LEWISTON – The fatigue was obvious. Skating into the third overtime, players for both Scarborough and Edward Little high schools lost some zip.

But Zach Chaisson still had enough oomph for one more shot, and he scorched it. Just seconds into a power play, Chaisson roofed a wrister from the point, scoring the game-winner in a 3-2 victory over Edward Little Tuesday night, in a Class A semifinal game at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

“Just work and work and work until you get that chance, and I got that chance,” Chaisson said. “I was just in the right situation, and let her rip.”

Third-seeded Scarborough (15-4-1) advances to the state championship game Saturday at 6 p.m. The Red Storm will play Lewiston (20-0).

No. 7 Edward Little is done at 10-11, its winning streak ended at nine.

“We came back from a 1-10 season to this. I’m really proud of them,” Edward Little Coach Norm Gagne said.

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This will be Scarborough’s first berth in the title game since 2016, when Gagne was the Red Storm coach and current Scarborough coach Jake Brown was his assistant. But that’s history.

“This is about the players,” Brown said. “Both teams battled hard. When you get into overtime, it just comes down to the guys on the ice.”

The top guys wore masks. Scarborough junior goalie Peter O’Brien (28 saves) and Edward Little freshman Gage Ducharme (29 saves) extended this game into the third overtime. Both made stellar saves, with O’Brien sticking his face in front of one shot, taking it in the mask.

“He’s just an absolute competitor,” Brown said. “Talk about a guy who is calm under pressure.”

Ducharme, who keyed the Eddies’ turnaround season, was never out of position.

“My goalie played out of his mind,” Gagne said. “They have a lot of great forwards. Anytime we made a bad mistake, Gage was there.”

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Scarborough’s challenge was freeing its forwards against Edward Little’s aggressive forecheck.

The Eddies scored at 8:28 of the first period. Dylan Campbell received a pass in the left circle and fired for a 1-0 lead.

Scarborough tied it at 12:55. James Lilley unleashed a slapshot and, in the slot, Cory Schular deflected it in.

“With how good that goalie’s been playing, and how well they defend, I thought we really had to get shots from the outside and traffic out front,” Brown said.

Still, Edward Little took a 2-1 second-period lead. Wesley Clements scored on a power play, with a rebound at 9:16.

But Scarborough was getting better at handling the forecheck, creating chances.

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“They came to battle, and so did we,” said Scarborough defenseman Ethan Jasa, who often skated the puck out for the Red Storm. “It took some adjustments. In the end, we stuck to our structure.”

Jasa drew a penalty in the third period, and Scarborough capitalized at 7:55 on Cameron Budway’s wrister to tie it.

Both goalies stood tall throughout the overtimes. In the third OT, Jasa took an elbow to the head, and the Red Storm went on the power play at 4:45.

Dawson Gendreau won the faceoff back to Chaisson, and he scored at 4:48.

“(Ducharme) never saw it,” Gagne said. “It was a hard shot.”

Jasa didn’t see it. He was being attended to by the trainer.

“I just heard the bench go crazy and I knew it was over,” Jasa said. “It’s one of those things I’ll remember 20 years from now, for sure.”


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