BANGOR – Hardworking Bobby Leavitt, a Bangor High School senior right wing, found himself with the puck on his stick in the low slot in overtime of Thursday night’s hockey game against intown rival John Bapst. He had three options.

“The goalie [Dominic Dinardo] was covering the near post and one of their defensemen was at the far post. So I shot it for the middle,” said Leavitt, whose 14-footer slipped between Dinardo’s pads 2:33 into OT to give the Rams a 3-2 victory at Sawyer Arena.

The Rams’ fourth straight win improved their record to 13-6. John Bapst fell to 6-11-1 after having its four-game winning streak snapped.

The hustling Leavitt had gained the puck when a Crusader defenseman’s breakout pass hit his skate. He quickly cut to his right before beating junior goalie Dinardo with Bangor’s seventh shot in overtime.

The Rams were fortunate to escape with the win as the Crusaders outplayed and outworked them for most of the game.

John Bapst played a strong two-way game and moved the puck well while the Rams were too individualistic and took several ill-advised penalties in the second and third periods.

But Ram senior goalie Justin Climo bailed his mates out, particularly in the third period when John Bapst held a 14-4 shot advantage thanks to four power plays.

“I’ve been pretty solid lately. My confidence is up,” said Climo, who made one of his toughest saves to preserve a 2-2 tie with five minutes left.

Chris Todd cut across the high slot and let go a backhander labeled for the corner to Climo’s left. But Climo stuck out his left skate and got his toe on it.

“I was down and it was just a desperation move. I was lucky,” said Climo.

“Justin was awesome,” said Leavitt. “Bapst wanted this game a lot more than we did. They were really pumped up.”

Zack Means had opened the scoring for John Bapst 2:51 into the game when he followed up his own shot off a faceoff and jammed the rebound past Climo.

Justin Libbey tied it on the power play later in the period as he picked up the puck from Leavitt in the right circle, circled toward the middle, and snapped a wrister over Dinardo’s glove into the short side corner.

Bangor was fortunate to be tied 1-1 after one because the Crusaders had generated three two-on-ones but failed to convert.

Defenseman Tyson Schroder gave Bangor its first lead 5:15 into the second period when he pounced on a loose puck, took a couple of strides, and fired a 50-foot slap shot over Dinardo’s blocker.

But Todd gave the Crusaders the equalizer they deserved with 6:50 left when he roofed a rebound on the power play.

“They outplayed us,” said Bangor coach Bill Schwarz. “We only showed up to play in the overtime.”

His Rams outshot John Bapst 7-0 in OT.

John Bapst coach Ray Thibodeau was extremely pleased with his team’s effort, especially considering they were without two injured defensemen.

“I couldn’t ask for anything more from them. That was our best game of the year when it came to executing our systems,” said Thibodeau.

Climo finished with 28 saves and Dinardo, who also played well, wound up with 30.

Rams 3, Crusaders 2

Bangor (13-6) 1 1 0 1 – 3

John Bapst (6-11-1) 1 0 1 0 – 2

First period – 1. JB, Means (Motta, Lacadie), 2:51; 2. Bangor, Libbey (Leavitt), 12:45 (pp); Penalties: Bangor, Leavitt, roughing, 7:54; JB, Lynn, roughing, 7:54; JB, Lynn, five-minute major for boarding, 12:05

Second period – 3. Bangor, Schroder (unassisted), 5:15. Penalties: Bangor, Franck, roughing, 5:47; JB, Means, unsportsmanlike conduct, 5:47; Bangor, Schroder, holding, 6:31; JB, Todd, tripping, 7:09; Bangor, B. Baker, roughing, 10:17; Bangor, Franck, roughing, 12:06

Third period – 4. JB, Todd (Motta, Lynn), 8:10 (pp). Penalties: Bangor, K. Baker, hooking, 2:56; JB, Brown, tripping, 3:25; JB, Means, roughing, 6:09; Bangor, Schroder, roughing, 6:09; Bangor, Leavitt, elbowing, 6:40; Bangor, B. Baker, holding, 8:18; Bangor, Schroder, roughing, 10:14

Overtime – 5. Bangor, Leavitt (unassisted), 2:33. Penalties: none

Shots on goal: Bangor 10-12-4-7-33; John Bapst 7-9-14-0-30

Goaltenders: Bangor, Climo (30 shots-28 saves); John Bapst, Dinardo (33-30)

Power-play Opportunities: Bangor 1 of 3; John Bapst 1 of 7

Attendance: 250 (est.)