WINSLOW – The goalpost can be your best friend or your worst enemy.

The John Bapst High School Crusaders came a goalpost away from forcing an overtime but when Tyler Fadrigon’s slap shot from the right point hit the short-side post with a minute left, the Gardiner High School Tigers came away with a 4-3 triumph in their Eastern Maine Class B semifinal at the Sukee Arena Monday night.

Third seed Gardiner (14-5-2) and top seed Winslow (15-5-1) will meet in tonight’s EM title game at 7 at the University of Maine’s Alfond Arena.

John Bapst finished at 14-6-1.

Senior center Klinton Peckham’s shorthanded goals 23 seconds apart in the second period snapped a 1-1 tie and gave Gardiner a 3-1 lead before the Crusaders tied it in the third period on Neil LaFrance’s power-play goal and Fadrigon’s laser from the right point that went in off both posts.

Kevin May gave Gardiner a 1-0 lead with 49 seconds left in the first period but Andrew Casey equalized while the Crusaders had a two-man advantage 4:24 into the second period.

Sophomore defenseman Forrest Chadwick scored the game-winner with 4:11 left, just seconds after Crusaders goalie Derek Duff had made a remarkable right-pad save off Peckham, who was set up by Mike Hersom.

Moments later, Peckham slid the puck to Hersom, who came out of the corner to Duff’s left and tried to jam it home.

Duff made the save but Chadwick wristed the rebound through the goalie’s pads from the middle of the slot.

“I was just hanging out in the slot and, luckily, I put it in. I was just trying to put it on net,” said Chadwick.

Duff said he saved Hersom’s wraparound with his blocker.

“I had the paddle down,” said Duff, who added that he tried to scramble over to the middle of the net but Chadwick’s wrister was already en route.

John Bapst went on the power play with 1:57 left and Fadrigon’s blast nearly tied it.

“I didn’t see it until the last second,” said Gardiner goalie Chris Howe. “I think it went off one of our guys in front. It hit the outside of the post. It was a lucky bounce.”

Chadwick had set up the game’s first goal when he circled the net and found May in the high slot. May’s wrister slipped between the pads of Duff.

Casey drew the game level when Fadrigon’s bouncer glanced over to him off Howe’s pads and he deposited it into the empty net.

But Peckham scored his first goal shorthanded just 16 seconds later as he chased down a long pass that evaded him behind the Crusader net and quickly wheeled out front to Duff’s left and fired it five-hole.

Twenty-three seconds later, Peckham poked the puck free from a Bapst defenseman and converted a breakaway.

“I saw the five-hole open,” said Peckham.

But the Crusaders came out flying in the third period and quickly tied it up.

LaFrance swept a rebound into the half-empty net after Howe had made a save on Casey Hull’s deflection of a Matt Duplisea point shot.

Fadrigon knotted it up with his slapper from the right point off a Casey faceoff win.

Bapst continued to carry the play in the third period but Howe came up with some important saves and Duff also came up with some quality stops.

“I was proud of the kids,” said John Bapst coach Aaron King. “They could have quit down 3-1 but they came battling back. Those two shorthanded goals really hurt us.”

“We played pretty well. We were a little flat in the second period but we exploded in the third. Their goalie was phenomenal,” said Casey. “It came down to the last four minutes.”

“Both goalies stood on their head,” said John Bapst junior defenseman Chase Huckestein.

Gardiner coach Matt Dineen said it was an intense battle between “two evenly matched teams.

“Aaron [King] gets the most out of his kids,” said Dineen.

“We gave it everything we had,” said an emotional Fadrigon.

“We just didn’t get the bounces tonight,” said Casey.

John Bapst outshot Gardiner 26-24.

Howe finished with 23 saves while Duff had 20.

lmahoney@bangordailynews.net

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