In each of the three rounds of the Division II state championship playoffs this season, Portsmouth spotted its opponent the first game of the best of three series.  In the quarterfinals and semifinals the squad charged back to win the stage and continue their march through the post season.  Monday night, in the third game of the championship final series at Brown University’s Meehan Auditorium, the Patriots’ resiliency ran out as they fell to North Smithfield 3-0.  The result places the team as the State Champion Runner-up, as the 2015-16 Rhode Island high school hockey season comes to a close.

Portsmouth was outplayed the entire evening by the Northmen who elevated their performance for the final contest of the playoffs.  Throughout the game, the talented North Smithfield squad was faster, more precise, and decisive in the execution of their play-making than the Patriots.  Although Portsmouth showed flashes of the skill that carried the team through the playoffs to this deciding game, those efforts were brief and ultimately ineffective against the Northmen who were, for that game, the better team on the ice.

It did not take long for the Patriots’ troubles in the game to begin.  Called for a tripping penalty at 3:35 into the contest, it took the Northmen only 37 seconds to score with the man- advantage.  The tally was North Smithfield’s fifth power play goal of the three game series.  The Northmen added another goal, that one at even strength, at 10:02 of the period and took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.

Following that second goal in the first period Portsmouth’s defense tightened up.  Backstopped by Matt Nordhill in the crease, the squad kept the Northmen from further building on their lead for the remainder of the first period, and held them scoreless through the entire second period.  But despite keeping the score manageable, the Patriots were unable to get themselves on the scoreboard to close the gap and gain some momentum in the game.

North Smithfield put the game out of reach for the Patriots with its third goal of the night at 5:49 of the third period.  Following the goal Nordhill was replaced in the Portsmouth net by Gage Aguiar.  Sometimes a goaltender switch can jumpstart a team’s performance.  With that in mind, Coach Monahan made the change not because of Nordhill’s performance, but rather on the chance that it might boost the squad’s flagging efforts.  In the end, it made little difference.  Down 3-0 the Patriots difficulties continued until the final buzzer to end the game.

Portsmouth was outshot in the contest 23-11.  Nordhill had 15 saves on 18 shots, and Aguiar, who did not allow a goal in the final nine minutes of play, made five saves.  The team was unable to capitalize on two power play opportunities, and the penalty kill gave up one goal in three shorthanded situations.

Portsmouth’s run through the playoffs is a story of resiliency and perseverance.  In taking each of the three playoff rounds to the maximum three games, the team prevailed in five elimination games before reaching yesterday’s winner-take-all contest.  It was in those do-or-die situations that the squad’s character was most evident.  When down a game, or behind in the score, the team never gave up.  Instead, that was when the players found the  determination and grit they needed to continue their team’s amazing run through the post-season.  While there is undoubtedly disappointment in the outcome of the final game, each member of the squad can be justifiably proud of how they came together as a team, and what they accomplished along the way.

And now the Patriots 2015-16 season is complete.  Over the past three weeks the team played nine post-season games; fully half as many as 18 league games played during the three month long regular season.  Combined with the four non-league games the team played, the campaign encompassed 31 games altogether.  It was the most games ever played by a Portsmouth hockey team in a single season.