PORTLAND — Officially, it was the wrap up to the regular season.
In reality, for Biddeford, it was a tune up for the post season.
The Tigers (7-8-3) made the most of the opportunity by blasting South Portland 9-1 in a Western Maine Class A hockey clash at Portland Ice Arena Wednesday night.
Mario Lemieux, Stephen Comar and Matt McGuirk each scored twice for the Tigers, who won’t learn the date, site or opponent of their opening playoff encounter until later this week.
None of that matters to them right now.
What does is that they’re in the tournament, and they feel ready to tackle the grind after finishing the schedule with a pair of victories.
“We were just trying to get ready,” said Comar, a junior. “Working on stuff we’ve been going over. We just wanted to get ready for our first game.”
With the depleted Red Riots down to just eight skaters, Biddeford launched to a big lead, then doled out plenty of playing time to everyone on the bench.
“The guys played as hard as they could,” said Biddeford coach Rich Reissfelder. “We worked on some things in a different kind of environment. And we got some guys some ice that we normally wouldn’t, so it was a good plus.”
Nik Lemieux ”“ Mario’s brother ”“ operating the right point on a Tigers power play, opened the scoring at 9:17 when his drive took a hop off a South Portland (4-14) defender and darted in over Morton’s shoulder.
That set off a goal glut that produced five Tiger tallies in a span of 5:26.
Matt McGuirk scored twice in just 16 seconds to make it 3-0.
The first of those came at 11:08, after Tyson Nadeau won a defensive zone draw, then barreled down right wing before dishing off to McGuirk for the tap in.
Comar scored his first of the game at 13:28 on a wraparound.
“Our line has been setting each other up,” said Comar. “Nik has been hitting me when I get open. It’s been working out good.”
Mario Lemieux capped the first period eruption with his first goal just 17 minutes before intermission.
South Portland showed signs of life in the second period, and tested Biddeford freshman goalie Brandon Daigle with three strong scoring chances, before Ryan Gilboy slid in the Red Riots’ lone goal.
“I thought we outplayed them in the second period,” said Red Riots’ coach Joe Robinson. “Especially with just two guys on the bench. We were just rotating through. There wasn’t a lot of gas in the tank.”
Markers by Comar and Matt Jerome made it 7-1 at the end of two stanzas before Mario Lemieux and Nate Crepeau closed the scoring in the third.
— Contact Dan Hickling at 282-1535 or follow on Twitter @DanHickling.
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