PORTLAND — The first victory in the history of the newly formed Biddeford/Massabesic/Old Orchard Beach co-op boys’ hockey team won’t soon be forgotten.
Thursday afternoon at Troubh Ice Arena, the Tigers tied the game with 44.6 seconds left in regulation on freshman Jamie Sperlich’s goal, then, despite playing a man down for nearly four minutes in overtime, won it with 29.8 seconds remaining in the eight-minute overtime when freshman Collin Scully scored to produce a 4-3 victory over Portland/Deering.
“It’s early in the season and these guys are coming together,” said Biddeford Coach Jason Tremblay. “The guys didn’t quit. They played hard.”
Biddeford (1-1-1) got the jump 3 minutes, 48 seconds into the game, as Aiden Russell pounced on the rebound of a Caden Petit shot and sent it past Portland goalie Ryan Becker.
Later in the period, Becker made a highlight-reel save to keep the Bulldogs’ deficit at one. After denying an initial shot by Nick Reissfelder, Becker, on his back, swept his left arm out to deny a rebound shot from Trevor Ouellette.
Portland amped up the energy in the second period and drew even at 6:26 when Danny Tocci took a pass from Max Cheever and one-timed the puck past goalie Gavin Sperlich (32 saves).
Portland then appeared to go on top at 8:49 when a shot by Cheever was redirected by Whit Steele, but the net was ruled off its mooring and the goal was disallowed.
That set the stage for Biddeford to regain the lead. Ouellette got the puck from Reissfelder and weaved through the defense before beating Becker to make it 2-1 heading into the third period.
It took Portland just 1:31 in the third to pull even again, as Nick McGonagle, assisted by Carlos Braceras and Miki Silva, beat the goalie Sperlich.
Then, with 2:45 remaining, Portland went ahead for the first time, as Cheever’s shot was deflected into the net by Nick Becker.
But just when it appeared the Bulldogs were going to avenge last year’s playoff ouster, Jamie Sperlich scored on a rocket from just inside the blue line.
Midway through overtime, Jamie Sperlich was sent off for the remainder of the game for boarding McGonagle, but Portland couldn’t take advantage of the power play. Scully won it with a short-handed goal, after a feed from Ouellette.
“Trevor gave me an awesome pass and I had an awesome opportunity and that was about it,” Scully said. “It felt pretty awesome. This will jolt us forward.”
Portland had a 35-15 shots advantage and got 11 saves from Becker, but went down to a frustrating defeat and fell to 1-3.
“It’s a learning situation for us,” said Coach Jeff Beaney. “I’m still learning about these guys. As you can see, we have a lot fight, so that’s an encouraging thing.”
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