FALMOUTH – Boxing legend Mike Tyson famously said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

But the Hingham boys hockey team punched back this time.

Trailing 1-0 and yielding an 18-9 shot-on-goal disadvantage, the Harbormen rallied with three unanswered goals for a 3-1 victory over BC High to take the 29h annual Buddy Ferreira Classic tournament title for the third time in school history at Falmouth Ice Arena.

The eventual game-winner for Hingham came 1:51 into the third period as Nick Bigelow protected the puck just long enough behind the Eagles net to feed Matt McLellan out front for the go-ahead goal. The tally earned McLellan the MVP of the tournament.

Hingham (15-4-2) went 0-3-1 in a recent stretch that head coach Tony Messina admitted that he couldn’t remember the last time his squad lost three in a row. But his Harbormen have hit their stride in the final games of the regular season with their fourth win in a row as this was also their third trip in four years to this talented jam-packed tournament on Cape Cod.

“(BC High) is a really good team and we are so tight in the rankings, but the kids were fired up for this,” said Hingham head coach Tony Messina. “I’ll have to look at the first period as I thought we skated well but we wanted to be as physical as we could and keep the puck to the outside. I thought we did that, and moved the puck quickly out of the zone.”

Other than a BC High (11-6-3) power play that produced one shot on net, the first period was an uneventful scoreless tie. But the second period produced some of the best hockey in the state in 2025 as the two Division 1 powerhouse squads exchanged goals in between some serious physicality on both ends of the ice.

After an undisciplined unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Hingham, Chris Brennick slid the puck on net to generate some action out front and it was only a matter of time before Nolan O’Sullivan popped home the power-play tally at 6:33 as he lifted the puck just under the crossbar for the 1-0 Eagles lead.

But the first goal of the game woke up the Harbormen as they skated with fervor in the next two minutes and Colin Garrity parked himself inside the crease for the equalizer past BC High sophomore goaltender Drew Karlovitz at 8:52.

The Eagles outshot the Harbormen 21-12 over the first two periods, but the Eagles just couldn’t put things away in the final 15 minutes of play.

“The refs definitely let us play but that’s what you want in a championship game. I think we knew how good they were, they were a tough out, and we just didn’t finish the job,” said BC High head coach John Flaherty, whose team came into the game with a 6-0-1 streak. “We go up 1-0, we let them get their stake in front of our net, they outplayed us in the second half of the game and we just didn’t respond the way I knew we could have.”

After McLellan’s goal to start the third, the Eagles picked up their first penalty of the game with 5:27 left in regulation and Hingham took advantage for a coveted insurance goal.

On the first power play shift to their end, Cam McKenna finished things off in front for the 3-1 lead only 29 seconds into the man advantage.

Some serious credit should go to Mike Karo in goal for Hingham as he held the fort in the first two periods and finished with 30 saves. Hingham put up 15 shots on net in the third period alone to blanket the Eagles defense.

“He’s kept us in a lot of games this year and I think this is a complete game for him, so he has to feel good about that,” said Messina. “This (win) is a momentum type thing, we knew this was a state tournament type of thing, and (BC High) is so good … they get the puck to the net, come hard on the forecheck, but we were ready to play that type of speed.”