Kents Hill — Jason LaPorte figured he would score a goal at some point this season, but acknowledged the drought was a bit frustrating.
“I was like, ‘Oh, man, when am I going to score?’ ” the Maranacook/Hall-Dale/Winthrop senior forward said. “I knew sooner or later it would happen, though.”
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Goals No. 1 and No. 2 came Monday, and they came at the most opportune time for the Hawks.
LaPorte scored his first two goals of the season late in the third period as MHW rallied past Gray-New Gloucester/Poland 4-3 in an Eastern A game at Bonnefond Ice Arena.
“It couldn’t have come at a better time,” he said. “It felt great.”
Dan Condon and Nick Lacasse also scored for MHW (8-4-0), which outshot GNG (2-9-0) 34-16.
Ethan Callier, Adam Healy and Evan Baggs scored for the Patriotic Knights.
LaPorte scored his goals in the final four minutes of the third period to cap the comeback. He pulled the Hawks even when he carried the puck behind the GNG net, circled out into the right circle and beat freshman goalie Nick Hemond with a high shot to the short side with 3 minutes, 50 seconds left in the third period.
“I took it behind the net and found a place to shoot,” he said. “We had momentum from there.”
Condon gave the Hawks the lead for good when he picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone, carried it into the offensive zone and fired a low shot on net from the top of the left circle. The puck caromed off a GNG defenseman’s skate and into the net with 2:32 remaining.
“Jason really made it happen,” MHW coach Andy Dube said. “It was big. When they went ahead 3-2 I knew it would be tough to come back.”
Added GNG coach Aaron Rand: “We played well but a couple unlucky bounces cost us.”
The teams were tied at 1 after the opening period before the Hawks grabbed their first lead of the game when Condon scored just 58 seconds into the second.
With MHW changing its defensemen, LaPorte sent a shot through a crowd of Patriotic Knights. Hemond stopped the puck but Condon pounced on it.
“It was a scramble in front,” he said, “and I just put it on net. Luckily, it went in.”
GNG bounced back with a pair of goals 45 seconds apart to take the lead.
Healy converted a rebound from the left circle with 11:40 left in the second to tie the game at 2. Baggs then made it 3-2 when he beat MHW goalie Tyler Plante with a low shot from the left point 45 seconds later.
“We couldn’t put anything together there for awhile,” Dube said. “They played hard. They really got in our faces. It seemed like we were playing catch-up the whole game.”
GNG opened the scoring just 4:40 into the game when Callier buried a rebound on a Ryan Davala shot from the point. The Knights did a good job keeping the puck in the zone to set up the goal.
Lacasse pulled MHW even when he took a nice pass from Bailey Clark inside the left circle and ripped the puck past Hemond with 6:19 left in the first.
Bill Stewart — 621-5640
bstewart@centralmaine.com
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