PORTLAND—Falmouth’s boys hockey team appeared to have momentum on its side late in the second period of Tuesday evening’s Class A state semifinal at the Cross Insurance Arena.

The top-ranked Navigators had tied No. 4 Kents Hill earlier in the period on a rebound goal from junior Cale Hanson and would have been happy to go into the second intermission deadlocked, but instead, the game slipped away.

The Huskies went in front to stay with just 39 seconds left on a power play goal from junior Nathan Roy, then they struck twice more in the third period, as junior Alex Gadbois gave them some breathing room midway through before an empty net goal from freshman Liam Netten put it away and while Falmouth did get a goal back late, courtesy Hanson, it wasn’t enough and Kents Hill went on to a 4-2 victory.

The Huskies, in their first season playing at the Maine Principals’ Association level, improved to 12-7-1, advanced to take on third-ranked Thornton Academy (16-3-1) in the Class A state game Saturday at 1 p.m., at the Cross Insurance Arena and in the process, ended the Navigators’ fine season at 14-4-2.

“That goal kind of killed us going into the third and we never got over it,” said Hogan Tracy, Falmouth’s first-year coach. “We knew what it would take to come back, but it just didn’t happen.”

Over too soon

Falmouth has been an elite team since the get-go this season, while Kents Hill showed flashes, but was up-and-down.

The Navigators shot out of the gate with seven straight victories and after consecutive 1-0 losses, went 6-0-2 in an eight-game stretch before closing with a setback.

Falmouth had no trouble with No. 8 St. Dom’s, 5-1, in its quarterfinal last Friday.

The Huskies, meanwhile, endured a three-game losing streak early in the season, but hit their stride late with wins over Lewiston and Falmouth.

In the quarterfinal round, Kents Hill eliminated No. 5 Bangor (6-0).

The teams split this year, with Falmouth winning on the road (5-1) Dec. 10 and the Huskies returning the favor Feb. 20 in Falmouth (5-0).

The schools had no playoff history.

Tuesday, on the big sheet in front of a big crowd, the Navigators had their chances, but Kents Hill did a better job of capitalizing on its opportunities to advance.

Falmouth came out flying, producing the game’s first five shots on goal, but Huskies junior goalie Milan Angyalfi denied sophomore Anthony Graceffa, freshman Brendon Welch, senior Thomas Healey and Hanson to keep the game scoreless.

Kents Hill then tilted the ice and after Navigators senior goalie Brandon White saved a shot from sophomore Ben Harriman and Netten sent the puck just wide on a rush, the Huskies struck first at 7:59 of the first period, as Gadbois fed junior Antoine Morin in front and Morin beat White for a 1-0 lead.

“I like that spot, I’m always behind the net,” Gadbois said. “I saw Antoine in front, passed it to him, one-timer, really good goal. We’ve played together for a little bit. I knew he was going to be there.”

Moments later, Morin had a great chance to double the lead, but White stopped him cold.

Sophomore Cameron Collicott then hit the post for Kents Hill.

Late in the period, Falmouth tried to answer, but Hanson tipped a shot from junior Jacoby Porter on frame, only to have Angyalfi make the save, then senior Jack Turgeon had a shot saved by Angyalfi and a rebound bid from Hanson was denied as well.

The Navigators had a 10-5 shots advantage in the first 15 minutes, but had nothing to show for it.

Falmouth then pulled even less than a minute into the second period, but the final minute of the period would prove costly.

Just 52 seconds in, Angyalfi saved a shot from senior Isaac Laliberte, but Hanson, wide open in front, pounced on the rebound and buried it to make it 1-1.

White then kept the Navigators even by twice denying Netten and saving shots from Gadbois through a screen and a bid from Collicott.

Angyalfi kept Falmouth from going ahead by saving a shot from Healey, then White got tested again, but he stood tall, robbing Gadbois, denying Morin on the doorstep and saving a wraparound attempt from Gadbois.

With 1:34 left, Kents Hill went on the power play and it would take advantage.

