Despite losing its final three regular-season games, defending Class B state champion Old Town/Orono narrowly edged out Kennebec River (Waterville/Winslow) and Presque Isle for the top seed in the Class B North schoolboy hockey playoffs that begin Tuesday.
Old Town/Orono wound up 13-5 and earned 120.64 Heal Points followed by Kennebec (14-4) with 120.56 and Presque Isle (15-3) with 120.19.
Old Town/Orono and Kennebec will receive first-round byes.
Kennebec nosed past Presque Isle with a season-ending 6-4 win over Old Town/Orono after Presque Isle had beaten Old Town/Orono 6-3.
Camden Hills of Rockport (11-7) was fourth with Hampden Academy (10-7-1) and the cooperative team of John Bapst/Mount Desert Island/Bangor Christian (8-9-1) earning the final three playoff spots.
John Bapst’s 2-1 win over Old Town-Orono on Feb. 13 enabled the Crusaders to slip past Brewer for the final playoff berth.
Brewer (6-11-1), Houlton/Hodgdon/Southern Aroostook/Katahdin (3-14-1) and Messalonskee of Oakland (1-17) failed to make the playoffs.
Tuesday’s quarterfinal round matchups will send John Bapst to Presque Isle and Hampden Academy to Camden Hills.
Next Saturday’s Class B North semifinal games will be played at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. at Colby College in Waterville. Old Town/Orono takes on the Camden Hills/Hampden Academy winner and Kennebec faces the Presque Isle/John Bapst survivor.
In Class A North, defending three-time state titlist Lewiston (16-2) earned the top seed with Saint Dominic Academy of Auburn occupying the No. 2 seed (13-4-1) and earning the other first-round bye.
Bangor is the third seed (14-4), and rounding out the playoff field are Edward Little High of Auburn (12-6), Mt. Ararat/Lisbon/Morse/Hyde (8-9-1) and Cony/Monmouth/Hall-Dale (6-12).
On Tuesday, Bangor entertains Cony and Edward Little hosts Mt. Ararat.
On Saturday, at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston, the Bangor-Cony winner will face Saint Dominic and the Edward Little-Mt. Ararat victor plays Lewiston. Game times are noon and approximately 2:30 p.m.
In Class B North, the high-scoring Wildcats from Presque Isle have scored 119 goals en route to a 15-win season, the most in coach Carl Flynn’s 14 seasons.
Presque Isle reached the Class A North final a year ago, losing to Old Town/Orono 6-1.
“I think we shocked a few people getting to the Northern Maine final last year. Our goal this year was to get to the state game,” said Flynn, who noted that for the first time in his coaching career, his team has beaten everybody on its schedule.
Presque Isle split with Old Town/Orono, Waterville/Winslow and Camden Hills, and is riding a six-game winning streak.
Flynn called his team fast and smart.
Five of the six players on his top two lines have at least 30 points. Senior Jake Stevens (18 goals, 30 assists) centers senior Thomas Patenaude (23 & 14) and freshman Jonah Roy (9 & 10), and the other line has sophomore Colby Carlisle (14 & 18) at center between sophomore Gage LeTourneau (12 & 25) and junior Connor DeMerchant (23 & 15).
The defense corps features seniors Torey Levesque (3 & 10) and Jaren Winger (6 & 5) as one tandem with sophomores Noah Roy (0 & 5) and Cameron Levasseur (0 & 5) as the other.
Senior Riley Kinney (1 & 3) plays both forward and defense.
Senior Andre Daigle (2.63 goals-against average) has been playing his best hockey of the season of late, Flynn said.