AUBURN — It may have been the most important three minutes for the Scarborough High boys’ hockey team.
After blowing a two-goal lead in the final 2:19 of the third period, the Red Storm got three minutes to regroup before overtime.
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They got it together and Jack Callahan’s goal gave Scarborough a 3-2 win over Biddeford on Tuesday night in a Western Class A quarterfinal at Norway Savings Bank Arena.
The fourth-seeded Red Storm (11-5-3) advance to the semifinals Saturday at the Colisee in Lewiston against No. 1 Falmouth (14-5).
The winner was Callahan’s second goal of the night. He stuffed a feed from Cam Smith at 1:27 of the overtime period.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Callahan said. “I was in shock.”
Shock is a good way to describe the Red Storm at the end of regulation. No. 5 Biddeford (10-7-2), trailing 2-0 in the third period, got a Ricky Ruck penalty-shot goal at 12:41, and then a Cody Sevigny score on a slap shot at 13:56. Scarborough looked stunned.
“They started hanging their heads,” Red Storm Coach Norm Gagne said. “That’s why those three minutes before we got started again (were important). I said, ‘hey this is still our game. You got to move forward.'”
In overtime, Biddeford had a shot deflected and Scarborough came down. Smith got the puck behind the Tigers’ net and saw Callahan advancing.
“I decided to go right to the net,” Callahan said. “Cam threw it right in front and I luckily got it and poked it in.”
His teammates swarmed him as the Tigers lined up to shake hands.
“Going into OT, I thought we had some momentum,” Biddeford Coach Rich Reissfelder said. “Sometimes that three-minute break is all a team needs to regroup, and they did a good job.”
Biddeford beat and tied Scarborough in two games during the season, but the Red Storm were bolstered by the return of forward Matt Caron last week after breaking his collarbone in the first game of the season. Caron not only gave Scarborough a 1-0 lead in the second period, he helped defend – along with defenseman Sean McDonald – Biddeford’s explosive Ruck.
“Our game plan was definitely keep (Ruck) out of the center because he has a great shot,” Caron said.
Caron showed a pretty good shot himself with his goal at 12:06, taking a pass from Sean McGovern and lifting a backhand over goalie Brandon Daigle’s glove.
In the third period, Smith trickled a pass to Callahan. Daigle had to come out and Callahan got the puck by him for a 2-0 lead at 2:33.
Biddeford called a timeout and pulled Daigle at 12:06. With the Red Storm facing an empty net, they allowed a breakaway to Ruck, who was tripped and was awarded a penalty shot. Ruck charged in, faked and sent a backhand past Ben Bragg.
Daigle was pulled again. The Tigers got bodies in front of the net and Sevigny’s slap shot got through, tying the game.
“We’re a young team,” Gagne said. “I had told them ‘you can’t rush to the end.’ But we started rushing.”
But the Red Storm regrouped. Callahan got his second goal and Scarborough advanced. Bragg ended up with 21 saves.
The Red Storm has already defeated Falmouth twice this year, 3-1 (with an empty-net goal) and 2-1.
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