After White saved a shot from senior Oliver Majesky, Roy put on a show, skating around and through the defense, getting White off-balance, then ripping a shot into the net for a 2-1 lead with just 39.6 seconds left.

“I was mad at myself,” said Roy, after initially losing the puck out of the zone before returning with a vengeance. “I felt like if we didn’t score, it would have been my fault. I felt like it was my responsibility to do something about it.”

“That goal was huge,” said Huskies coach Bill Desmarais. “Now, they’re frustrated because they gave up a late goal versus them going in even and ready to go. That goal gave our guys energy and we fed off that.”

As they did to start the second period, the Navigators came out flying in the third, seeking the equalizer, but this time, they couldn’t solve Angyalfi, who denied both senior Rowan Hinkley and freshman Anders Hesson.

White was able to keep Falmouth within one, making saves on shots from Roy, Gadbois and Roy again, but with 8:50 left, Kents Hill got some breathing room.

Majesky got the puck to Gadbois, who skated in, found room and sent the puck past White to make it 3-1.

“If you look at the last few games we’ve played, we outshoot teams in the third period, even with 10 guys and I’m not sure how that works, so we weren’t going to play defensively,” Desmarais said. “It was still about offense. We still needed to score goals.”

Falmouth didn’t quit and with 6:35 to go, a deflected shot off the stick of Turgeon rang off the crossbar.

Angyalfi then denied Turgeon and Hanson and after Tracy pulled White for an extra attacker, Hinkely and Turgeon had shots saved.

With 2:37 remaining, the Huskies essentially put it away, as Netten sent the puck up the empty ice and while it took a veritable eternity to cross the goal line, it eventually did to make it 4-1.

The Navigators got a goal back with 1:07 left, as Turgeon set up Hanson for his second goal, but after one more Angyalfi save, on Hinkley, Kents Hill ran out the clock and celebrated its 4-2 victory.

“It’s awesome,” said Desmarais. “We’re playing our best hockey. We started with a real high, going 5-1, then we kind of plateaued in the middle, but look at our last four, five games, we’re beating quality teams. We’re right there with everyone.

Angyalfi had to make 24 saves to preserve the win.

“What we’ve been trying to do is limit shots from quality scoring areas,” said Desmarais. “You look at a lot of their scoring opportunities, they were outside shots. We were trying to keep them to the outside because if Milan sees the puck, he’s going to stop it. It didn’t matter how many shots they got, but the quality of shots we were trying to limit from the slot area. ”

Kents Hill split with Thornton Academy this year, beating the visiting Golden Trojans early, 6-1, then suffering its most recent loss, 6-3, at Thornton Academy Feb. 15.

The Huskies can culminate their first year at the MPA level with the ultimate victory.

“Now these kids have something to play for,” said Desmarais. “We don’t recruit, we can’t. We’re trying to get younger kids in here, that’s the ultimate goal. Before, they played 15, 20 games that really meant nothing. They have an opportunity on Saturday to play for a state championship. Now they’re excited and want to be here.”

Falmouth pride

The Navigators went down fighting and got 20 saves from White in his swan song.

“They did a phenomenal job of limiting our chances and they did a great job getting the puck out of their end so we didn’t have time to establish an offense,” Tracy lamented. “Their goalie did a great job eliminating rebounds. They did a really good job playing team defense. They have a bunch of very smart kids and Bill’s a very smart coach. We didn’t have any chances to catch them off-guard. They’re just a fundamentally sound team from the goalie on out.”

While Falmouth wasn’t able to make it to the season’s final day, the campaign was a resounding success regardless.

“It’s been a phenomenal first year,” Tracy said. “We’ve battled a bunch of injuries and sicknesses and I couldn’t be more proud of the kids the way they fought. I was the assistant coach for the last three years and this is the first group of seniors I’ve been with for four years. It was very tough putting together words at the end of the game and conveying my message to them.”

The Navigators hope that next season they can return to the state game for the first time since 2017 and win the program’s first title since 2014.

“We’ll keep working for it,” Tracy said. “We’ll be back next year. It’s going to be tough to replace the seniors, but these guys will keep their heads up high.”

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