PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The Wildcat hockey team is back in the regional championship for the first time in four years.
It’s been a long road as Presque Isle did not qualify for the post-season two of the past three seasons. Last year ended with a 9-0 loss to Brewer in the quarterfinal round.
Presque Isle has a date with No. 1 Old Town-Orono at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 6, at Alfond Arena. The Black Bears bring an 18-1 record into the Class B North title game, including two regular season victories over the Wildcats (3-2 in Presque Isle on Jan. 19 and 7-1 in Orono Jan. 26). Old Town-Orono bested No. 4 Hampden Academy in the semifinal round Saturday, 7-3.
The third-seeded Wildcats come in at 14-6, including Saturday’s 6-3 semifinal win over No. 2 Waterville-Winslow.
Carl Flynn, the 13th-year head coach for Presque Isle, said his young team will have to play physically to have a chance against a veteran-laden Black Bears squad.
“They are more mature and have more experience than we do,” Flynn said. “They have at least six seniors who are their impact players, while our three seniors do not see regular playing time.”
Flynn said he will need Presque Isle’s second line, made up of freshmen Colby Carlisle and Gage LeTourneau and sophomore Connor DeMerchant, which is responsible for at least 40 percent of the team’s scoring, to “stand up and play big.”
“We also need to slow down Old Town-Orono’s speed through the neutral zone and try to get the puck deep in their zone,” Flynn said. “Our goaltender [Andre Daigle] has to play as well as he did Saturday.”
In that game, Daigle surrendered just one first-period goal despite facing 19 shots and finished with 29 saves in the contest.
Presque Isle boasts a dangerous first line that includes juniors Jake Stevens and Tom Patenaude along with either Bailey York or Riley Kinney, both juniors. They combined for more than 80 points during the regular season and have also been major contributors to the offense in the first two playoff games, with Stevens scoring four goals and Patenaude twice.
“They’re a very gritty team,” said Old Town-Orono coach Denis Collins. “There isn’t a big drop-off between their top two lines. And that’s very different. A lot of teams we see, there is a dramatic drop-off from the first line to the second line.”
Junior Torey Levesque picked up a pair of assists in each of the playoff contests and joins freshman Noah Roy as the Wildcats’ top defenders.
Senior Jacob Dubay and sophomore Tyler McCannell have scored more than 40 points each and are part of Old Town-Orono’s No. 1 scoring line along with sophomore Sam Henderson.
Senior Josh Wheeler and Finnish exchange student Antti Jarvicare are talented attack-minded defenseman and junior Kohle Parker is the Black Bears’ starting goalie.
The Wildcats are making their sixth trip to the regional championship game in program history and fifth during coach Flynn’s era. The Wildcats’ only appearance in a state game came in 2009 and resulted in a 5-1 loss to Greely.
Old Town-Orono is back in the finals after losing 6-5 in overtime last year to Waterville.
Bangor Daily News sports reporter Larry Mahoney contributed to this story.
