PORTLAND—Cheverus/Yarmouth’s co-op boys hockey team has mastered the art of playing from ahead so far this postseason.

And that has set the stage for a possible repeat championship.

Battling third-ranked Gorham in the Class B South Final Tuesday afternoon at the Cross Insurance Arena, top-seeded Cheverus/Yarmouth, as it did in its first two playoff tests, went in front first when junior Hakon Yeo buried a rebound with 1:06 on the first period clock.

In the second period, the Rams went on the power play and had several good looks, but they hit the post once and otherwise were stymied by Cheverus/Yarmouth junior goalie Ethan Tucker.

Then, at 5:34, freshman Trevor Hunt buried a loose puck for a 2-0 advantage.

A mere 41 seconds later, Yeo scored for the second time for even more breathing room.

Sophomore Landan Anctil finally got Gorham on the board at 8:01, scoring after a turnover, then freshman Stephen Connolly cut the deficit to one with a blast at 12:15, but Cheverus/Yarmouth answered on a rebound goal from senior Owen Walsh at 13:26 and held a two-goal lead heading to the third period.

There, Tucker slammed the door, with the help from another shot that hit the post, and Cheverus/Yarmouth went on to a 4-2 victory.

Yeo scored twice, Tucker made 22 saves and Cheverus/Yarmouth improved to 18-2-1, ended Gorham’s season at 13-8 and advanced to take on either John Bapst (19-1-1) or Messalonskee (16-5) in the Class B state final Saturday at 10:30 a.m., at the Cross Insurance Arena.

“It’s always important to get ahead,” said Cheverus/Yarmouth coach Dave St. Pierre. “You feel better about yourself and you can establish your defensive structure more easily. It makes a big difference and it’s always a big goal of ours.”

Top two

Despite some new faces in new places, Cheverus/Yarmouth has hardly missed a beat this winter.

After a 3-1 win over Mt. Ararat/Lisbon/Morse/Hyde in the opener, Cheverus/Yarmouth defeated Greely (6-1), Windham/Westbrook (7-2), Cape Elizabeth (4-3), York (3-2), Brunswick (3-0), Poland/Leavitt/Oak Hill/Gray-New Gloucester (6-1), Brunswick again (5-0), Scarborough (3-0), Greely again (5-2) and York for a second time (2-0) before falling from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 3-0 setback at Kennebunk/Wells. After surviving Cape Elizabeth in overtime (1-0), Cheverus/Yarmouth was beaten in overtime by Class A power Lewiston (4-3) and after blanking Gorham (2-0), Cheverus/Yarmouth settled for a 2-2 tie with eventual Class A top seed Falmouth. Cheverus/Yarmouth then closed the regular season by downing Mt. Ararat/Lisbon/Morse/Hyde (6-0) and Poland/Leavitt/Oak Hill/Gray-New Gloucester (3-1).

After a 5-0 win over No. 8 Cape Elizabeth in the quarterfinals, Cheverus/Yarmouth knocked off the fifth-ranked Poland/Leavitt/Oak Hill/Gray-New Gloucester Kings in Saturday’s semifinal round, 3-1.

Gorham, meanwhile, caught fire late in the season, then blanked No. 6 Greely (4-0) in the quarterfinals before upsetting second-ranked Kennebunk/Wells (3-1) in Saturday’s semifinal round.

Cheverus/Yarmouth won the teams’ lone meeting this year, 2-0, Feb. 8 at home. senior Quinn McCoy and Yeo scored the goals.

The teams last met in the postseason in the 2023 Class B South quarterfinals, a 6-4 Cheverus/Yarmouth victory.

Tuesday, Cheverus/Yarmouth had some anxious moments, but still managed to make it two straight regional titles.

Both goalies stood tall early, as Tucker denied bids from Connolly, junior Levi Wagner and Connolly again.

Rams senior goalie Chris Chesebro stymied McCoy, Yeo, sophomore Owen Cheever, Yeo again and McCoy again and after Yeo hit the post, Cheever rang a shot off the crossbar on the power play, but the score remained 0-0.

Until 1:06 remained in the period, when Cheverus/Yarmouth finally broke through.

Chesebro saved an initial shot from freshman Griffin Zinman, but Yeo got to the rebound and buried it (Walsh was also credited with an assist) and Cheverus/Yarmouth had a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

“That first goal is super-important, getting the momentum,” Yeo said.

“The early goal is great,” Tucker said. “You don’t want to give up a goal, but if you do, you know you won’t have a deficit.”

Gorham looked to answer when the second period commenced and after Wagner redirected an Anctil shot just wide, the Rams went on the power play, but Tucker robbed Connolly, junior Connor Rounds rang a shot off the far post and Tucker denied an Anctil shot before again turning aside a bid from Connolly.

Cheverus/Yarmouth then doubled and tripled its lead in under a minute.

With 9:26 left in the second period, senior Cooper Jacobs sent the puck in front and Hunt was waiting to send the rebound past Chesebro to make it 2-0.

