Hazen wins it in 3 OT

POTSDAM — Taylor Hazen's goal in the third overtime period launched Potsdam over Massena 2-1 in the Section 10 Division I hockey championship game late Monday night at Clarkson University's Cheel Arena.

The game ended an evening of hockey that also saw St. Lawrence Central defeat Ogdensburg Free Academy 5-3 in the Division II final.

Both Potsdam and St. Lawrence advanced to the state tournament, which begins this weekend.

POTSDAM 2, MASSENA 1 (3 OT)

Despite great scoring opportunities throughout the second and third periods, Potsdam found itself down 1-0 to Massena with under two minutes to play in regulation.

But Sandstoners defenseman Ryan Merriman finally solved Raiders goalie Nathan Lint with a 90-foot wrister from just across center ice with 1 minute, 41 seconds left in regulation. It was his eighth goal of the season.

Potsdam then went on to claim the victory at the 2:25 mark of the third overtime as Hazen took a pass from Seth Adams from behind the net and buried the game-winner, denying the Raiders a third straight sectional title.

Greg Burkum started the play by getting the puck deep into the Massena zone as Hazen tallied his seventh of the season.

"We came out hard in the third overtime," Hazen said. "We worked hard all week in getting ready for this game and came in with a lot of confidence tonight."

Potsdam coach Al Benda admired his team's ability to recover from early game nerves.

"We shook the jitters off after the first period and played really great the rest of the game," said Benda, whose goalie Evan Drummatter was outstanding in making 27 saves. "The guys had no quit in them.

"I told the guys that they better go down and hug the guy at the end of the ice. He kept us in the game."

Potsdam (14-7-1), which won its first section title since 2006, will be at undefeated Section 3 champion West Genesee, the top-ranked team in the state this Saturday in the tournament quarterfinals.

"We have nothing to lose, they're the best in the state, we're looking forward to the challenge," said Benda, whose team fell 5-1 at West Genesee during the regular season.

Massena (10-9-2), coming off a 16-day layoff since its last game, opened the scoring at 13:40 of the first period when Nate McDonald set up Cullen Baines, who tucked the puck in behind Drummatter. Nick Mofitt also picked up an assist.

Lint finished with 37 saves.

"Lint stood tall for us in goal and the game could have gone either way," said Raiders coach Mike Trimboli. "We achieved a lot more this year then people thought we would. My heart goes out to our seniors."

ST. LAWRENCE 5, OFA 3

The open-ice speed of Erik Whitcombe sparked OFA to a 2-1 lead in the Division II final.

But it was the overall team speed of St. Lawrence Central that produced four third period goals, including an empty-netter, carrying the Larries into the state tournament.

"It was a tough loss and a real good game," said OFA coach John Frederick after his team lost a 12-game unbeaten streak against Section 10 opponents. "St. Lawrence Central's team speed was the difference.

"The third period got wide open at times and they used their speed very well. It is all about momentum, and they really got the momentum going early in the period."

The Larries also reversed the flow of the game very quickly scoring three times in a space of 2:58 in the first five minutes of the third period. Mark Peets started the flurry at 2:39 knocking home a rebound of a slap shot by Jack Keenan.

"It was only Mark Peets's third goal of the year but he works so hard all of the time," said SLC coach Mickey Locke after the Larries won their program's first sectional title in 12 years. "Having Mark score really boosted the morale of the team."

Brett Mahoney continued the scoring in SLC's second power play of the game at 3:21, converting another rebound off assists from Dylan Patterson and Zach Baldwin.

Baldwin netted the eventual winning goal at 4:27, blocking a slapshot from the point and racing down-ice on a breakaway to lift the puck past OFA keeper Chris Harper.

"We work on that all time in practice, to slide in front of shots," Baldwin said. "I blocked the shot, got a good bounce and just took off. I had a good idea of what I was going to do on the shot."

Whitcombe, who shared the Division II MVP award with Norwood-Norfolk's Thomas Plumb, pulled his team back into contention, scoring his second goal of the game and 28th at the season at the 6:04 mark.

The remaining 8:56 of the game saw both goalies make outstanding saves. Harper, finished with 23 saves while Gary stopped 21 shots.

Whitcombe was on the bench cheering on his teammates when Larrie scoring leader Brady Helmer netted his 18th goal into an empty net with 9.2 seconds remaining in the game.

"We were down 2-1 after two periods but I thought were doing a lot of good things," Locke said.

"During intermission, we talked about keeping up our forecheck and working hard along the board and the kids just came through big time in the third period."

The second period belonged to Whitcombe and his linemates Hilborne and Eric Barr after a slap shot from the point by Patterson off an assist from Charles Dullea 53 seconds into the middle frame became a power play goal.

Barr scored at 2:06 converting off a setup directly in front of the net created by strong rush by Whitcombe and pretty one-time feed from Hilborne.

Whitcombe gave the Devils their only lead of the game just 47.7 seconds before the second intermission using a backhander to convert a break-away created by a long lead pass by Lawrence.