AUBURN — Edward Little scored two goals in just over a minute apart in the third period in a 4-0 victory over 10th-seeded Biddeford/Massabesic/Old Orchard Beach in a Class A boys’ hockey prelim on Tuesday.
Good thing for them.
Th seventh-seeded Red Eddies had at least one player — and sometimes more — in the penalty box for the rest of the game.
“We were dominating the game,” Edward Little Coach Norm Gagne said. “There was no need of what went on in that last (six) minutes of the game.”
Logan Alexander and Jack Keefe scored 1:06 apart to turn a 1-0 lead into a 3-0 advantage with 5:57 to play. Then 26 seconds later the Red Eddies (9-10) put two players in the box. Another player joined in less than a minute later to give the Tigers (4-12-3) a 5-on-3 advantage.
The Tigers got another two-man advantage moments after the first one went away, but they couldn’t find the back of the net.
“They knew it would be a long shot,” Tigers Coach Jason Tremblay said. “Just weren’t moving the puck that well. Bottom line, got to move the puck, got to make two passes tape-to-tape and get shots off, and that wasn’t happening.”
Tremblay called a timeout to start the second 5-on-3 opportunity, but it was the Red Eddies who scored out of it, with Cam Sturgis feeding Keefe for a shorthanded empty-net goal with 2:16 left.
“It was very, very relieving to get that empty-netter and know that it was pretty much over at that point,” Sturgis said.
MESSALONSKEE 6, CAMDEN HILLS 1: Powered by a hat trick from Bryce Crowell, two goals from Ben Hellen and three assists from Dylan Cunningham, the No. 6 Eagles beat No. 3 Camden Hills in a Class B North quarterfinal at the Mid-Coast Recreation Center.
Messalonskee (11-6-2) will face No. 2 Old Town/Orono – who beat Brewer 3-0 on Tuesday night – in the semifinals. The Windjammers finish at 11-5-3.
It continues a flip in fortune for the Eagles, who finished last season at 1-17.
“I’m so happy that we’ve done something this year, it was rough last year not making it to playoffs,” Crowell said. “Just to make it playoffs this year – let alone win a game – it’s unbelievable.”
“It’s a team effort, it’s a team win,” Messalonskee Coach Kevin Castner said. “The kids played really well. I’m really happy with how they showed up tonight.”
The Eagles took full advantage of Camden Hills’ struggles with penalties, going 4 of 6 on the power play – 2 of 3 in the first period alone, as Hellen and Crowell each scored to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead by first intermission.
HAMPDEN ACADEMY 8, KENNEBEC 4: After a one-year absence, Hampden is back in the regional semifinals.
Powered by a six-point night from senior center Cooper Leland, the top-seeded Broncos recovered from a lackluster start, beat No. 8 Kennebec in the Class B North quarterfinals at Penobscot Ice Arena.
The Broncos (14-1-4) will face No. 4 Presque Isle in Friday’s semifinals at Colby College.
The win sends Hampden to its third regional semifinal appearance in the last four years and after the RiverHawks had battled back to tie the game early in the second period, the Broncos admitted to being worried.
– Wil Kramlich of the Sun Journal and Dave Dyer of Central Maine Newspapers contributed to this report.
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