ARLINGTON – Hosting the loaded Peter Doherty division in the 2nd Annual Ed Burns Coffee Pot Tournament, the Arlington boys hockey team added a little bit of suspense to the home crowd Sunday afternoon.

As part of a string of close affairs between some of the best public school teams in the state, Drew Fecteau buried the game-winning goal on a power play in overtime to propel the Spy Ponders (10-2-2) to a 3-2 win over Braintree (6-4-1). The senior’s tally just 56 seconds into the extra frame completed a gritty comeback in which Arlington trailed by two scores entering the final seven minutes of regulation, pairing with Stephanos Sotiropoulos’ game-tying score to overcome an otherwise spectacular effort in net from Wamps goalie Ryan Cochrane (23 saves).

Having to battle back from Braintree’s two-goal second period wasn’t exactly part of the game plan for Arlington head coach John Messuri, and he admits the need for late-game heroics are starting to stack up over the last several games. He’ll take the victory against top competition for now, but is hoping to give star goalie Jake Davies (28 saves) a break from all but saving another win moving forward.

“It’s good to come back, I think Braintree is a really good team,” Messuri said. “I thought they maybe deserved a better fate the way they played compared to the way we played. We just down the stretch made a couple of plays, that was the difference. I think overall, it is what it is, but they deserved a better fate. We can’t keep playing like that.”

Braintree came out firing on all cylinders to produce an advantage in scoring opportunities, taking advantage of a slow start from the Spy Ponders to build up steam. Davies excelled in net through most of a 17-shot second period, but not enough to prevent goals from Andrew Gaffney and Anthony Cappello for a 2-0 deficit entering the third.

Cochrane played great opposite Davies, not allowing much until Arlington finally got it going over the final eight minutes of action. Liam Gore finished a rebound with 6:13 left to cut the deficit, and Sotiropoulos’ shot from the point somehow got through Cochrane’s initial save for the 2-2 tie about four minutes later. Arlington took advantage of continued stellar play from Davies as Braintree outshot it 30-26, and a Wamps penalty while the Spy Ponders killed their own infraction late in the third rolled over into overtime.

Fecteau made a great move around the crease with more room to skate, flipping in the winner to advance in the tourney.

Between this finish, Hingham’s 3-1 win over Canton, Belmont’s 2-0 win over Marshfield and a late slate between Wellesley and Reading, Messuri is more than pleased with the tournament.

“This is great,” he said. “For me, loving high school hockey like I do, this is like Field of Dreams to see all the top publics coming into this rink here. Legendary rink, legendary program, this is awesome. What a day for high school hockey.”

He’s not alone.

Behind yet another great defensive effort to allow just 16 shots on net to Marshfield, Belmont powered past the last unbeaten Div. 1 team in the state with the 2-0 victory to meet Arlington in the next round. Greg Federico saved all 16 shots, giving the Marauders (10-1-2) the time they needed to overcome a sluggish first period.

Peter Grace’s second-period score off a feed from Cam Fici during a 2-on-1 ultimately served the difference, but Fici’s empty-netter with 12 seconds left sealed the deal in Belmont’s first time playing in the tournament.

“We knew we were in for a battle,” said head coach Tim Foley. “It’s a great tournament, it’s great for public school hockey. It’s a showcase for our players, and they really take a lot of pride in playing for their communities, for their teams and their families, and it shows. That was a great hockey game.”

Penalty kill once again played a large role for Belmont, allowing just one shot on Federico through two Marshfield power plays. The Rams (11-1-2) had much of the same success by allowing only two shots on net amid another great performance from goalie Brady Quackenbush (17 saves).

The Marauders ultimately forced Marshfield to the outside on a lot of its trips to the offensive zone, and the Rams struggled to get their bevy of hard shots on net.