BIDDEFORD — Jason Tremblay has coached enough games against Greely Coach Barry Mothes to know Biddeford High needed to be ready Saturday afternoon.
Greely’s nine-game winning streak ended Wednesday with a disappointing loss to Gorham.
“I knew they would be ready to rock and roll,” Tremblay said. “We started out a little flat, and they came out like I thought they would.”
The Class B Rangers were flying, and they knocked off the Class A Tigers 6-2 at Biddeford Ice Arena.
Both teams were in second place in the South region of their respective classes, with Greely now 10-2, while the Tigers dropped to 10-4, their winning streak ending at seven games.
Greely took a 3-1 lead in the first period. It was 3-2 after two periods, but the Rangers poured in three more goals in the third.
Jake MacDonald and Matt Kramlich each tallied twice for Greely, and Karsten Bourgoine made 27 saves.
“A great win, especially after the Gorham loss,” MacDonald said. “That was a rough one. We used that as a wake-up call. We came out and played a good team and put six in.”
Preparation for Biddeford began Wednesday night.
“We talked about it after the game,” Mothes said. “We said, ‘This game is gone. We should have been better. We have to come back hard on Saturday.’ This has been a highly anticipated matchup. I’m really proud how those guys dug in and played. We needed it.”
Biddeford outshot the Rangers 29-25 while creating other chances that didn’t reach the net. Greely’s defense filled the lanes, and Bourgoine was in position when needed.
“Karsten’s a great goalie,” said defenseman Ben Kennedy. “When we can help him out blocking shots, that’s great. But we know we can trust him to make the stops.”
Kennedy and Cole Stetson formed a strong defense duo, and Caleb Duff and Andrew Eckhardt teamed for another.
“I was just pleased with a lot of facets of our game, but I think our defensemen did a great job clogging things up,” Mothes said. “And our forwards back-checked well. To hold those guys to two goals is just really a strong effort on the road, against one of the better teams in the state.”
MacDonald gave Greely a 1-0 lead on a rebound at 2:33. Biddeford tied it 23 seconds later on Trevor Ouellette’s wrist shot.
The Rangers went ahead for good at 11:53 on Kramlich’s power-play goal – a rebound after a shot off the glass. MacDonald then converted a centering pass from Jackson Williams at 13:45.
“They’re a strong, fast-skating team,” MacDonald said. “We stayed on them, forced mistakes and capitalized.”
Nick McSorley’s power-play goal in the second period closed the score to 3-2.
In the third period, Andy Moore roofed a backhand at 4:10, then Kramlich made it 5-2 with a short-handed breakaway goal at 10:19. Matt Dubbert added a power-play goal at 14:09.
“Their big guns were firing tonight. They buried pucks,” Tremblay said.
“We need to learn from it. It’s a bump in the road and we have a week to figure it out.”
The Tigers play Saturday against Cheverus, the No. 1 team in Class A South.
Kevin Thomas can be reached at 791-6411 or:
kthomas@pressherald.com
Twitter: KevinThomasPPH
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