MANCHESTER, N.H. — Timberlane co-captain Nick Bundzinski wiped a few drops of sweat from his brow and let out a sigh of relief.
"That was ugly," he said with a smile. "But we battled back and put the game away and that's all that matters. This is huge."
Despite falling behind by two goals in the first period, the top-seeded Owls downed defending champion Dover 4-3 in the Division 2 semifinals last night at the JFK Coliseum in Manchester.
The victory earned Timberlane its first state final berth in the eight-year history of the hockey program. The Owls will face Oyster River in the Division 2 final Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester.
"It's about time," said Bundzinski. "We'd lost two straight years in the semifinals, so this is four years coming."
The Owls crushed Oyster River in their only meeting of the regular season, 6-0, on Feb. 21. Dover eliminated Timberlane a season ago, its second straight season falling in the semifinals.
This marked the 14th straight win for Timberlane (19-4, 19-1 Division 2), and 18th in their last 19 games.
"We knew we had the team to do it," said assistant captain Trevor DeVitto. "And we went out and did it. Now, hopefully we'll bring home Timberlane's first (hockey) state championship."
But Dover shocked Timberlane out of the gates, grabbing a 2-0 lead with 6:51 left in the first period.
"We were frustrated," said DeVitto. "It was painful to suddenly fall behind that quickly. But we knew that we had a team that wouldn't quit and could come back just as quickly."
The Owls did respond 2:35 after the second Green Wave goal. Defenseman Cam Fagan hauled in a tip from Zach Fox and fired the puck home for his first goal of the season to make the score 2-1. Then, just 33 seconds later, sophomore Austin Viens scored to make it 2-2.
"Those two goals were huge," said Bundzinski. "To come back in the same period was big. We went into the (first) intermission tied, knowing that we could play with them."
The Owls continued to pour it on in the second. Only 17 seconds into the period, DeVitto took a pass from Bundzinski and fired it home for his 20th goal of the season to put Timberlane ahead to stay.
"I got the rebound and just sniped the puck top shelf," said DeVitto. "When you can see the back of the net, and fire for it, there's a good chance it's going in. That really pumped us up and let us say, 'OK, we're ahead. Time to take care of business.'"
With 6:29 left in the period, Bundzinski chipped in his team-high 21st goal of the season to make it 4-2. The Green Wave cut the lead to one goal, but Viens scored his second of the game with 12 seconds left, the goal that proved to be the game-winner.
"It's such an honor to be a part of this team and be able to do this," said Viens. "I'm thrilled. I have been preparing for this for so long. I can't wait to play in the finals."
Timberlane goalie Ryan Rothwell was uncharacteristically shaky at times, but turned in a pair of big saves in the final moments, snatching one puck out of the air with his glove and stuffing a Dover player from point blank with his blocker.
"Ryan struggled a little in the first two periods," said Timberlane head coach Andrew Merrick. "But he stepped it up in the third and did what he had to. And Luke Ouellette, who sometimes doesn't see a lot of playing time, played a great game for us tonight."
Once the final horn blew, Rothwell was mobbed by his teammates as they celebrated the victory.
"This senior class was the freshman class when I started here," said Merrick. "This was a goal then, and we are looking forward to fulfilling it."
Timberlane 5, Dover 4
New Hampshire Division 2 semifinals
Goals: T — Austin Viens 2, Trevor DeVitto, Nick Bundzinski, Cam Fagan; D —Rick LaVache 2, Bryan Hart, Jake Donahue
Assists: T — DeVitto, Cam Bouchard, Bundzinski, Zach Fox, Fagan, David Evans; D —Hart 2, Donahue, Dave Robicheau
Saves: T —Ryan Rothwell 25; D — Chad Garland 35
Dover (11-7 Div. 2):2âÇ1âÇ1 — 4
Timberlane (19-4):2âÇ3âÇ0 — 5
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