BANGOR, Maine — The Hampden Academy boys hockey team received 19 saves from sophomore goalie Aiden Surran and a game-winning second-period power play goal from senior left wing and co-captain Matt Shayne to edge the John Bapst of Bangor cooperative team (Hermon, Bangor Christian and Deer Isle-Stonington) 2-1 in a Class B North quarterfinal at Sawyer Arena Tuesday night.
Third seed Hampden Academy, now 11-6-2 overall and unbeaten in its last seven games (6-0-1), will now take on the second seed Cony of Augusta cooperative team, 14-5, in Saturday’s semifinal at The Forum in Presque Isle.
Cony ousted Brewer 8-2.
Eighth seed Old Town-Orono, 6-12-1, upset top seed Messalonskee 3-1 and will face fifth seed Camden Hills of Rockport, a 7-4 winner over Presque Isle, in the other semifinal.
Sixth seed John Bapst wound up 9-9-1.
The two evenly-matched teams, who share Sawyer Arena with Bangor High, split 5-3 decisions during the regular season and put on an entertaining fast-paced thriller in front of an energized near-capacity crowd.
John Bapst center Will Bourgeois opened the scoring just 2:07 into the game with his team-leading 15th goal of the season.
Broncos co-captain and right wing Keith Brooks equalized 2:51 later with his 17th.
Shayne scored his game-winner at the 10:16 mark of the second period. It was his team-high 18th and was unassisted.
He pounced on a loose puck in the circle to the left of John Bapst freshman goalie Kaiden Kinney and wristed a shot from a tough angle near the bottom of the circle that glanced into the net off Kinney’s body and glove.
“I saw some space toward the middle so I took a step and threw it on net. I thought it might produce a rebound but it went in,” said Shayne.
Bourgeois had opened the scoring when he skated into the right circle and one-timed a nice pass from Owen Marryatt between the pads of Surran.
The Broncos responded when Shayne fed a cross-ice pass to Brooks, who swept the puck into the short side corner before freshman goalie Kaiden Kinney could scramble across.
“There was some open space, the puck bounced out to me and I put it home,” said Brooks.
Both teams had glorious chances to score in the third period but the two young goalies were stellar.
Early in the third period, Kinney stopped a Brooks wraparound and Shayne’s follow-up from point-blank range. He also stopped a Lucas Dunn stuff attempt from the top of the crease and made rapid-fire saves on Zach Wilson’s screened wrist shot from the point and Shayne’s rebound.
Later in the period, with the Crusaders pressing for the equalizer, it was Surran who came up big.
He stopped Silas Comstock’s point shot and Bourgeois’ followup attempt. He also made a close-range stop off Luke Getto and got his pads on a spinaround shot from the slot by Cooper Lewis.
The Crusaders went on the power play with a minute remaining, but a Crusader took a penalty just 29 seconds later and the Broncos hung on for the win.
“We didn’t play our best hockey but we came out and got the job done,” said Shayne. “It’s payoff hockey. We knew what we needed to do. We had to grind until the end.”
Surran, a first-year starter, admitted he was a little nervous at first, “but after the first few shots, I was able to get my bearings and I felt better.
“They really put it on us at the end of the game. I’m pretty happy with the way I played,” said Surran.
“This is what happens when you have two teams who have played each other so much and practice back-to-back during the week,” said HA coach Zach Wilson. “We know each other well.
“The bounces could have gone either way. Both goalies were great. Aiden made some big saves,” said Wilson.
“It was a game of bounces and we didn’t get all of them,” said John Bapst coach Devin Fitzpatrick. “Both teams played incredibly well. Both goalies played really well.
“Five more minutes, things might have changed a little bit but that’s not how the game is played,” added Fitzpatrick.
Kinney finished with 21 saves.