Then, a mere 41 seconds later, Yeo scored for the second time, from junior Colby Carnes and it appeared Cheverus/Yarmouth was on the brink of breaking away.

But instead, Gorham awakened and made things very interesting.

After Tucker denied Anctil on a rush, Anctil got the puck from Wagner and this time, one-on-one, he wouldn’t be stopped, ripping a shot into the net to get the Rams on the board with 6:59 remaining in the period.

With 2:45 left, it got even closer, as Connolly skated in and wristed a shot past Tucker and in for an unassisted goal to make the score 3-2.

“They’ve got some really fast players on their team and they capitalized on their breakaways,” Tucker said. “They had good shots and one of their shots I just did not see.”

Gorham had one look to tie it, but Tucker saved a shot from junior Andrew Collins, then with 1:24 on the clock, Cheverus/Yarmouth regained momentum, as Walsh rebounded a Cheever shot into the net for a 4-2 advantage after 30 minutes.

“Before that shift, Coach told me to go get a goal,” Walsh said. “I got low, went and got a rebound and scored. That set us up for the win.”

“They scored a couple, but we battled back,” Yeo said.

“That was a big goal,” said Tucker. “We’ve fought back after we’ve given up goals this year.”

“Every coach will tell you that it’s frustrating to have shots that miss the net or go in the goalie’s glove, where nothing else can happen, so we’ve been harping on low shots,” added St. Pierre. “We talked about getting the pucks lower on this kid and getting the rebound opportunities and we scored three rebound goals as a result.”

The Rams did their best to rally in the third period, but Tucker denied Anctil on the doorstep, Tucker turned aside a backhanded bid from Connolly, then he saved a pair of shots from freshman Zachary McCormick before Connolly hit the post with 1:57 to play.

Gorham coach Shawn Sullivan then pulled Chesebro for an extra attacker, but it didn’t pay off, as Rounds was sent off with a tripping penalty, negating the advantage, and Cheverus/Yarmouth ran out the clock from there on its 4-2 victory.

“(Late in the game) we had a lot of offensive zone pressure and we didn’t let them get out of the zone much and if we did, we had good backchecking,” Tucker said. “I think our experience is big. We know the rink, the bounces, stuff like that. We know what it takes.”

“We settled the guys down and told them to get back to their game plan, to keep doing the right thing with the puck and make good decisions and attacking,” St. Pierre said. “We have a lot of faith in our defensive structure and it worked out.”

Cheverus/Yarmouth had a 26-24 edge in shots on goal and got 22 saves from Tucker, who remains one of the elite big-game goalies in the state.

“Ethan’s very good,” said Walsh. “He’s played in these games before and we have a lot of faith in him.”

“Ethan has stepped up for us last year and he’s doing it again this year,” said St. Pierre. “He’s so collected and poised in net and he makes the right saves. He’s positionally sound and we’re lucky to have him. I’m confident in our whole goalie room. We have three goalies who have worked their tails off all season long. They support each other. Johnny Wallace and Brayden Fitch are seniors and they’re super-supportive. They all make us better as a team.”

Gorham got 22 saves from Chesebro, but its run came to an end.

“Cheverus/Yarmouth’s a really good team,” Sullivan said. “They’re experienced. They’ve been here before. They’ve got a lot of skilled guys that get to the net. We knew that going into it. For most of the game, we did a pretty good job.

“It was a few things here and there that didn’t go our way, but our guys worked their tails off and played a great game. I told my guys it could’ve gone either way. We had two or three posts, one puck on the goal line, one roll behind (Tucker) and we just couldn’t bury it. We have a young group and we’ll be good to go next year.”

One more

Cheverus/Yarmouth did not face John Bapst or Messalonskee this season. Those teams meet in the Class B North Final Wednesday evening in Orono.

Regardless of who is on the opposite end of the ice, Cheverus/Yarmouth knows if it does what it’s done all season, another championship trophy can be the end result.

“We’ve played disciplined hockey and we have to just keep doing what we’re doing,” Tucker said. “We’re confident.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Walsh said. “(Getting back) means a lot to me. Last year was exciting and we’ve worked really hard this season and it’s paid off. We need to work hard in practice and get prepared.”

“It took a little while to get our chemistry going, but I thought we could get back here,” Yeo said. “We have a lot of talent and a lot of skill. We want to win another one. We’re super-excited. This means a lot, but we’re all talking about how the job isn’t finished and we’ll be ready to go Saturday.”

“It says a lot about the character of the seniors and our captains,” added St. Pierre. “They knew there was a void to fill and they stepped up and did that. I couldn’t be more proud of them and I’m so happy for the way they’ve pulled this team together.

“We know what winning feels like and we know we have a team that’s capable of doing it again, but we also know we’ll be facing a very tough opponent, so we have to go back to work.”

Press Herald staff writer Drew Bonifant contributed to this story.

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net.