Tigers topple Raiders Lebourdais, Lahaie spark Gardiner

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ORONO – A sophomore jumpstarted Gardiner High School’s win and a freshman sewed it up.

Sophomore defenseman Justin Lebourdais’ rink-length rush and goal triggered a string of four unanswered goals and freshman Spencer Lahaie made 13 of his 31 saves in the third period to lead the Tigers to a 4-3 win over Winslow in their Eastern Maine Class B championship game Wednesday night.

Gardiner, 17-5-1, will meet 15-7 Yarmouth in Saturday’s state Class B title game at the Central Maine Civic Center in Lewiston.

Lebourdais’ goal 5:21 into the second period pulled Gardiner within one after Winslow senior left winger Chris Langlais had staked his team to a 2-0 first-period lead.

“Justin’s goal opened up the gates for us to score. It gave us confidence. And Spencer was amazing,” said Tiger left wing Ben Brown, who scored goals 3:53 apart later in the middle period to give Gardiner the lead for good.

Kevin McKay got what proved to be the game-winner 4:34 into the third period before Winslow’s Dan Roy answered on the power play 52 seconds later.

“Their goalie played really well. He made a lot of good saves,” said Langlais, who was robbed by Lahaie with three minutes left when he took a Roy pass and sliced across the top of the crease on the backhand.

“I tried to go around him but he got his [left] pad on it,” said Langlais.

Lahaie said, “I just stuck out my leg.”

Jason Carter had walked in alone on Lahaie a few minutes earlier, but Lahaie held his ground and took his shot in the chest.

“I didn’t put it where I wanted,” said Carter.

Both teams had a slew of odd-man rushes as the quick, crafty forwards regularly burst around the rival defensemen.

Both teams also overhandled the puck and made dangerous up-the-middle passes in their defensive zones.

Langlais had tipped a Robbie Picard point shot behind Lahaie and then had a tap-in after Carter pounced on a turnover and fed it to him.

But Lebourdais opened the second period with his rink-length rush and wrister from the top of the right circle that glanced in off the blocker of Raider goalie Tim Cloutier.

“I was hoping to make something happen and the puck went in,” said Lebourdais.

“That put fear into our kids,” said Winslow coach Lee Bureau.

Brown tied it courtesy of a lucky bounce as the puck hit a linesman’s skate resulting in a three-on-one with Mike Patrick passing it to Shawn Kelley, who sent Brown in on Cloutier.

“My shot hit him in the shoulder [and went in],” said Brown, whose next goal came about when Lebourdais’ left point shot deflected off Kelley’s stick to him at the far post.

“My shot hit his pad and went in,” said Brown of his 12-footer.

McKay made it 4-2 in the third period off a faceoff play. Kelley drew it back to him, he cut right to left across the slot, “and I put it to the far side. Their goalie came over with me and covered a lot of the angle.”

Roy tucked home a deflected shot by Carter moments later and Winslow stormed the Gardiner net only to be stopped time and time again by Lahaie.

“I was quite nervous,” said Lahaie. “But I felt a lot better after we got the lead.”

TIGERS 4, BLACK RAIDERS 3

Winslow (15-8) 0 3 1 ? 4

Gardiner (17-5-1) 2 0 1 ? 3

First period ? 1. Winslow, Langlais (Picard, Carter), 2:46; 2. Winslow, Langlais (Carter), 10:28 (pp). Penalties: Winslow, Finley, holding, 4:36; Gardiner, Lebourdais, boarding, 5:02; Gardiner, Rogers, tripping, 9:03; Winslow, Dempsey, charging, 12:06.

Second period ? 3. Gardiner, Lebourdais (unassisted), 5:21; 4. Gardiner, Brown (Patrick, Kelley), 7:23; 5. Gardiner, Brown (Kelley, Lebourdais), 11:16 (pp). Penalties: Winslow, Picard, tripping, 9:44; Winslow, Poulin, tripping, 12:13.

Third period ? 6. Gardiner, McKay (Kelley, Brown), 4:34; 7. Winslow, Roy (Carter, Finley), 5:26 (pp). Penalties: Gardiner, Brown, boarding, 5:02.

Shots on goal: Winslow 10-10-14 ? 34; Gardiner 10-13-7? 30

Goaltenders: Winslow, Cloutier (30 shots-26 saves); Gardiner, S. Lahaie (34-31)

Power-play opportunities: Winslow 2-3, Gardiner 1-4

Attendance: 800 (est.)