Couture at 8:22 and Magnant scored from McSorely at 8:52.
As for their next opponent, the Tigers swept Falmouth during the regular season by scores of 4-2 on Dec. 27, and 4-3 in overtime on Jan. 10.
“They’re probably one of the hottest teams in the league right now,” Tremblay said of Falmouth. “The next three days are going to be a lot of preparation.”
Taylor Vortherms can be contacted at 791-6417 or
tvortherms@pressherald.com
Twitter: TaylorVortherms
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