Winslow tips Tigers for title

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ORONO – Winslow High School right wing Jesse Cullivan wasn’t exactly sure what he was going to do with the puck when Matt Loubier fed him a pass in the neutral zone in overtime of Tuesday night’s Eastern Maine Class B dhampionship game at Alfond Arena.

He wound up eventually putting it in the back of the net after a determined rush down the right wing to give the Black Raiders a dramatic 5-4 come-from-behind win over Gardiner in their thriller.

It was Winslow’s first EM Class B title since 2005.

Top seed Winslow, 16-5-1, will play in Saturday’s state title game in Lewiston against the Greely-York winner of the Western Maine final. Third seed Gardiner wound up 15-6-1.

Winslow senior left wing Ben Grant forced the overtime by scoring with 41 seconds remaining in regulation off a tip-in. Winslow had pulled goalie Jesse Little in favor of an extra attacker.

On his game-winner, coming 26 seconds into overtime, Cullivan carried the puck down the right wing, muscled his way past an off-balance Gardiner defenseman and cut to the front of the net.

“I was going to see if I could beat the defenseman,” said Cullivan. “Then I got by him and took it in. I pulled the puck back and looked for space [to shoot it]. It happened so fast. I didn’t think it was going to go in.”

Gardiner goalie Chris Howe said he thought he had Cullivan’s point-blank wrister.

“It went under my arm,” said Howe.

Grant forced the overtime when he made his way to the front of the net off a faceoff to the right of Howe and deflected Charlie Kriegal’s shot from the left point into the top corner past Howe’s glove. Chad Guptil won the faceoff to Loubier, who didn’t have a shooting lane so he passed it over to Kriegal.

“I saw Ben in front and made a slap-pass to him,” said Kriegal.

Grant said he had “just turned around when I saw the shot coming. I stuck my stick out and it deflected into the net. I got lucky.”

“We didn’t play well on faceoffs tonight,” said Howe.

Winslow coach Corey Lessard pointed out that Guptil has “probably won 80 percent of his faceoffs.”

Gardiner outplayed Winslow through the first two periods and took its first lead of the game when junior right winger Cam Berthiaume scored 41 seconds after linemate Mike Hersom had tied it late in the second period.

But Winslow played with a sense of urgency in the third period and was finally rewarded with the tying goal.

Howe had thwarted them time and time again up until that point. Winslow outshot Gardiner 9-4 in the third period.

“The guys played like there was no tomorrow in the third period. They knew it was their last straw,” said Lessard. “I think we wanted it more.”

“We stepped up our defense in the third period,” said Grant.

“We were back on our heels at the beginning of the third period,” said Gardiner junior left winger Zoe Fisk who added that he felt his team’s overall performance was “one of our best of the season.”

Gardiner coach Matt Dineen also thought his team played well..

“The kids really worked hard and we did what we wanted to do. Those are just the breaks,” said Dineen.

Klinton Peckham’s second goal of the game and fourth in two days – he had a pair in Monday’s 4-3 win over John Bapst of Bangor – had tied it 2-2 early in the second period before Winslow’s Grant broke the tie at the 9:11 mark.

Peckham swooped on a rebound after Hersom deflected Forrest Chadwick’s point shot and swept it past Winslow goalie Little before Grant scored when his centering pass from the corner to the left of Howe glanced into the short side off the goalie’s skate.

Hersom tied it at the 10:47 mark when he cut from right to left across the slot and snapped a quick 16-foot wrister past Little.

Moments later, Peckham fed Berthiaume between the faceoff circles and his wrister trickled through the pads of Little.

Grant hit the crossbar on a partial break-in later in the period and Little kept the Raiders within one when he got hit glove on Kevin May’s breakaway.

The teams combined for three goals in just 51 seconds early in the first period with Todd Brow and Jeff Browne scoring six seconds apart for Winslow before Peckham answered for Gardiner.

Brow was positioned on the inside edge of the right faceoff circle and deflected Matt Loubier’s shot from the right point past Howe.

On the ensuing faceoff, Chad Guptil chipped it to the left wing where Browne broke in unmolested and beat Howe with a low wrister inside the far post from the left faceoff circle.

Peckham scored at the 3:07 mark when he corraled the puck in the corner, burst across the low slot and pulled the puck around Raider goalie Jesse Little before tucking it in the short side.

Gardiner had the better of the chances in the period as they sought the equalizer but Little came up with some quality saves including a couple during a two-man disadvantage.

Winslow outshot Gardiner 24-23.

lmahoney@bangordailynews.net

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BLACK RAIDERS 5, TIGERS 4

Gardiner (14-6-2) 1 3 0 0 – 4

Home (record) 2 1 1 1 – 5

First period – 1. Win, Brow (Loubier), 2:16; 2. Win, Brown (C. Guptil), 2:22; 3. Gar, Peckham (unassisted), 3:07. Penalties: Win, too many men on the ice (served by Thorne), 8:53; Win, Loubier, roughing, 9:49; Gar, Peckham, roughing, 9:49; Win, Martin, boarding, 11:59; Win, C. Guptil, tripping, 13:21.

Second period – 4. Gar, Peckham (Hersom, F. Chadwick), 2:19; 5. Win, B. Grant (unassisted), 9:11; 6. Gar, Hersom (Berthiaume, Peckham), 10:47; 7. Gar, Berthiaume (Peckham, Hersom), 11:28. Penalties: Win, Kriegal, interference, 3:32; Gar, Fisk, roughing, 4:21; Gar, A. Wheelock, holding, 14:11.

Third period – 8. Win, B. Grant (Kriegal, Loubier), 14:19. Penalties: Gar, Berthiaume, tripping, 2:41; Gar, Johnson, tripping, 10:18.

Overtime – 9. Win, Cullivan (Loubier), :26. Penalties: none.

Shots on goal: Gardiner 10-8-4-1-23; Winslow 6-8-9-1-24

Goaltenders: Gardiner, Howe (23 shots-18 saves); Winslow, Little (24-20)

Power play opportunities: Gardiner 0-4, Winslow 0-4

Attendance: 500 (est.)