The fifth-seeded Knights (9-8 overall), who were coming off an emotional win over top-seeded Northern, won the Cup for the first time since 2015.

"It feels great and it's been a few years since we won it last and then before that it was a long time, so it feels good and the kids really deserve it," said Beckner, who is in his second season as an ice hockey coach and also coaches Chopticon High School's golf and girls lacrosse teams. "They worked hard all year and it's something to give back to the fans who are there every day."

"I'm freaking pumped," said St. Mary's Ryken forward/defenseman Luke Sprague, who scored two goals.

St. Mary's Ryken, which is the fifth seed in the MSHL/Capitals Cup state playoffs, will face Kent Island of Queen Anne's County in a first-round game at 6:15 tonight at Capital Clubhouse.

Northern also qualified for the state playoffs as the seventh seed and will face No. 10 Wootton of Montgomery County in a first-round game at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Gardens Ice House in Laurel.

The third-seeded Hurricanes (9-7-1) were coming off a five-round shootout win over second-seeded La Plata.

"I thought we competed extremely well, especially considering the team we were up against," Huntingtown head coach Eric Nyman said. "I think all of our guys knew it was going to be an uphill battle, but nobody ever gave up from start to finish, and that's what got us there to that point. And [St. Mary's Ryken II] was playing for a championship, too, so they took it up a notch."

"It was a rough season for us and we had our bumps here and there," said Huntingtown senior defenseman/forward Sam Nyman, who scored his team's lone goal. "I'm just real happy my last year of high school hockey we were able to make it to the final playoff game."

The Knights came out hard in the early going and had several scoring chances, but were unable to get a puck behind Huntingtown goaltender Brody White, who ended up finishing with 40 saves.

"We had to control the puck and we kept talking about cycling down low and controlling the offense and if we could do that, we could wear them down," Beckner said. "We were able to do that and get some back door shots, and their goalie was phenomenal, but we kept pounding away at it."

The Hurricanes had a glorious opportunity to open the scoring when Easton Cipressi — who scored a team-high 20 goals this season — was awarded a penalty shot just less than five minutes into the game, but his shot was batted away by St. Mary's Ryken goaltender Bryce Travers (22 saves).

"I was thinking I needed to come out and play the angle and I wanted to let him make the first move," Travers said. "I thought I could [stop] him; there has to be confidence as well. I felt good and it helped me get into the game."

"That just boosted everything. You could just feel the energy on the bench," St. Mary's Ryken senior forward/defenseman Alex Delaney said. There was so much electricity in the stadium [after that]."

Eric Nyman added: "We've been fortunate in penalty shots in the past and considering who the particular player was, I think seven out of 10 times he makes that shot."

The Knights answered by opening the scoring when Sprague lashed home a shot off a feed from Delaney 5 minutes 47 seconds into the game. Later in the period, David Hruda and Sprague tallied 53 seconds apart to put St. Mary's Ryken II ahead 3-0 after the first period.

"We knew we were faster than them, so we just used that to our advantage and played hard and tried to outwork them," Travers said. "It took a little while to start scoring, but once we did we started flowing."

"It's key every time to go out and make a statement and score a few goals and put them on their heels. They don't know what to do after that," Delaney said. "It feels like it's been like that all through the playoffs where we score one goal and then the floodgates open after that."

Delaney finished with a goal and two assists, Frank Furtado added a goal and an assist and Liam DeLong also had a goal. Nicholas Lane chipped in with two assists and Dominic DeLong and Jack Delaney each had one helper.

St. Mary's Ryken II was 1 for 5 on the powerplay and the Hurricanes were 0 for 4. The Knights outshot Huntingtown 46-22, including a 20-8 margin in the first 15 minutes.

The game marked the last time Eric Nyman will coach after he stepped down following Friday night's title game.

"It was great," said Nyman, who was with the Hurricanes for five years, the last season as the head coach. "To end your high school coaching career after five years an the last game you play is a championship game, I couldn't ask for anything more."

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