WOODSTOCK — The Woodstock High boys hockey program’s two-year state championship run came to an abrupt end on Wednesday night, but not for a lack of effort — or opportunity, for that matter.

Senior Joseph McCoy’s second goal of the game, on a 5-on-3 wrist shot with 1:41 left in regulation, gave seventh-ranked Burr & Burton a 3-2 upset of the Wasps in a VPA Division II quarterfinal at a packed Union Arena on Wednesday.

BBA (13-8-1), which played a scoreless tie with and sustained a 1-0 loss to Woodstock (15-4-2) in the regular season, made the most of its few chances on an evening when the Wasps largely left theirs wanting.

The Bulldogs twice rallied from one-goal deficits, once with a shorthanded tally, before exploiting a pair of late Woodstock penalties.

“I thought the effort was there; it’s just a playoff game, and it can go either way,” Woodstock coach Jon Chamberlin said. “The puck can bounce any way. They capitalized on every one of our mistakes, and we should have seen a few more go in.”

BBA goaltender Ethan Simonds shook off a suspect second Woodstock goal to make 26 saves in a winning effort.

Woodstock netminder Henry Geene had 16 stops.

The teams spent the opening period playing dump-and-chase — frequently thump-and-chase — hockey in search of possession or position. The latter led to Woodstock’s opening goal at 12:57 of the first period.

The Wasps’ Andrew Gubbins won a faceoff to the left of Simonds, which wing Owen Coates pushed back to Evan Kurash at the blue line.

The defenseman’s attempted slapshot came out more of a knuckleball, but it was effective enough to elude the screened Simonds on his stick side.

Given the Wasps and Bulldogs combined for all of one goal in 95 minutes of regular-season play, Kurash’s goal had the potential to decide the night. It didn’t.

Despite drawing four middle-stanza minors and giving the Wasps nearly a minute of two-man advantages, Burr & Burton leveled the contest at the 9:27 mark.

Rushing to pressure a Woodstock skater at the left point, McCoy poked the puck into open space well beyond the Wasps’ defense, won the race to it and beat Henry Greene’s glove to lock the contest at 1-1.

“That changed the game completely,” Chamberlin said.

Woodstock regained the lead 4:12 into the third period when Gubbins fed Coates for a high-slot writer that slipped through Simonds’ glove.

The miscue was quickly erased when senior Johnny Miceli fired home a one-timer on a pass from his younger brother, Nicky, just 41 seconds later.

Beneficiaries of multiple power plays through the first 30 minutes, the Wasps gave BBA its opportunity with back-to-back minors to Charles Greene (tripping) and Trevor White (cross-checking) inside the game’s final 3½ minutes.

McCoy took a right-boards pass from Nicky Miceli for the game-winning goal, scored with two seconds left on the visitors’ 5-on-3.

“We’ve been on an extraordinary run,” Chamberlin noted. “My seniors turned this program around. They’ve been with me since day one, and they’ve built something huge here. I hate that they go out on a note like this, but this run can’t last forever.”

Ice Chips: Chamberlin said before the game that junior Tom Bissaillon is coming along well from a significant knee injury and will hopefully be able to resume unencumbered athletic activities in June. Bissaillon’s injury cost him most of the Woodstock boys soccer season and all of the hockey campaign. … Simonds, when not helmeted, rocked a mighty impressive mullet. … Woodstock was 0-for-7 on the man-up, including 0-for-2 with two-skater advantages. … The Wasps, who went 53-6-6 the past three years while winning back-to-back D-II state crowns, graduate Coates, White, Henry Greene, Nathaniel Kennedy, Michael Cimis and Dylan DeSchamp, who attends Windsor High.

Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.