In the final second of the second period in Thursday night’s Class A duel against South Portland/Waynflete/ Freeport, the Eagles were double booked for tripping and boarding and were to face almost seven full minutes of penalties to open the third. And then they got another one.
Just like they drew it up.
“We knew we had seven minutes, at least, to start, which is as much as we’ve had to kill at one time all season,” Eagles coach AJ Kavanaugh said. “We just said ‘Boys, let’s turn it into an eight-minute hockey game.’ It was the best penalty kill, obviously under the circumstances, but just the smartest penalty kill we’ve had all year.”
The improbable win was put on hold when Red Riots (4-6-1) freshman Gus Lappin taped the puck into an open net with just over three minutes to play, but the Eagles (6-7) weren’t done scrapping.
It took Lisbon’s Ryley Austin, who assisted all three goals on the night, just over a minute into overtime to find his younger brother Noah in front of the goal for a second time. This one ended the game.
“He led our team last year as a freshman,” Kavanaugh said of Noah Austin. “He started slow this year, similar to last year, and he turned it on late last year and I’m seeing the same thing. He’s just really picked his game up, put our whole team on his back.”
Austin’s first goal came just after the big 5-on-3 kill at 8:21 in the third period. He smoothly took a pass from Ryley on the right, wound up a slap shot and watched it clank off the post and in to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead. It was just the third shot Red Riots goalie Joe Grant (26 saves) had faced in the period.
“They battled,” Red Riots coach Joe Robinson said of the Eagles. “They’ve got to take the bus ride down here on a school night. They battled. They came ready to go, they were moving. They’ve got some fast forwards, 23 and (Tyler) Halls there, number seven. It’s high school, so it’s just who shows up. Who really wants it more.”
It was quite the opposite for Charron, who blocked 12 shots in the third period before Lappin scored the open-netter. The sophomore finished with 32 saves on the night and made a pair of key glove saves during the eight-minute penalty kill.
“It was awesome to kill that off,” Charron said. “Just people in the right place at the right time. They were tremendous. I’d save the first shot, there’d be a rebound out there, they’d clear it out.”
“He played great,” Kavanaugh said of Charron. “Talk about a lot of penalty kill time and obviously your goalie’s your best penalty killer and he was just that tonight. A lot of 5-on-3 time, he was just phenomenal.”
Coming out to play
After minimal action in the first period, Eagles’ senior Steve Schuman found himself with one defenseman to beat at mid-ice as time was winding down. He slipped by the defender, cut back toward goal and finished a backhand with 0.6 seconds on the clock to give the visitors a 1-0 lead heading into the break.
For Robinson, if anything, it was deserved.
“Honestly, the biggest difference is I didn’t think we came ready to play,” Robinson said. “We spotted them, as far as effort goes, I think we spotted them about 15 minute in that first period and then they score with a fraction of a second left on the clock. We battled back, but we didn’t bring a full 45.”
The Red Riots managed to take advantage of another 5- on-3 chance in the second period, when Freeport’s Atticus Patrick scored with a mere six seconds left on the first penalty to tie the score, 1-1. From there, though, the hosts were unable to capitalize on over 10 minutes of man-up time. They finished 1- of-7 on the power play.
“When you’re playing a team that we’re pretty well matched up, all it is, is going to be who wants it more that night,” Robinson said after his team’s three-game winning streak came to an end. “Doesn’t really have to do with who has the better players. We did not play well and we still were in the game for overtime. We play our game like we normally do or have done, we win. I think we win.”
For now, the win moved the Eagles into a playoff spot as the No. 5 seed in Class A North. There was never any doubt of what was on the line.
“They’re all pumped up,” Charron said of his teammates. “They know that was a huge win, overtime. Just what we wanted.”
“They know. They’re very bright kids when it comes to that,” Kavanaugh said. “They realize we’ve kind of dug ourselves a hole as far as playoffs go and every game’s huge. South Portland’s going to win some more games — they’ve got a great goaltender in Joe (Grant). We knew the heal points here. We said that, even going into overtime, we didn’t need the tie. We need the win.”
Eagles 3, Red Riots 2, OT
At Troubh Arena in Portland
| Eagles | — | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 3 | |
| Red | Riots— | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | 2 |
First period — 1. (E) Steven Schuman (Ryley Austin), 14:59. Penalties — (E) Sawyer Watson, hooking, 10:18. Second period — 2. (RR) Atticus Patrick, 5:34. Penalties — (E) Sam Alexander, interference, 3:40; (E) Cam Grant, high-sticking, 3:24; (RR) Devan Hannan, crosschecking, 9:46; (RR) Devan Hannan, high-sticking, 11:59; (RR) Mitchell Adams, tripping, 12:13; (E) Sam Alexander, boarding (five-minute major), tripping, 14:59. Third period — 3. (E) Noah Austin (Ryley Austin), 8:21; 4. (RR) Gus Lappin (Aidan Schifano, Dylan Houle), 11:49. Penalties — (E) Noah Austin, roughing, 5:33; (E) Owen Kelley, boarding, 9:16. Overtime — 5. (E) Noah Austin (Ryley Austin), 1:10. Shots on goal — (E) 11-9-8-2-29; (RR) 7-11-14-2-34. Saves — (E) Cade Charron 32; (RR) Joe Grant 26. Power-play opportunities — Eagles 0-of-3; Red Riots 1-of-7. Records — Eagles 6-7, Red Riots 4-6-1. Up next for the Eagles — Feb. 8 at Poland/Gray-New Gloucester/Oak Hill/Leavitt, 6 p.m. Up next for the Red Riots — Saturday at home against Biddeford, 8 p.m.
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