WATERVILLE — It was a game that could have gotten out of hand in the first period. Even after that, it could have turned out much differently than it did.
But on Friday morning, Winslow goalie Andrew Beals did his usual holiday tournament thing against Waterville. Beals, who made 45 saves in a loss to Winslow last December, made 39 saves on Friday. Junior defenseman Dameron Rodrigue scored the game-winner with 4:30 remaining as the Black Raiders pulled out a 4-3 Class B boys hockey victory at Alfond Rink on the campus of Colby College.
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“Their goaltender stood on his head for them today,” Waterville coach Dennis Martin said. “We missed a lot of chances, didn’t capitalize, and they capitalized on their chances. A game like that, a rivalry game, you never know what’s going to happen.”
Beals helped Winslow overcome Waterville’s 42-20 advantage in shots on goal. Half of that advantage came in the first period when Winslow nearly let the game get away.
Winslow (4-2) killed off all but 24 seconds of a five-minute major before Waterville’s Matt Jolicoeur scored from the slot with 7:36 left in the first period. Less than 90 seconds later, Winslow’s Jacob Grenier was called for a delay of game penalty, then was hit with a major penalty and a game misconduct on top of that. The upshot was that Winslow would be short-handed for another seven minutes.
Freshman Cody Pellerin made Waterville’s lead 2-0 when he poked in a loose puck off a scramble with 3:19 to play in the period. Just 18 seconds after Pellerin’s goal, Jacob Trask scored for Winslow, and the score was 2-1 after one period.
“These kids, I force them to make their beds,” Winslow coach Andy Dube said. “Today, they made it together, and tucked in the pillows.”
“We came out in the second period flying,” Rodrigue said. “We just wanted to prove that we could overcome that.”
Waterville (3-2) ended the first period with a 17-6 shot advantage. But even though Winslow was short-handed for all but 4 minutes and 7 seconds of the period, the Purple Panthers had to be content with a one-goal lead.
“We missed a few chances, just not moving the puck,” Martin said. “But again, he came up with the saves when he needed to.”
Winslow used that momentum to take the lead with two goals 32 seconds apart in the second period. First, David Selwood sent Alex Berard ahead on a breakaway for a goal with 11:19 to go. Then Jacob Houghton set up Jimmy Fowler, and Winslow led 3-2.
Waterville sophomore goalie Nathan Pinnette actually might have had the best save of the second period, as he slid quickly to his left to smother a shot by Berard off a perfect cross-ice pass from Fowler. That kept the score at 3-2 after two, and Waterville tied it with 9:42 to go in the game. With the Panthers on the power play, Jolicoeur fed Pellerin, who shook his defender with a nice move and scored to make it 3-3.
It was still 3-3 when Waterville took a two-minute slashing penalty with 5:08 left. Berard and Rodrigue were the point men on Winslow’s power play, and Berard passed the puck to his right to Rodrigue, who sent home the long shot with 4:30 to go.
“I was on the point with Alex and he passed it over to me,” Rodrigue said. “I saw it wide open, and just a bunch of people in front of the net. (I) just put it on net, hoping for good things to happen, and it went in.”
Beals had several big saves in the final minutes, including stuffing Michael Oliveira and Justin Wentworth from close range. With 47 seconds left and a face-off in front of Beals after an icing penalty, Waterville won possession, but Beals made another save.
“Down low, he’s very tough,” Dube said. “He tied up the puck, didn’t allow scrambles, didn’t allow rebounds in front of the net. He made the first save and then tied it up.”
Waterville has no seniors and is a little banged up with Dalton Henderson out and Nick Denis at less than 100 percent. Still, Martin thought the Panthers should be commended for their perseverance.
“The good thing is, we never got down,” Martin said. “The guys played to the last whistle. That’s what I liked.”
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
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