WATERVILLE — For the second time in three years, the Hampden Academy boys hockey team will play for a regional title.

Senior defenseman Colin McKay snapped a tie with 6:40 remaining Saturday night at Kelley Rink, and the third-seeded Broncos made it stand up in a 4-2 win over the No. 2 Cony co-op in a Class B North regional semifinal.

McKay’s shot from the top of the right circle redirected in traffic before sneaking through Cony netminder Landon Foster on the deciding goal.

“I honestly thought (Foster) had it for a second there,” said Hampden senior Lucas Dunn said. “Then when I got in, I just celebrated with everybody. I was ecstatic.”

Dunn had two goals and an assist, including an empty-netter in the final seconds for Hampden (12-6-2).

“He always works hard. That’s kind of his M.O.,” Hampden coach Zach Wilson said of Dunn. “You can always count on that with him. He seems to be the heartbeat of that line, and they’ve been dominant for us all year long.”

Hampden Academy’s Keith Brooks attempts to catch Cony’s Caiden Kelley in a Class B North boys hockey semifinal game Saturday at Colby College in Waterville. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

The Broncos will play Camden Hills in the regional final Tuesday night at the University of Maine’s Alfond Arena, looking to extend their current eight-game unbeaten run. Hampden is 7-0-1 over the stretch

The Cony co-op (14-6-0) saw its six-game winning streak snapped with the loss, despite getting goals from Cooper Clark and Owen Lyons. Lyons scored seconds after a Ram power-play expired to tie the game at 2-2 just 1:48 into the third.

Foster finished with 34 saves, but the Rams didn’t find ways to test Foster’s counterpart — Hampden’s Aiden Surran — often enough at the other end of the rink.

“Being here and understanding what it takes to win in these games, that’s going to be huge for us going forward,” said Cony coach Doug Dieuveuil. “We needed a little more intensity and aggression (in the third period), move the puck a little bit more. They had a good game plan and a good team, and they were outworking us for most of the game.”

The Rams couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start.

The Broncos led 1-0 through a Brody Miller goal at the 8:05 mark, with Miller wristing Dunn’s feed out of the right circle under the crossbar. The goal came just a minute and a half after Keith Brooks hit the left post behind Foster.

Cony co-op’s Connor Callahan handles the puck as Hampden Academy’s Lucas Dunn applies defensive pressure in a Class B North boys hockey semifinal game Saturday at Colby College in Waterville. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

Foster, though, was the reason the Rams had a chance to right the ship following the first intermission after being outshot by a 14-4 count.

The two teams traded power-play goals in the second.

The Rams evened things on the scoreboard 74 seconds into the middle period with Clark’s goal. After having his first bid snuffed out by Surran at the left post, Clark chased down a lazy clear in the neutral zone, reloaded up the right side and beat Surran over his shoulder at the near post.

Hampden reclaimed the lead at the 3:38 mark, with Dunn crashing the blue paint to swat home the rebound of Matt Shayne’s drive.

“We just started on time. All of us were ready to play, and we worked hard,” Dunn said.

The Rams started to turn the tide over the final five minutes of the second, but the Rams still found getting into high-danger areas difficult. Of their nine second-period shots on goal, only four came from inside the faceoff circles.

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