The state’s leading boys hockey goal scorer, Camden Hills senior left wing Owen McManus, tallied three more to bring his total to 40, but it wasn’t enough as Cheverus/Yarmouth beat the Windjammers 4-3 in the state Class B championship game at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland on Saturday afternoon.
Cheverus/Yarmouth, in its fourth year as a cooperative program, concluded an 18-2-2 season with a 15-game unbeaten streak (13-0-2).
Camden Hills, playing in its second state final in three years, wound up 15-7, and the loss was just its second in 13 games.
Camden Hills had lost to Brunswick 2-0 in the 2021-22 state game.
It took Cheverus/Yarmouth just 54 seconds to take a lead it would never relinquish when Quinn McCoy snapped a wrist shot past Quinn Hoppin from the middle of the slot.
The Cheever brothers, Andrew and Owen, extended the lead to 3-0 later in the initial period with power play goals just 40 seconds apart.
McCoy picked up the primary assist on Andrew Cheever’s goal coming at the 9:59 mark when the rebound of his shot was deposited into the net by Cheever.
The Cheever brothers collaborated on the next goal when Owen redirected his brother’s shot past Hoppin.
McManus rallied the Windjammers in the second period with goals 2:46 apart.
He beat Ethan Tucker with a backhander from close-range at the 9:00 mark and then fired a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle that found the back of the net.
But in the third period, Cheverus/Yarmouth regained a multi-goal lead when David Swift converted on the power play at the 7:27 mark off a feed from Andrew Cheever, who had a role in all four goals with three assists to go with his tally.
Cheverjus/Yarmouth went 3-for-4 with the man advantage.
McManus completed his hat trick with 27 seconds left, but the Windjammers couldn’t get an equalizer.
McManus’ hat trick gave him 11 goals in four playoff games and seven in the last two, the 6-5 win over Hampden Academy in the B North final and in Saturday’s loss. He also had an assist in the B North final.
Tucker finished with 15 saves while Hoppin stopped 21 shots.
