ORONO, Maine — Defending Class B state hockey champ Messalonskee High School captured its fourth consecutive Eastern Maine title Tuesday night as the line of Jared Cunningham between Jake Dexter and Brandon Nale overpowered the Winslow Black Raiders in an 8-3 triumph at Alfond Arena.
The Cunningham line, which had nine goals in the 12-1 semifinal win over Brewer, combined for six goals and eight assists.
Senior right wing Dexter scored a pair of first-period goals to give the 19-1 Eagles of Oakland a lead they would never relinquish as the top seeds posted their 17th consecutive victory.
He also had two assists.
Junior center Cunningham had a goal and five assists and sophomore left wing Nale had three goals for a hat trick and also added an assist.
Senior goalie Elijah Tuell finished with 19 saves while Winslow junior goalie Andrew Beals wound up with 33 stops.
Third seed Winslow concluded a 14-7 campaign.
Messalonskee will play the winner of Wednesday’s Kennebunk-Gorham game in Saturday’s state championship game at 1 p.m. at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston.
Nale, a converted defenseman, sandwiched a pair of second-period goals around one by junior Will Weeks as Messalonskee built a 5-0 lead.
Dylan Burton and Cunningham extended the lead to 7-0 in the first 1:04 of the third period before the determined Black Raiders received three goals 51 seconds apart from Jimmy Fowler, Keegan Cain and Dameron Rodrigue to cut the lead to 7-3 and force a Messalonskee timeout.
But the Black Raiders could get no closer and Nale completed his hat trick on a breakaway with 46 seconds left.
Winslow senior center and captain Alex Berard called the Cunningham line “the best line in the state.”
Cunningham said he and his linemates “know where each other is going to be” and that has keyed their success and led to their 221 combined points.
“We work on things like moving the puck every day in practice because we want to keep our chemistry,” said Dexter.
Cunningham and Dexter said they thought the team played very well against a good Winslow team.
In an evenly played first period, the Eagles proved to be more opportunistic than their hard-working neighbors as Dexter scored at the 2:22 and 11:41 marks.
Cunningham set up the first goal when he threw the puck on net from the left-wing circle, and it slipped past Beals to the far post.
“It went through the goalie’s legs,” explained Dexter, who cleverly switched the puck from his forehand to backhand and tucked it into the short side from the edge of the crease before Beals could scramble across.
Dexter expanded the lead when Cunningham’s centering pass was poked into the high slot by Beals onto the stick of Burton. Burton’s slap shot was kicked out by Beals but Dexter corralled the rebound, darted from left to right at the top of the crease and swept it into the vacant net.
Messalonskee outshot Winslow 14-9 over the first 15 minutes.
Nale made it 3-0 46 seconds into the second period when Dexter fed him in front after stealing an errant clearing attempt and he jammed home his own rebound from point-blank range.
The Black Raiders had a golden opportunity to climb back into the game when they enjoyed a two-man advantage for 1:09.
Tuell held the near post to make a good save off Jacob Trask, who had wheeled out of the corner and fired a hard snap shot from the left circle.
Trask was a constant threat for the Raiders all evening long.
But Dylan Brown did an excellent job as the forward on the penalty kill and the Black Raiders couldn’t muster any more good chances.
The Eagles sewed up the win with goals 3:22 apart at the end of the second period.
Cunningham, along the left-wing boards, slid a pass to Weeks in the middle of the slot and his low wrister snaked its way past Beals.
Nale scored with 21 seconds remaining when he found himself alone in the slot and wristed a Cunningham pass between Beals’ pads.
“The kids never quit. They showed a lot of heart, courage and effort and they played with discipline,” said Winslow coach Andy Dube. “You’ve got to give credit to Messalonskee. They can turn it on and score goals.”
“We did everything we could do tonight,” said Berard.
Burton scored from an acute angle 51 seconds into the third period before Cunningham converted a Dexter feed just 13 seconds later.
Fowler broke Tuell’s shutout bid by following up Trask’s breakaway and tapping home the rebound.
Cain flipped home a Rodrigue pass from the edge of the crease and Rodrigue scored off a Benjamin Frost pass from behind the net.