The No. 11 Broncos, who have won 10 of their last 13 games, led for most of the game Merrimack’s Tyler Gendron tied it at 48 on a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left. Gendron finished with 23 points and Dimitri Floras added 16 for the No. 6 Tomahawks, who lost to a lower seed in the first round for the second straight year.

Caleb Donnelly led Alvirne with 21 points and Sean Dunn added 12 for the Broncos, who will take on No. 3 Manchester Memorial in the quarterfinals on Friday. Memorial crushed No. 14 Manchester West 88-35 to advance.

Top-seeded Bishop Guertin also moved on with a 63-51 win over No. 16 Concord. Sean McClung had 12 points to lead the Cardinals, while Connor Green and Joe McCarthy each had 11.

Bishop Guertin will take on No. 8 Spaulding in the quarterfinals on Friday. The Red Raiders held off rival Dover for a 46-38 win in the preliminary round.

Both Nashua North and South saw their seasons come to an end.

Despite getting 16 points from Mike O’Connor and 15 from Anthony Farmer, the No. 12 Titans fell at the hands of No. 5 Salem, 58-40.

Salem will now face No. 4 Manchester Central, which knocked off No. 13 South, 59-42. Anthony Muccioli scored 21 points for the Panthers in the loss.

No. 7 Londonderry blew a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter, but still held off No. 10 Pinkerton 55-53 to advance to the quarterfinals. The Lancers will face No. 2 Trinity, which defeated No. 15 Exeter 58-27.

All quarterfinals are scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m. at the home of the higher seed.

Girls hockey

The Bishop Guertin girls hockey team had its season ended by Hanover for the second-straight year, as the No. 5 Cardinals lost to the top-seeded Marauders 4-1 in Tuesday’s semifinal. Taylor Hadley had the only goal of the game for Bishop Guertin, which lost to Hanover in the championship game a year ago.

Hanover (17-0) will take on No. 3 Oyster River in the final on Sunday. The Bobcats defeated No. 2 Lebanon 3-1 to earn their first trip to the championship game.

Great week for Alvirne

First, the girls basketball team upset No. 3 Pinkerton in the Division I quarterfinals last Friday. Then the boys hockey team got a rare playoff win on Saturday by shutting out Kearsarge. The boys basketball team added Tuesday’s upset of Merrimack, and there’s a chance the week could get better Wednesday.

The girls basketball team will take on No. 2 Londonderry in the semifinals, starting at 5:30 at Southern New Hampshire University, while the boys hockey team faces No. 3 Kennett in the Division III semifinals, also at 5:30 at Concord’s Everett Arena.

Technorati Tags: Alvirne, Bishop Guertin, boys basketball, Division I, girls hockey, Merrimack, Nashua North, Nashua South, playoffs

The Warriors (11-9) held a lead after the first quarter, and were down one going into the fourth, but Newmarket (19-1) went on a run to open the quarter and take a nine-point lead. W-L got it back down to five, but couldn’t get any closer, as the Mules made 13 free throws in the fourth.

Aaron Davis and Steven Heck each had 11 points for the Warriors, while Ryan Burke and AJ Gersky had nine apiece. Newmarket was led by Adrian Edgerly, who had 22 points – 15 of which came at the free throw line.

The Mules will face No. 4 Lisbon, which defeated No. 5 Colebrook 58-57, in the semifinals on Tuesday.

Girls hockey

Emily Doran put home a rebound in overtime to give No. 5 Bishop Guertin a 5-4 victory over No. 4 St. Thomas/Dover in the quarterfinals of the Division I girls hockey tournament.

Sabrina Dobbins made 40 saves for the Cardinals (8-6-3) while Kayla Lambert had two goals and Morgan Enos and Lauren Dupont had one each.

Bishop Guertin will now face No. 1 Hanover in the semifinals on Tuesday.

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Bishop Guertin will host Manchester Memorial in the Division preliminary round on Wednesday.

The high school boys and girls hockey playoffs get underway Wednesday, starting with the Division I boys preliminary round, and seven area teams will be participating.

Bishop Guertin and Nashua North both advanced to the Division I playoffs, while Merrimack and Bedford are in in Division II and Alvirne and Hollis/Brookline are in the Division III tournament. The Bishop Guertin girls are also in the postseason for the second straight year.

Division I

Bishop Guertin (11-4-1) is the fifth seeded, missing out on a first-round bye, and the Cardinals will play in the preliminary round on Wednesday. Bishop Guertin will host No. 12 Manchester Memorial (6-11-1) at 6:50 p.m. at Skate 3 in Tyngsborough. The teams met once during the regular season, with the Cardinals winning 5-2 on Jan. 5.

