FALMOUTH — Lucas Martin took inspiration from the sign in the Greely boys’ hockey team’s locker room. “We Believe,” the sign says.

“And that’s what we came out doing,” Martin said. “It came down to, let’s get some pucks on net and let’s work hard.”

Martin’s goal 4:10 into overtime Tuesday night at the Family Ice Center capped a game of back-and-forth rallies, giving the Rangers a 6-5 win over Gorham in the Class B South quarterfinals.

No. 4 Greely, now 13-6, will play the winner of Wednesday’s game between No. 8 Mt. Ararat/Lisbon/Morse/Hyde and No. 1 Cheverus/Yarmouth in the regional semifinals Saturday at Portland’s Troubh Arena. No. 5 Gorham ends the season 9-9-1.

“We don’t like the feeling of losing here,” said Greely captain Charlie Moore, who assisted on five goals.

This was the third game between these rivals in less than three weeks. Greely swept a pair of games late in the season against Gorham, winning 4-1 on Feb. 10 and 2-1 five days later.

Advertisement

Greely entered the third period with a two-goal lead, but Gorham battled back, scoring three goals to take a 5-4 lead. Corliss Ordway’s goal at 13:08 of the third gave the Rams their first lead of the game.

Greely pulled goalie Will Klein with 1:33 to play, and got a two-man advantage when Gorham’s Bode Bragdon was whistled for roughing in the final minute. With the two extra attackers, Greely’s Cullen Rafford tied the game at 5-5 with 22 seconds left with a shot from the point, setting the stage for Martin’s overtime game-winner.

“I hadn’t really gotten a lot of shots on net. I’m glad it went in,” Martin said.

Klein made 13 saves for the Rangers. Dayton Crockett had 21 stops for the Rams.

“I thought we pressured the puck well in overtime. We got a little more aggressive on our forecheck,” Greely Coach Barry Mothes said. “We had some games early this year where we scored with the goalie pulled late. It’s been a while since we had to do something like that.”

Greely took control of the game late in the second period, scoring a pair of goals in 16 seconds. The first gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead and came just three seconds onto a power play. Off the faceoff, Moore got the puck to Sean Allen at the point, who fired a shot over the glove of Crockett at 13:38.

Advertisement

Seconds later, the Rangers had a two-goal cushion, when Ezra McDuffie getting his third goal of the game, scoring on a rebound of a Moore shot.

Just minutes prior to Greely’s two-goal outburst, the Rams had a chance to take the lead, but Klein came up with  pair of big saves, first on an Andrew Collins shot from the point, then on Levi Wagner’s try on the rebound.

Greely struck early, with McDuffie scoring 36 seconds into the game for a 1-0 lead, with assists from Moore and Coben Donnelly. McDuffie scored again at 7:15 of the first, taking a pass from Moore from the left circle for a 2-0 lead.

“We came out flying,” Moore said.

Gorham answered with a pair of goals just 51 seconds apart late in the first period to tie the game at 2-2. First, Landon Anctil’s shot got through Klein, who made the initial stop, to cut the Rangers lead to 2-1 at 13:02. At 13:53, Cole Allen tapped home a rebounds of Trevor Krouse’s shot to knot the game.

“We’ve got some really good players here. They battled hard and fought all the way to the end. I told them, there’s nothing to hang your head about, battling back like that twice,” Gorham Coach Sean Sullivan said.

Copy the Story Link

Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.