WINSLOW — A couple of late penalties proved to be too much for the Lawrence/Skowhegan hockey team to overcome in an infraction-filled affair Wednesday night at Sukee Arena.
Noah Austin scored on a five-on-three advantage 15 seconds into overtime to lift Mt. Ararat/Lisbon/Morse to a 5-4 victory over the Bandits in the season finale for both teams. The two teams were assessed a combined 34 penalties for 84 minutes, including a pair of game misconducts.
“We can’t stay out of the box. Five on five we look good, we match up well with a lot of teams but unfortunately we’ve been in the box,” Bandits coach Ted Fabian said. “With a short lineup that really kills you.”
After goals from the Bandits’ Gunner Hann and Tyler Lacascio in the first period, respectively, Lawrence/Skowhegan (4-13-1 Class A North) took control in a second period dictated by penalties. A pair of goals — one shorthanded and the other on a power play — from Rodney Bloom gave the Bandits a 3-1 lead heading into the third despite the two teams playing five-on-five hockey for just a total of 2:57 in the 15-minute period.
Mt. Ararat/Lisbon/Morse (11-6-1 Class A North) cut the deficit midway through the third period on a goal from Jason Magno, though, and kept the pressure on from there.
After an initial kick save from Curtis Martin (39 saves) on a shot from Austin, Mark Abreu crashed the net to get a put-back score to tie it at 3-3 with 2:44 remaining in the third.
It was just 53 seconds later when Abreu struck again to make it 4-3, this time taking a nice left-to-right pass from Lacascio.
Despite trailing for the first time in the contest, the Bandits did not fold. Martin went to the bench for the extra skater with 1:20 to play and 25 seconds later, Noah Buinskas was whistled for a penalty to give Lawrence/Skowhegan a six-on-four opportunity.
The Bandits cashed in on that chance 30 seconds later when Hann won a faceoff in the Eagles’ defensive zone and Bloom netted his third goal of the contest to tie it up.
“That was huge for the guys to respond like that, get the puck on net, get guys in front to screen the goalie. They did all the right things,” Fabian said. “We had a lot of pressure on them, didn’t give them a lot of time and space at all and I think as a team that’s the best collectively we’ve played together all year. But, again, penalties killed us.”
The Bandits weathered the final 25 seconds of regulation, but in that span collected penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct, tripping and charging to give the Eagles a five-on-three chance to start the extra period.
Martin made a pair of nice saves in the early moments of the overtime before Austin finally converted to give Mt. Ararat/Lisbon/Morse the victory.
Evan Crawley — 621-5640
ecrawley@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @Evan_Crawley
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