LEWISTON — Sticks, helmets, shoulder pads, gloves and orange mouth pieces littered the ice from end to end. A hill of bodies piled up just inside the blue line on the quick Colisee ice, where moments earlier the Winslow hockey team transformed a monumental collapse into championship ecstasy.

Nick Thorne scored 3 minutes, 46 seconds into overtime to give the Black Raiders a blood-tingling 4-3 victory against York on Saturday for their 11th Class B state championship and first since 2000.

The goal sparked a wild celebration by the Winslow faithful, most draped in orange and black. Some sang. Some chanted. Some even danced. All exhaled, because in victory came not only euphoria but relief after York forced bonus time with three goals in the final 6:20, the last coming with 31 ticks left on the clock.

“I’ll remember this for the rest of my life,” said Thorne, one of eight seniors on Winslow’s roster. Winslow senior captain Ben Grant, who after joining the pig pile embraced coach Corey Lessard at center ice, said he felt a lot of everything when a seemingly convincing victory was stripped away in the bedlam that was the final seven minutes of regulation.

“I was thrilled and I was scared,” said Grant, who scored a goal and assisted on another. “Everything was going through my mind — the best, the worst.”

Thorne ended an entertaining, up-and-down game when he called for a pass from senior defenseman Derek Lizzotte from the high slot by the right faceoff circle. Lizzotte was going to shoot the puck, but Thorne called him off.

“I was coming down the slot and Derek heard me talking,” he said. “He slipped me the puck and I put it through the goalie.”

Sean Bourgeois, whose third-period goal gave the Raiders a 3-0 lead, set up the play when he came in wide and fed Lizzotte the puck.

“I spun around and gave it back to Derek,” said Bourgeois, whose team reached the state title game with a 5-4 overtime victory against Gardiner in the Eastern B semifinals. “Derek was going to take the shot, but Thorne had the angle.”

Lizzotte then dished the puck to Thorne, who had ample room to shoot.

“I was looking for the special shot,” said Thorne. “It was a big relief off my shoulders.”

York senior goalie Andrew Loane stopped 28 shots, but couldn’t get to this one.

“There was a lot of pressure down low,” he said. “(Thorne) made a nice shot. He beat me down low between the legs as I was coming across.”

The Wildcats, who were making their first trip to a state championship game, fell behind 3-0 after Bourgeois blasted a high rocket past Loane on a mini breakaway with 2:22 left in the second period. But York sprung to life in the third and began its comeback when senior captain defenseman Dan Powers scored a power-play goal with 6:20 left in regulation.

Then 1:42 later, Jake Posternak buried a shot past Winslow goalie Jesse Little (37 saves) to cut the lead to 3-2. With 31.6 seconds remaining and their goalie pulled for an extra attacker, the Wildcats capped the comeback when Devin Zucker tipped a Powers shot from the point past Little by the near post.

“It was an unreal feeling,” Powers said. “In the third period we did exactly what we had to do.”

“It was like a slap in the face for our seniors,” added Thorne on York’s scoring barrage. “But coach told us to keep our heads up.”

Lessard said he knew York wouldn’t go quietly.

“My biggest fear was that we got the lead and after that think we had it won,” said Lessard, who won a state championship as a player for Winslow in 1991. “I just had to make sure we were relaxed.”

The teams were playing their fourth game in three seasons, and the Raiders hadn’t scored in the last two. But that streak snapped like a rusted-out garage door cable when Grant took a centering pass from Chad Guptill and buried it past Loane to the blocker side with 5:41 left in the first.

Loubier set up the goal with a nice play at the right point to keep the puck in the York zone. After stopping the puck in the blue line, Loubier fired a shot on net that went wide into the corner. Guptill collected the puck and centered it to Grant, who popped it into the open net.

The Raiders scored twice in the second on goals by Jeff Browne and Bourgeois to pull ahead 3-0.

Browne staked Winslow to a 2-0 lead with just under three minutes into the period when he stole the puck from a defenseman by the right boards, skated into the circle and wristed a low shot on Loane, who couldn’t squeeze the puck with his pads.

Bourgeois capped the scoring with 2:22 left in the period. He took a pass behind his back from Nick Bourgoin at center ice, pulled the puck in front of him and then raced in on Loane untouched.

“The pass was behind me a little bit and I pulled it between my legs, went in, and wristed it top corner,” said Bourgeois.

The Raiders didn’t score again until Thorne sent them home as state champions.

“I won it 1991 as a player and I never thought I’d get that same feeling again,” Lessard said. “But I feel it again tonight. They all told me after the game, ‘Now I know what it feels like.’ It’s awesome.”

Bill Stewart — 623-3811, ext. 515

bstewart@centralmaine.com