LEWISTON – Same teams. Same frantic ending.

And same score.

Kyle Bishop scored two third- period goals and second-seeded Waterville rallied for a 3-2 victory over fourth-ranked St. Dominic in the Eastern Class A final Tuesday night at the Colisee.

“It’s hard to put it into words,” Bishop said. “To get back to the state (final), it’s a great feeling. We have another shot to win it.”

Waterville (14-6-1) will try to retain its state title against Biddeford (18-2-1) at 6 p.m Saturday at the Colisee.

“You can’t do any better than this,” Nick DeBlois of Waterville said. “We’re one step closer.”

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Waterville beat St. Dom’s 3-2 in the state final last season. The Panthers never trailed in that one but staved off a rally in the closing minutes for their 20th state championship.

On Tuesday, the Panthers never led until Bishop banged home a rebound off a Josh Gaudette shot with 5:44 remaining.

“I called for a pass from (Gaudette),” Bishop said. “He shot it and the rebound came right to me. I don’t know how it got through.”

The Panthers needed to kill off a penalty with 3:55 left, and another minute with the Saints using an extra skater with their goalie, Shayne Curtis, pulled.

Waterville, shut out and out-played for two periods, scored three times in the third to twice rally from one-goal deficits. It has scored at least three goals in the third period of all three of its playoff games.

The Saints led 1-0 heading into the third before J.T. Whitten tied it after 45 seconds.

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“Nick (DeBlois) got a good faceoff win and I went straight to the net,” Whitten said. “I just shot it and it went in.”

But the Saints again pulled ahead on a Will Desmarais power-play goal with 10:48 left.

That’s when Bishop took over. He tied it about two minutes later before scoring the winner.

The Saints went ahead 1-0 when Alex Parker stuffed the puck between the pads of Ryan Cormier with 8:40 left in the second. The goal came seconds after Cormier stopped Nate Bergeron from in close.

Waterville had a chance to tie when Katy Massey went in alone and was hauled down from behind with 2:40 left in the period.

The officials awarded a penalty shot, which went over the goalie’s right shoulder.

 


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