BIDDEFORD — Biddeford High, the No. 2 seed in this Class A South boys’ hockey playoffs and the defending South champ, followed a scoreless first period Tuesday night to score three goals in the second on the way to a 5-2 win over Massabesic/Old Orchard Beach/Bonny Eagle in a quarterfinal at the Biddeford Ice Arena.
Nick McSorley scored two power-play goals in the second period for the Tigers.
Biddeford (13-6) advances to Saturday’s semifinals at the Colisee in Lewiston.
The Tigers will play the winner of Wednesday’s game between No. 3 South Portland/Freeport/Waynflete and No. 6 Cheverus.
“We gave them a good battle,” said Massabesic Coach Loren Blair, whose team was seeded seventh and finished 11-8. His team also played Biddeford once during the season, losing 1-0.
The Tigers were hardly overconfident.
“They’re a good team. We knew we couldn’t take them lightly,” McSorley said.
That was obvious after the first period as Massabesic outshot Biddeford 8-6.
“We had our chances early, quite a few of them,” Blair said. “We’ve had issues all year with putting the puck in the net.”
Dangerous sophomore forwards Brady Cormier, Chris Westgate and Paidric Green were a constant threat to break out. Green did go on a rush, but was stymied by goalie Justin Larnerd with one of his 20 saves.
“They work hard, and they’ll let you know they’re there,” Biddeford defenseman Colin Petit said.
Petit, who converted from a forward this season, had a good chance on his own rush, but Massabesic’s freshman goalie Gavin Sperlich made one of his 30 saves.
Biddeford to appeared to score at 11:34 but the referees, after a huddle, ruled the puck was kicked in.
In the second period, the Tigers upped the attack, ending up with 16 shots, drawing three penalties.
“They came out strong,” Tigers Coach Jason Tremblay said. “We wanted to get to the cage.”
Biddeford’s pressure broke through when Bryce Pray roofed a shot from the right circle at 3:05.
But 40 seconds later, Green evened the score with his close-range score.
The Tigers went on three straight power plays. Massabesic killed the first one. On the second, Petit wristed in a shot. The rebound came to McSorley and he flicked it in for a 2-1 lead at 7:32.
McSorley went on a rush and drew a cross-checking penalty and the Tigers scored 10 seconds later with spot-on, cross-ice passing – Trenton Ouellette to Trevor Ouellette, over to McSorley, who scored easily from outside the right post.
“That felt good because we work hard on (the power play) every day at practice,” McSorley said.
Massabesic came right back, sending several players to the net, with Auden Russell scoring at 8:30, closing to 3-2.
“Hats off to them,” Tremblay. “It was a battle.”
Massabesic almost scored again on its first power play, but Larnerd hurried to the far post for a sliding pad save.
Nick Reissfelder made it a two-goal cushion in the third period, roofing a rebound at 3:48.
Massabesic got its second power play at 11:09 and Blair gambled by pulling the goalie for a six-on-four advantage. But Trebor Ouellette got possession in Massabesic’s zone and scored at 11:29, sealing the win.