Ayden McCormick cuts to the net while Beekmantown’s Jack Rovers defends him during a home game on Jan. 16. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

SARANAC LAKE — The Saranac Lake Placid boys hockey team erased a 2-0 deficit on Thursday, Jan. 16 to tie the Beekmantown Eagles 2-2 at the Saranac Lake Civic Center in a rematch of last year’s Section VII championship game.

Ayden McCormick and Carson St. Louis scored powerplay goals for SLP in the third period to force the overtime, against a squad that topped them 9-0 in last season’s Section VII Championship game.

“It’s easy to go out there against a team that has every year been the top team in our section and not do your job for three periods,” SLP head coach Josh Spanburgh said. “I was happy with the first, I was happy with the second. I was extremely happy with the way were resilient and came back.

“Everyone that got out there that was playing was working their tails off and trying their very hardest,” he added. “I think it just goes to show that we have a team that can compete in our section and that’s what we intend to do.”

SLP is now 4-5-1 overall and 1-2-1 in league play while Beekmantown, which ranks atop the league standings, is 6-4-1 overall and 2-0-1 in Section VII games.

McCormick scored on a wrist shot with 6 minutes, 39 seconds remaining in regulation to give SLP its first goal of the game.

St. Louis then netted the equalizer on a two-man advantage with 1:20 left in the contest on a shot that bounced in between the legs of the Eagles’ goalie Jack Bell. Ethan Knight and Braydon Harvey assisted on the goal.

Beekmantown’s Edward Sweenor scored one and added an assist, while Braden Nephew also scored. Lee Jarus had two assists and Evan Bruyere had one.

The Eagles jumped out to a 1-0 advantage following a goal from Sweenor late in the opening period. Nephew then extended the team’s lead with a power play goal in the second period.

While SLP was outshot 43-30 in the contest, the team had numerous scoring opportunities, especially early on, which included missed shots on breakaway and loose pucks in front of the net, that weren’t rebounded in time.

“We had a lot of chances — that just didn’t get in early on — on some open net areas,” Spanburgh said. “But give Beekmantown some credit, they did their jobs and they were in it and they were leading for two periods. We were able to fight back in that third, but there were a lot of opportunities for sure. I’m really just happy with how everyone played today.”

Cassidy Goodman was solid net, making a game-high 42 saves for SLP, including 17 stops in the third period and overtime. Beekmantown’s Bell had 30 saves.

“(Goodman was) covering a lot of pucks, which was something I asked him to do,” Spanburgh said. “I’m very happy with how Cassidy has been (playing) between the pipes and happy to have him and he’s doing his very best and he proved it here again today.”

The SLP boys were slated to take on the Plattsburgh Hornets on Jan. 22 at the Saranac Lake Civic Center. Following that contest, the team was scheduled to compete in the Lake Placid Winter Carnival Tournamnet against Tupper Lake at 7:45 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 24 and against Aquinas Institute on at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 25.