It doesn't happen often, but this season nobody will be playing for a berth in the state hockey championship series tonight.
Usually, at least a few of the six best-of-three semifinal playoff series in the three divisions need a winner-take-all third game on Monday night. But this season, all six series were decided in two games and all but one followed the form charts.
The two top-seeded teams in the Championship and Met B divisions earned finals berths. Mount St. Charles and La Salle will stage their third consecutive showdown for the Championship Division crown. Moses Brown and Cranston West will meet for the Met B title.
The only series that came close to being called an upset was in Met C, where third-seeded Portsmouth swept second-seeded West Warwick. But then, Portsmouth is the defending Met C state champion, so maybe it wasn't much of an upset.
Nathan Longley's goal at 7:39 of the sudden-death overtime gave Portsmouth a 3-2 victory in the opening game. Saturday night at Portsmouth, Nick Labbe tallied four goals in the Patriots' 5-2 triumph.
Portsmouth now will meet Cranston East, the undefeated regular-season champion, in the title series. Cranston East earned its finals berth with two shutouts over Mt. Hope. Two goals by Jason Arrighie led the 'Bolt to a 5-0 shutout Saturday.
Bruce Beckford's goal at 3:18 of overtime gave Moses Brown a 5-4 victory over Smithfield Saturday night. Matt Smalley's three goals had led the top-seeded Quakers to a 6-3 victory in the first game.
Like Mount St. Charles and Portsmouth, Cranston West earned the right to defend its state title as the Falcons earned their fourth finals berth in the past five years with a sweep of third-seeded Cumberland. Corey Tobey's three first-period goals started the Falcons toward the 5-2 victory Saturday night that completed the sweep.
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