Winslow regroups to hold off Red Riots Black Raiders win East crown

ORONO – Winslow High School ice hockey coach Don Skillings had a choice during the second intermission of Wednesday night’s Eastern Maine Class B championship hockey game.

After watching his team get taken out of its style, react to what Orono was doing rather than attacking, and concentrate on hitting or retaliating more than scoring, Skillings could read his Black Raiders the (Red) Riot act or go with the calm, cool and collected approach to settle his team down.

He went with the latter choice and told his upperclassmen to take charge and lead the team. They did just that, Winslow scored two goals in the first five minutes and then foiled a late Orono comeback bid to pull out a three-game season sweep of Orono and a 4-3 victory at Alfond Arena.

“After the second, we had a quiet talk. I didn’t go in and scream,” Skillings said. “We had a quiet conversation about what we’ve been working toward for two years and I called out the seniors. I said if you want to play in a state final game, you’ve gotta come out and play hard the next 15 minutes and they did.”

The 17-4-1 East top seeds will play in their first state final since in five years and face West champ Cape Elizabeth in a 1 p.m. state championship game at the Colisee in Lewiston. Orono finishes 17-4-1.

The difference in the game turned out to be junior center Clint Willoughby’s unassisted goal on a rush up the left side and shot that found its way under the pads of Orono goalie Jared Buzzell with 9:59 left in the game, but Winslow’s other goal in the period loomed just as large.

With 3:46 gone in the third, sophomore Kevin McCabe redirected a slap shot from the left side near the blue line by Brian Ellis. The shot zipped into the left corner between Buzzell’s glove and knee pads to give Winslow a 3-2 lead and the Black Raiders some much-needed momentum.

“That was a big goal,” said Riots coach Greg Hirsch. “I was thinking if we could at least continue the pressure, it would be big, but we weren’t really able to do that and they got that one in.”

“We tried not to let it get away from us, but they were pushing us in the second period, so I think getting that goal early on really made the difference for us,” said McCabe, who also assisted on the game’s opening goal.

Momentum was tightly attached to Winslow after that, and momentum might have been the game’s key factor as Orono totally reversed things at the end of the first period and for all of the second.

After senior forward Jacob Roeder scored with 36 seconds left in the first period to halve Winslow’s lead to 2-1, the Riots were able to intensify their physical play, slow down the Winslow advance on Orono’s net, and goad the Raiders into mistakes and penalties (five in all). The result was a tie game after two periods, thanks to Tony Raymond’s goal on a rush up the right wing, a pass from John Tuell, and a shot to the left corner over goalie Devon Grenier’s right shoulder midway through the second. Orono outshot Winslow 10-8 in the period after seeing the Raiders launch 14 at the net in the first.

“We got out of it alive. That’s about all I can say about the second period,” said Skillings. “We were undisciplined and took a lot of dumb penalties.”

Neither of the goalies were, however, as Grenier made 29 saves on 32 shots and Buzzell saved 25 of 29.

“Thank God Buzzell played as well as he did or it could have been a lot worse in that first period,” Hirsch said.

Orono’s final goal came with 1:32 left on Tuell’s swipe from the left side of the net off a short pass from Raymond.

Winslow’s two first-period goals were scored by sophomore forward Andy Wheeler and senior forward Wes Zemrak. Senior defenseman Brian Ellis had two assists.

“We came too far this season and last season to let it end now,” Ellis said. “This wasn’t going to be our last game.”

BLACK RAIDERS 4, RED RIOTS 3

Orono (17-4-1) 1 1 1 – 3

Winslow (17-4-1) 2 0 2 – 4

First period – 1. Winslow, Wheeler 18 (McCabe, Cioppa), 5:30; 2. Winslow, Zemrak (B. Ellis, Bickford), 11:31; 3. Orono, Roeder 19 (Tuell, Raymond), 14:24; Penalties: Orono, Babin, roughing, 9:21; Winslow, Bickford, roughing, 9:21; Winslow, B. Ellis, charging, 14:49

Second period – 4. Orono, Raymond 27 (Tuell), 7:29; Penalties: Winslow, Bickford, holding, 1:39; Orono, Bryant, high-sticking, 4:40; Winslow, J. Ellis, charging, 7:08; Winslow, bench minor (served by Guptill), unsportsmanlike conduct, 9:55; Orono, Fullwood, high-sticking, 12:53; Orono, Michaud, interference, 13:18; Winslow, B. Ellis, holding, 13:39; Winslow, Wheeler, holding, 14:07; Orono, Tuell, holding, 14:07

Third period – 5. Winslow, McCabe 12 (B. Ellis), 3:46; 6. Winslow, Willoughby 11 (unassisted), 5:01; 7. Orono, Tuell 34 (Babin, Raymond), 13:28; Penalties: Winslow, Willoughby, interference, 7:59; Winslow, J. Ellis, roughing, 10:21

Shots on goal: Orono 11-10-11-32; Winslow 14-8-7-29

Goaltenders: Orono, Buzzell (29 shots-25 saves); Winslow, Grenier (32-29)

Power-play opportunities: Orono 0 of 5; Winslow 0 of 2

Attendance: 750 (est.)