WATERVILLE — Live from Colby College, it’s Hockey Night in Waterville.

A late puck drop (10:45 p.m.). Wind and snow blowing everywhere before the game. The lights at Jack Kelley Rink occasionally dimming.

Christian Salvadori made sure this one was worth the wait — and the extra coffee many fans may have needed in order to see this one through.

Salvadori’s tie-breaking goal with 1 minute, 5 seconds remaining lifted third-seeded Messalonskee to a 5-3 win over No. 2 Cony in a Class B North boys semifinal Saturday night — well, to be technical, the game ended at 12:35 Sunday morning — at Colby’s Jack Kelley Rink. Salvadori’s winner came just seconds after Cony’s Ben Platt tied the game at 3-all.

The Eagles will face the top-seeded John Bapst co-op, a 3-0 winner over No. 5 Hampden Academy/Nokomis in the night’s first semifinal, for the regional title Wednesday in Orono.

With Colby’s men’s and women’s hockey teams hosting NESCAC playoff games earlier in the day, the high school playoff games were given the late-show treatment. After the Colby men needed two overtimes to defeat Amherst 3-2, the late show became the extremely late show.

But that didn’t stop a loud-and-proud crowd from turning out, from Cony students in their team jerseys to Messalonskee students in their orange-and-camo hunter’s gear.

“It was great,” Messalonskee coach Dennis Martin said. “That’s what playoff hockey should be all about. It was a helluva game between two good teams.”

Key moment

• After trailing 2-0 and 3-1 earlier, Cony — after pulling goalie Ryan Bourque for an extra skater — tied the game with 1:26 left when Platt’s knuckleball from the point found its way past Messalonskee goaltender Nathan Kirk. But just 19 seconds later, Salvadori responded when he took a feed from linemate Owen Kirk, barreled down the ice and wristed the puck past Bourque.

“We knew we had to just keep firing back at them” Salvadori said. “We weren’t just going to sit down and take it, so Owen just made a great pass at me, flying up the right side, and I tucked it in far right.”

Oddly enough, no assist was credited on Salvadori’s winner.

Alex Beckwith’s empty-netter with 45.7 seconds left sealed the win.

How Messalonskee did it

• Brothers Owen and Nathan Kirk were two other reasons Messalonskee won. Owen Kirk scored two first-period goals, the first coming 19 seconds into the game when he rebounded Tatum Doucette’s shot past Bourque. After a pair of Cony penalties gave Messalonskee a two-man advantage, Kirk made it 2-0 at 8:07 when he flicked the puck past Bourque from the left side of the net.

Nathan Kirk, meanwhile, made 22 saves, seven in the third period as Cony ramped up the pressure. Among his beauties were stops of point-blank shots from Jackson Wing and Cale Harrington.

“It’s all about the team game, and trying to do the little things,” Martin said. “The biggest thing we talk about it is to make the play and do whatever it takes to take a hit, give a hit, that stuff you do in playoff hockey, and that’s what the kids did.”

• Cony did not make life easy for Messalonskee. Cooper Clark scored a power-play goal in the last minute of the first period to cut the deficit to 2-1. After Messalonskee’s Tatum Doucette made it 3-1 just 40 seconds into the second on a feed from Salvadori, Cony cut the deficit to 3-2 at 7:40 on Connor Callahan’s power-play goal, assisted by Clark.

“Our kids played their hearts out,” first-year Cony coach Dan Foster said. “I’m super proud of them. They just got some bounces that we didn’t get.”

Series win

Messalonskee took the rubber match after the teams split the regular season series. Cony won 7-5 on Jan. 16 and Messalonskee took the rematch 6-5 in overtime on Feb. 1.

Tune squad

• After the clock struck midnight during the second intermission, the public-address system blared out some rock classics with a recurring theme: Eric Clapton’s “After Midnight,” the Allman Brothers Band’s “Midnight Rider” and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Midnight Special.”

Statistical leaders

• Messalonskee: Owen Kirk (2 goals), Christian Salvadori (goal, assist), Nathan Kirk (22 saves).

• Cony: Cooper Clark (goal, assist), Ryan Bourque (23 saves).

They said it

“We knew we had to grind it out (after Cony tied the game). The game wasn’t over and we still had to continue to play. We had to pick it up on the next shift and we did pretty well.” — Dennis Martin

“It was pretty cool, actually. The lights were dimming down here and there, but it was a great atmosphere. I love playoff hockey.” — Christian Salvadori

“The kids are all in there talking about what a great season they had. To end up where did in terms of our record, I’m pretty proud of that.” — Dan Foster

In other action

In the first semifinal, Will Bourgeois scored two power-play goals as the John Bapst co-op defeated Hampden/Nokomis 3-0.

Owen Marryatt added a goal and an assist for the Crusaders (18-1-1), and Nick Needham assisted on all three goals. Nate Marryatt and Sam Churchard also had assists.

Bapst goalie Max Puhlman earned the shutout.