ORONO, Maine — Sophomore Wyatt Allen tapped in a pass from freshman Henry Armell 2:15 into the third overtime to give the third-seeded Hampden Academy Broncos a thrilling 2-1 victory over top seed Messalonskee High of Oakland in the Class B North schoolboy hockey championship game at the Alfond Arena on Wednesday night.
Hampden Academy, now 14-6-1, will face South champ York in Saturday’s 1 p.m. state championship game at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.
It is Hampden’s first regional title since 2003.
It was a sensational goaltending duel between Hampden Academy senior Aiden Surran and Messalonskee junior Nathan Kirk.
Surran finished with 32 saves and Kirk wound up with 30.
On the game-winning goal, the puck took a wild bounce off the boards behind the net and Amell spotted it.
“I hit it out of the air over to (Allen) and he poked it in,” said Amell.
“It was a flutter puck off the boards, he batted it across and it was rolling on the goal line and I just tapped it in,” said Allen.
Senior Alex Beckwith opened the scoring for Messalonskee with a power play goal 5:45 into the second period but Broncos senior Miles Shields tied the game on the power play 1:21 into the third period.
Both teams had chances later in the third period and the first two eight-minute overtime periods but Kirk and Surran were stellar.
Late in the third period, Kirk robbed Colby Pangburn with his glove after Pangburn was set up nicely by Aiden MacFarline in the right faceoff circle.
Surran had a number of top-notch saves as he and his Bronco teammates had to kill a penalty that spanned the final minute of regulation time and the first minute of overtime and another one that began with 4:36 left in the first OT.
There were no power plays in the second OT and each team had four shots on goal.
Shields carried the puck through the neutral zone, put on a burst of speed down the left wing in the Messalonskee and fired a wrist shot from a difficult angle that beat Kirk to the short side.
The much more experienced Eagles came into the game with their six leading scorers being seniors while Hampden Academy’s top six point-getters were three freshmen, a sophomore, a junior and a senior.
Freshmen linemates Armell and MacFarline were the Broncos’ top two scorers and their other linemate, Allen, was the team’s No. 3 scorer.
Beckwith’s goal was his team-leading 26th of the season.
Denny Martin carried the puck into the offensive zone and wristed it to the net front. Surran made the initial save off a deflection and a scramble ensued with Beckwith jamming it home.
Surran made some good stops later in the middle period as the Eagles enjoyed a 9-3 advantage in shots on goal.
The Broncos outshot Messalonskee 11-7 in the first period and had the better chances but Kirk kept them off the scoreboard with a number of high-quality saves.
Midway through the period, Armell made a nifty diagonal pass to MacFarline, who was alone in front of Kirk with his back to the goalie. He spun around and took a 10-foot wrist shot that Kirk kicked out.
Surran made a pair of rapid-fire saves to keep the game scoreless, getting his pad on an initial shot and then diving out to get his glove on Colby Hardy’s rebound attempt.
The Broncos caught a break when Christian Salvadori’s screened shot from the right circle on a power play rang off the crossbar.
Armell had a shorthanded breakaway attempt but was tripped to create a four-on-four and he nearly put the Broncos ahead when he sliced across the low slot from right to left but Kirk slid across with him and rejected his shot with his right pad.
Junior Brody Miller had an excellent chance late in the period when he burst around a Messalonskee defenseman down the right wing side and broke in alone on Kirk.
But his snap shot from the inner half of the right circle was knocked away by Kirk’s blocker.
Correction: The winning goal was initially announced for Henry Armell but was later credited to Wyatt Allen. The story has been updated.
