Orono edges PI ‘Cats Babin notches OT game-winner

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ORONO – Junior center Sean Babin converted a two-on-one 2:30 into overtime to give fourth-seeded Orono posted a 4-3 victory over No. 5 Presque Isle at Alfond Arena in their Eastern Maine Class B quarterfinal Monday night.

The Red Riots improved to 15-6, while the Wildcats finished 12-9.

The Riots will face top seed Brewer, a 10-1 winner over John Bapst of Bangor, in Saturday’s semifinals at Sukee Arena in Winslow.

Orono senior defenseman Tommy Smyth chipped the puck out of the defensive zone to Babin (two assists), who broke down the right wing with Tony Raymond dashing toward the far post.

The Presque Isle defenseman covered Raymond, but Babin had a wide-open path to the net-front and took full advantage, slicing across the top of the crease before depositing a backhander behind goalie Brendon Esquibel.

“I was going to take a shot, but I had room and the goalie went down, so I went around him,” explained Babin, whose goal was his 16th of the season.

Orono freshman Brandon Paul forced the overtime by scoring with 5:05 remaining. Talented Presque Isle defenseman Brad Young had supplied the Wildcats with their only lead just 48 seconds earlier on the power play.

Young gathered the puck in the left circle and snapped off a quick wrister that glanced into the short-side corner off the right pad of Orono goalie Keith Hedrick.

All three Wildcat goals came on the power play. PI went 3-for-5 with the man advantage.

But Orono’s top line of Babin between Raymond and Paul answered quickly.

Paul scooted to the net from the right corner and roofed an in-tight wrister under the crossbar into the short-side corner.

“Brandon has a great down-low shot,” said Orono coach Greg Hirsch. “He had a similar opportunity earlier, but he waited too long and had it poked away. So we told him to just rip it the next time.”

Raymond said the last two goals by Paul and Babin “were two of the nicest goals I’ve seen all year.”

The Riots had beaten Presque Isle 6-4 and 3-1 during the regular season.

In addition to center Kyle Weiland, who had 14 goals and 10 assists, the Riots were also without their best defenseman, Travis Bryant (9 & 16), who is out for the season with a broken jaw.

Presque Isle sophomore left wing and scoring leader Brandon Daigle (assist) erased a pair of one-goal deficits with late power-play goals in the first and second periods.

Babin opened the scoring for Orono 2:53 into the game, but Daigle tied it up at the 13:10 mark.

Tony Raymond’s power-play goal made it 2-1 12:20 into the second period before Daigle answered with two seconds remaining in the period.

Babin, who slid over from right wing to center on the top line to replace Weiland with Paul being plugged in on the right wing, scored his first goal off a turnover.

Babin intercepted an ill-advised cross-ice pass in the Presque Isle zone, skated in alone on Esquibel, and tucked a short backhander past him.

Scoring chances were few and far between in the first period, but Daigle capitalized when Young kept the puck in at the point and fed it to Dylan Collins.

Collins pushed it ahead to Daigle, who spun 180 degrees and swept a low shot from the middle of the slot through the pads of Hedrick.

“We played well,” said Presque Isle first-year coach Carl Flynn. “I thought we did a pretty good job on their top line, but they scored all four of their goals. We didn’t have the last line change, so we couldn’t match lines with them.”

He also felt his team “didn’t shoot enough” despite finishing with a 32-29 edge in shots on goal.

Hirsch felt his Riots played “very intense for three periods” and received an important lift from the third line of Ben Perry between Derek Smith and Mark Cloutier.

“We were able to roll three lines out there and that kept our top two lines fresh,” said Hirsch.

RED RIOTS 4, WILDCATS 3 (OT)

Presque Isle (12-9) 1 1 1 0 – 3

Orono (15-6) 1 1 1 1 – 4

First period – 1. Orono, Babin (unassisted), 2:53; 2. PI, Daigle (D. Collins), 13:10 (pp). Penalties: PI, Daigle, elbowing, 7:01; PI, McGlinn, hitting from behind and 10-minute misconduct, 9:23; Orono, Michaud, hitting from behind and 10-minute misconduct, 12:57.

Second period – 3. Orono, Raymond (Babin), 12:20 (pp); 4. PI, Daigle (G. Cyr), 14:58 (pp). Penalties: Orono, Smyth, tripping, 3:28; PI, R. Cyr, elbowing, 8:14: PI, too many men on the ice (served by Talbot), 10:37; Orono, Michaud, elbowing, 12:30; Orono, Smyth, contact to the head-roughing, 13:54.

Third period – 5. PI, Young (Daigle), 9:07 (pp); 6. Orono, Paul (Babin), 9:55. Penalties: Orono, Smith, contact to the head-roughing, 8:35; PI, R. Cyr, tripping,l 12:27.

Overtime – 7. Orono, Babin (Smyth), 2:30. Penalties: none.

Shots on goal: Presque Isle 6-14-10-2-32; Orono 8-11-8-2-29

Goaltenders: Presque Isle, Esquibel (29 shots-24 saves); Orono, Hedrick (32-29)

Power-play opportunities: Presque Isle 3 of 5, Orono 1 of 5

Attendance: 350 (est.)