The Cranston co-op boys hockey team saw its season come to an end on Monday night when visiting Lincoln skated to a 6-4 victory in the Division II play-in game.

The game quickly became a shootout as Lincoln mounted a 5-1 lead in the first two periods. Cranston shook off the early struggles and would claw back to make it 5-4 in the final two minutes of the third period. The Lions went on to add some insurance on an open net goal to punch their ticket to the quarters.

Devin DeAngelis led the Falcons with a pair of goals while Jack Fontaine and Jacob Case also found the back of the net. Freshman goalie Bryce Crance finished the game with 24 stops.

“It was tough, these kids went through pretty much a total rebuild. These seniors have been through hell and high water and it was probably the best leadership I had with Fontaine and DeAngelis,” said coach Matt Brannon. “Give the kids credit, they put a lot of work in this season and it’s a credit to those two kids for keeping everyone together. They’ll be missed.”

The top six teams in the division made the playoffs while seeds 7-10 competed in play-in games. The Falcons expected to be seeded in the sixth spot, but would miss it by .029 points in the Rhode Island Interscholastic League’s rating percentage index system.

With the last-minute change of plans, the team was informed Sunday that it would be playing the win-or-go-home contest the following day.

“I feel terrible for the kids, it’s a tough way to lose. I don’t think anyone was prepared for (the season to end), we had high expectations for ourselves,” said Brannon, who was proud of the team’s depth and versatility this season. “I thought the league was very competitive. A lot of teams had highly skilled players that we had to keep an eye on. We didn’t have that superstar, but we had kids that were hard working and understood the fundamentals. You saw them grow up from boys to men from freshman year to senior year and you saw it lead to a successful season.”

The team will be losing a few key seniors including DeAngelis and Fontaine but will have a nice core to get things started next year, including Crance, who had a breakout campaign as a freshman.

“As a freshman, you couldn’t ask more from him. He kept us in so many games. It’s a big transition for a kid playing against kids his own age to playing against 18-year-old men. I thought he was one of the best goalies in the division,” said Brannon.

Brannon will miss his seniors as they prepare to move forward to next winter.

“They would do anything for each other and I can’t emphasize enough how special of a group this was to be a part of,” Brannon said. 

NOTE: Grant Bailey was named to the coaches association’s Division II First Team Defense, while DeAngelis made the DII Second Team Offense. Fontaine made the third team defense as well.