Ryan Moore registered a hat trick, with his second and third goals coming during a third-period surge Saturday afternoon, to spark Greely of Cumberland Center to a 5-1 victory over Old Town-Orono in the Class B hockey state championship game at The Colisee in Lewiston.
The sophomore also had an assist as the Rangers closed out the season with a 17-3-1 record, winning their second straight state title in their third consecutive championship-game meeting with Old Town-Orono.
They beat Old Town-Orono 8-0 in last year’s final after losing to the Black Bears 3-2 in overtime the previous year.
The Black Bears, whose Class B North final was pushed back from Wednesday to Thursday due to weather concerns for the traveling Presque Isle Wildcats, wound up 15-6-1.
Old Town-Orono coach Chris Thurlow said having one less day of rest and preparation and having to play a hard-fought Class B North final against Presque Isle were factors in the loss, as was the facing such a high-quality opponent as Greely.
“We were fatigued. I could tell we didn’t have the same juice we had against Presque Isle,” Thurlow said. “We had to play so hard against Presque Isle.
“We didn’t have our speed today so we couldn’t play our style,” he said.
Moore scored once in the first period, then connected barely two minutes apart in the third period to help Greely close out the win. He also provided an assist on a late third-period power play goal by Tyler Grasky.
Greely scored twice on the power play.
Brooks Williams scored the game-winner on the power play late in the second period and Jared Swisher made 15 saves.
Gabe Talon scored off a Nate Young pass to stake Old Town-Orono to an early first-period lead as he beat Swisher with a shot from the inner half of the faceoff circle.
But the Rangers equalized 2:53 later as Ryan Moore snapped home a short wrist shot off his brother Andy’s pass.
The score remained 1-1 until there was just 1:29 left in the second period when Brock Williams scored with a screened drive from the point on the power play off a pass from Chris Williams.
“That was a back-breaker,” said Thurlow.
Swisher made some important saves early in the third period before Ryan Moore gathered in a Grasky rebound and flipped a backhander past Old Town-Orono goalie Aidan Rand (27 saves) to extend the lead to 3-1.
He made it 4-1 after his brother dashed up the ice and dished it across to him and Grasky closed out the scoring.
Thurlow said the Black Bears weren’t able to establish their forecheck or create opportunities off transition.
“We only had eight shots on goal through two periods. Greely is a great team and did a real good job defending us,” he said. “But the game was closer than the score.”
He said he couldn’t be prouder of his team after it opened the season with losses to Class A teams Portland-Deering and Bangor.
“We played a tough schedule and we kept getting better,” Thurlow said.