BANGOR – Senior right wing Marc-Andre Perron’s goal early in the third period earned the Bangor High School hockey team a 2-2 overtime time with intown rival John Bapst at Sawyer Arena on Friday night.
The Class A Rams are now 9-5-1 and they extended their unbeaten streak to four games (3-0-1). The Class B Crusaders from John Bapst are now 11-1-1 and had its unbeaten streak move to five games (4-0-1).
It was an entertaining, fast-paced affair which featured exceptional goaltending performances from Bangor junior Cody McCue and John Bapst freshman Camden Leighton.
McCue finished with 29 saves and faced more Grade-A (high-perentage) shots than Leighton, who wound up with 23 stops.
Both coaches were satisfied with the result.
“We played pretty well. It was a good battle. We went down but came back to tie it up,” said Bangor coach Quinn Paradis.
“It was a good game,” said John Bapst coach Devin Fitzpatrick. “Both teams played very well.”
Chase Caron staked Bangor to a 1-0 lead at the 9:44 mark of the second period with his 11th goal of the season, but Will Bourgeois scored his team-leading 18th goal to tie it up 4:40 later on the power play.
Nick Needham gave John Bapst the lead at the 2:42 mark of the third period when he converted a breakaway for his sixth of the season, but Perron equalized with his team-high 13th.
“Phillip (Moscone) dumped the puck in and Chase (Caron) rolled out of the corner with it and made a nice move. I was left all alone and in the slot. I caught (Caron’s) pass and shot it five-hole,” said Perron.
John Bapst had a power play in eight-minute overtime but the Rams did a nice job killing it.
“That was huge for us,” said Perron.
“That was a great kill,” said Fitzpatrick.
Caron opened the scoring by steering home a Perron pass after Perron forced a turnover high in the offensive zone. Perron then found Caron at the far post.
“I was going to take a shot but one of their guys stepped up on me. I knew Chase was on the back door and he buried it like he always does,” said Perron.
The speedy Bourgeois tied it with a shot from an acute angle near the extended goal line.
Needham passed it down to him from the point and Bourgeois snuck it in the short side.
Needham’s go-ahead breakaway goal came off a Ram turnover.
“Their defenseman left a drop pass right to me so I decided to take it in,” said the dynamic Needham, who made a few nifty moves on McCue before pulling the puck around him and tucking it in.
Defenseman Needham said he wished they would have executed better on some of their scoring opportunities, “but to get a tie against a pretty good team like them isn’t bad.”
McCue made a number of terrific saves as the Crusaders created opportunities with their exceptional speed and skill.
“Cody was on tonight,” said Paradis.
Bangor tested Leighton particularly off its forecheck and he was rock solid.
Bangor will return to action on Tuesday when it visits Brewer. John Bapst hosts the Cony co-op team, a fellow Class B North contender, on Monday at 6:30 p.m.
