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WATERVILLE — Messlonskee’s Alex Beckwith was at the right place at the right time.

The senior skated into the slot and redirected a shot by Peyton Henning from the left point into the net late in the first period to give the Eagles a 1-0 win over John Bapst/Hermon/Bangor Christian in a Class B North boys hockey semifinal Saturday at Colby College’s Jack Kelley Rink.

The top-seeded Eagles advance to the regional final and will face No. 3 Hampden/Ellsworth/MDI/Nokomis at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Alfond Arena in Orono.

Beckwith, who has 24 goals this season, said the front of the net is the place where he likes to camp out.

“Well, that really is my area,” Beckwith said. “I get a lot of my goals from over there, and I just angle it perfectly.”

He was in the perfect spot to redirect Henning’s shot.

“Honestly, I kind of blacked out a little bit there,” Henning said. “I was really hoping it would get tipped in, and obviously it did by Alex.”

The teams split during the regular season. Messalonskee won 3-1 on Jan. 31, and fifth-seeded John Bapst earned a 3-2 decision on Feb. 4.

“We knew we had to come out and play hard,” Henning said.

The Eagles, ranked No. 2 the Varsity Maine poll, avenged a 3-1 loss to John Bapst in the regional final last season.

“It feels good when you knock them out,” Beckwith said. “We gave them the same feeling they gave us last year.”

John Bapst coach Kodi Legassie said goaltender Cam Leighton (23 saves) gave the club a chance.

“We were one bounce away,” Legassie said. “We were even neck-and-neck throughout the entire game. We really thought we dominated the majority of the game. We couldn’t get the bounce, that’s all. Our goalie played phenomenally. Cam, he’s been lights out. We couldn’t get one in on the other end for him.”

Nathan Kirk made 12 saves for Messalonskee

The Crusaders almost got the bounce they were looking for midway through the third period when a shot deflected off Messalonskee defenseman Denny Martin, but it went wide of the net.

“Like I said, you never know when you aim something toward the net,” Messalonskee coach Dennis Martin said.