It was a celebration never experienced by the co-op boys’ hockey team that calls itself PLOG after the initials of its four schools – Leavitt, Gray-New Gloucester, Oak Hill and Poland.

There was just one problem: As the Kings rejoiced after what they thought was a winning goal in overtime of their Class B South semifinal against York, the officials made their call. No goal. The net had come off the pegs before the puck was in.

“We have to maintain our composure and overcome the emotion of thinking we’d won the game,” PLOG Coach Jason Rouleau said. “That’s why I called the timeout, to calm everyone down, to get them refocused on what we needed to do.”

Soon after, the Kings took advantage of a power play. Talen Langevin scored, for real this time, giving PLOG a 4-3 win.

It was the third 4-3 game between these teams this season. They split a pair of regular-season games.

Formed in 2016, PLOG had never won a playoff game until this season. Now the second-seeded Kings (17-3) have won twice, and will face No. 1 Cheverus/Yarmouth (16-2-2) on Wednesday at Cross Insurance Arena for the regional title.

No. 3 York ends the season at 14-4-2, and the overtime loss stung after the Wildcats rallied from a three-goal deficit to tie the game in the third period.

“We looked at it like, that’s a huge break. There probably isn’t a bigger break you can get than a goal disallowed,” York Coach Peter Douris said of his team’s second chance in overtime. “You can only kill so many penalties in overtime. It’s going to hurt you.”

The Wildcats began overtime on the penalty kill after Bradley Carr was called for tripping Breck Langevin on a breakaway attempt with four seconds left in regulation. York was able to kill that penalty, but not another after Brandon Biggs was called for hooking at 5:13 of overtime, shortly after the disallowed goal.

At 5:30, Talen Langevin found himself with the puck in front of the net and scored the winner.

“It was just me digging hard in front of the net. It was just a grinder goal. It was just fighting for the puck. When I scored, fireworks went off in my heart,” Langevin said, wearing the “King” chain and crown that the team awards to its player of the game.

Early on, it looked as if the game could become a rout.

Hunter Bussiere’s goal at 9:36 of the first period staked the Kings to a 1-0 lead. At 5:17 of the second, Brody Emond scored on a penalty shot, going to his backhand to flip the puck high over York goalie Aidan McQuaide. It was the first in-game penalty shot Emond has ever taken.

“I knew I was going backhand the whole time,” Emond said.

At 11:07, Emond scored again, taking a pass from Breck Langevin behind the net to stuff home a shot at the right post.

York answered with two goals late in the second. Brendan Dowling cut the deficit to 3-1 at 12:32. Then, with the Wildcats on a power play, Maclean Douris converted a turnover in front of the Kings’ net.

“Up until that point, we really hadn’t tested their goalie. We weren’t getting pucks through, pucks to the net, and making their goalie work. I felt like the first goal was a good sign,” Coach Douris said.

Bronson Eldridge tied the game for York at 9:09 of the third, with assists from Henry Ober and Connor Fell. The Wildcats were heeding the advice of their coaches to work hard and play like plumbers.

“Get your nails dirty. Roll your sleeves up and get in there and fight for pucks,” Douris said.

Ian Guerin made 21 saves for the Kings, while McQuaide stopped 34 shots.

“Every time we’ve played this team the last couple years, it’s been a battle,” Rouleau said. “They’ve all been close games. Tonight was no exception to that.”

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