High School Sports

March 02. 2013 11:02PM

NHIAA Boys' Hockey Tournament: Memorial burst stuns Guertin

By ROGER BROWN
New Hampshire Union Leader

Linked articles:
NHIAA Scoreboard, March 2, 2013

MANCHESTER - Manchester Memorial coach Mark Putney didn't like the look of Saturday night's first period against Bishop Guertin, but he had little to complain about after that.

After falling behind by two goals in the opening 15 minutes, Memorial dominated the final two periods and posted a 4-2 victory in the Division I quarterfinals at JFK Coliseum.

The Crusaders wrestled the lead away by scoring three goals in a 64-second span early in the second period. Sophomore Nick Burgess scored twice for top-seeded Memorial, which also received goals from Ethan Pollock and Brendan Sullivan.

"In the first period we couldn't get any offense going because we were struggling in the defensive zone," Putney said. "We were losing races to the puck. Then we starting getting pucks to the net. It was a good character test."

Goals by Matthew Blais and Fareed Farhat handed eighth-seeded BG a 2-0 lead after one period. Memorial came up empty even though it had a two-man advantage for 1:46 near the end of the first.

It didn't take the Crusaders long to get on the scoreboard in the second, however. Burgess scored his first goal 1:45 into the period, and Pollock tied the game 15 seconds later. Then Sullivan put Memorial in front, 3-2, at 2:49.

"You can't win a game playing 15 minutes," Bishop Guertin coach Gary Bishop said. "They can score in bunches - when you have skilled kids up front you can do that. That three-goal spurt could have happened in the first period."

Burgess capped the scoring when he collected his second goal at 4:13 of the third.

Junior Griffin Scanlon made 38 saves for BG, which advanced by beating Hanover, 2-1, in the first round. Memorial's Josh Jacob stopped 14 shots.

Memorial outshot BG 26-8 over the final two periods.

BG completed its season with a 9-10-1 record. Memorial improved to 15-4-0, and will face fourth-seeded St. Thomas (13-5-1) in Wednesday's semifinals at JFK. St. Thomas extended its season by beating fifth-seeded Trinity, 2-1, Saturday.

Memorial and St. Thomas split two regular-season meetings. St. Thomas won 4-3 in Manchester, and Memorial prevailed 7-4 in Dover.

"They worry me," Putney said. "In that first game we couldn't finish. We sustained pressure in the second game and were a little more fortunate. Hopefully we show up to play."