BANGOR, Maine — Senior center Trevor DeLaite has been Mr. Clutch for the Bangor High School hockey team this season.
DeLaite earned the Rams a 4-4 tie with Messalonskee of Oakland six days ago on a last-minute goal and came through with the tying goal with 23 seconds left and the overtime game-winner on Friday night as Bangor edged Brewer 4-3 in a thriller in front of a large and energetic crowd at Sawyer Arena.
DeLaite’s tying goal came on a six-on-four as the Rams were on the power play and had the extra attacker on the ice.
He then decided it off a faceoff 2:30 into overtime.
“He’s a very talented player. He can put the puck in the net when he gets the chance. You can’t give him the chance,” said Brewer coach Lance Ingerson.
Cameron Burpee’s first-period goal and Nick Cowperthwaite’s second-period tally gave the Rams a 2-0 lead entering the third period but the Witches stunned the Rams with goals 32 seconds apart early in the period by Dylan Severance and Tyler Hersey to tie it.
Jack Watkins gave Brewer its only lead of the game with just 2:36 remaining.
But the Witches took a penalty with 49 seconds left and DeLaite capitalized by flipping a Burpee rebound over Brewer goalie Tyler Friel.
Ben Crichton made a cross-ice pass to Burpee at the top of the left circle and his one-timer deflected over to DeLaite in the low slot.
“It tipped off someone’s stick and came right to me. I just tried to get it on net. [Friel] was down. I don’t think he really saw it and I backhanded it over his head,” said DeLaite.
Crichton made a couple of nifty rushes in overtime as the Rams kept the puck in Brewer’s zone.
Eventually, there was a faceoff in the circle to Friel’s left and DeLaite won it cleanly against Severance and roofed a wrister over Friel’s glove into the short -side corner.
“Dylan did a real good job on faceoffs tonight,” said DeLaite. “We were pretty even. I knew if I could be quicker [on the draw], I might be able to tap it between his legs and go around him.”
DeLaite said the Witches turned in an impressive performance.
“They’re a good team. They were physical,” he said.
Burpee opened the scoring when he swatted a rebound into an open net after Friel had made two rapid-fire saves off Ben Lane.
Cowperthwaite made it 2-0 27 seconds into the middle period when he stuffed a Dan Webber rebound under Friel.
The Witches had begun carrying the play midway through in the second period, winning loose pucks and capitalizing on a slew of Bangor turnovers.
Severance made it 2-1 off an errant Ram breakout pass when Zack Duncan captured the loose puck and slid it over to him in the left circle. Severance’s one-timer beat Derek Fournier to the short side.
The Witches tied it seconds later off a two-on-one as Hersey wristed a Severance rebound past Fournier from the right circle.
Watkins gave Brewer the lead after the Rams failed to clear the puck.
The puck pinballed around the slot and Fournier tried to poke it out of danger only to have it wind up on the stick of Watkins, who snapped a 16-footer into the short side.
Fournier made 25 saves for 3-1-1 Bangor, including a penalty-shot stop off Duncan in the second period.
Friel finished with 34 stops for the 1-3 Witches.
Both goalies turned in impressive performances.
“This was a good win for us,” said Bangor coach Quinn Paradis. “They always play us tough. It’s always a great game.”