WINSLOW — When he took his shot in overtime, Lawrence High defenseman Matt Woodbury wasn’t thinking of the historical implications.
It was after the game, after he had celebrated his game-winner, that Woodbury had time to think about his goal.
“We showed our heart there,” Woodbury, a senior captain, said. “That’s our first overtime win in three years.”
Woodbury’s wrister from the left circle came 2 minutes, 21 seconds into overtime and gave the Bulldogs a 4-3 win over a gritty Presque Isle squad in an Eastern Class B quarterfinal at Sukee Arena.
“Their defenseman went down, and I knew when he went down, I could skate right around him, and it was me and the goalie, one on one,” Woodbury said.
Lawrence (8-9-2) will play top-seeded Brewer (17-0-1) in the semifinals Saturday at Sukee Arena. Presque Isle ended its season 8-11.
These teams hadn’t met since Dec. 18, a 7-3 Lawrence win. On this long trip south, the Wildcats focused on playing tougher defense and making sure the one Lawrence player who killed them the last time didn’t get a chance to do it again.
“I think we gave Devan Belanger a lot more respect today than we did the first time. He scored four goals the first game,” Presque Isle Coach Carl Flynn said. “All in all, I was happy with our effort today.”
Added Woodbury: “They definitely improved. They put it on us a little bit more.”
Josh MacFarline anchored the Wildcats’ defense, making 40 saves to help keep his team in the game. MacFarline’s biggest save came late in the third period, when he stuffed Belanger’s short-handed breakaway bid to keep the score knotted at 3-3.
“(MacFarline’s) played well his whole high school career. This was his last high school game, and he ended it the way he played most of his career,” Flynn said. “He gave it all he’s got and made big saves when we needed them.”
Tyler Boudreau gave Lawrence its first lead of the game, 1:10 into the third period. When MacFarline hit the ice and lost sight of the puck, Boudreau tapped it into a wide open net for a 3-2 lead.
The Wildcats tied the game 3:59 into the third when Isaac LaJoie’s shot trickled past Lawrence goalie Brad MacKenzie (26 saves).
“We had a couple times where we just didn’t clear the front of the net. Or we were clearing the front of the net but didn’t have our eye on the puck, and they put the loose puck in the net. They scored their third goal that way,” Flynn said.
The Wildcats took a 1-0 lead on a LaJoie goal 3:48 into the game. Jordan Nutting tied it at 9:55 of the first, stuffing a pass from Belanger past MacFarline at the left post.
Presque Isle scored just six seconds into power play at 4:58 of the second when Tyler Seeley redirected a shot past MacKenzie. Lawrence’s Christian Carpenter answered with a power-play goal on a rebound with 44 seconds to play in the second period. Woodbury assisted on the goal.
“We had a lot of rebounds, and (MacFarline) stopped them. If we could have capitalized, we would have had a lot more goals,” Woodbury said. “He definitely had a good game.”
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com
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