The winner will face No. 4 Bishop Brady (12-5-1) in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

Also on that side of the bracket, No. 8 Exeter (9-7-2) will host No. 9 Manchester Central (8-10) at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. The winner of that game will take on No. 1 seed Trinity (14-3-1) in the quarterfinals.

North (5-9-2) is the 10th seed and will play at No. 7 Londonderry (10-8) at 8 p.m. on Wednesday. The Lancers won the only regular-season meeting between the two, 7-1 on Feb. 19.

The winner will take on No. 2 Pinkerton (13-2-2) in the quarterfinals.

No. 6 Concord (12-6) will host No. 11 St. Thomas (6-10-1) in the preliminary round, with the winner facing No. 3 Hanover (11-4) in the quarterfinals.

The semifinals will be held on March 9 at the JFK Coliseum in Manchester, starting at 5:30 p.m, and the final will take place on March 13 at 4:30 p.m. at the Verizon Wireless Arena.

Division II

Merrimack (16-1-1) captured the No. 1 seed in the division and will host No. 8 Bedford (7-9-1), which won in its final game of the season to get in the playoffs. The quarterfinal game will be held at 4:15 p.m. on Saturday at the JFK Coliseum. Merrimack won both regular-season games, beating Bedford 4-3 on Jan. 6 and 7-3 on Feb. 16.

The winner will take on the winner of No. 4 Bow (9-6-3) and No. 5 Keene (9-7-2) in the semifinals on March 9 at the Rinks in Exeter at 7:30 p.m.

Dover (12-5) is the No. 2 seed and will host No. 7 Goffstown (8-8-2) in the quarterfinals. The winner of that game will get the winner of No. 3 Oyster River (10-6-2) and No. 6 Spaulding (10-8) in the other semifinal on March 9.

The final is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on March 13 at the Verizon Wireless Arena.

Division III

Alvirne (15-3) is the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will host No. 7 Kearsarge (10-8) in the quarterfinals Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Skate 3. The Broncos won both games between the two teams this season, beating the Cougars 3-2 on Dec. 20 and 4-3 on Feb. 9.

The winner will take on the winner of No. 3 Kennett (13-3-1) and No. 6 Hollis/Brookline (11-6) in the semifinals on March 9 at 5:30 p.m. at Everett Arena in Concord. Kennett will host the Cavaliers at 4 p.m. on Saturday in the quarterfinals, and the Eagles won the long regular-season game between the two 3-2.

Somersworth (18-0) is the No. 1 seed and the Hilltoppers will host No. 8 John Stark (10-8) in the quarterfinals on Saturday. THe winner will face either No. 4 Belmont-Gilford (14-3-1) or No. 5 Pelham-Windham (12-5) in the semifinals.

The final is scheduled for 12:15 p.m. March 13 at the Verizon Wireless Arena.

Division I girls

Bishop Guertin (7-6-3) enters as the tournament’s fifth seed and will play at St. Thomas-Dover (10-5-1) in the quarterfinals on Friday at 3 p.m. The winner will take on No. 1 Hanover (16-0) in the semifinals on March 8 at 7:30 p.m. at Everett Arena in Concord.

No. 3 Oyster River (11-5) and No. 6 Concord (6-8-2) will play in the other quarterfinal, with the winner facing No. 2 Lebanon (11-5) in the semifinals.

The final will be held at 10 a.m. on March 13 at the Verizon Wireless Arena.

Technorati Tags: Alvirne, Bedford, Bishop Guertin, boys hockey, Brookline, Division I, Division II, Division III, girls hockey, Hollis, Merrimack, Nashua North

BG's Kayla Lambert, left, and Meghan Turner were named to the Division I girls all-state first team

Four hockey players, two boys and two girls, from Bishop Guertin High School were named to the New Hampshire All-State first team in their respective divisions.

BG’s Meghan Turner and Kayla Lambert were chosen to the Division I girls first team and coach Myia Yates was named Coach of the Year, while Greg Girtatos and Austin Carto were selected for the Division I boys first team.

Souhegan’s Ben Rafferty was also honored with Division III first-team status and Ed Viola was named the Division III Coach of the Year.

In all, 12 local players were honored with All-State status.

Bishop Guertin

• Greg Girtatos, senior, forward, Division I boys first team.
• Austin Carto, senior, defenseman, Division I boys first team.
• Josh Dobbins, senior, goalie, Division I boys second team.
• TJ Bond, senior, forward, Division I boys honorable mention.
• Meghan Turner, sophomore, forward, Division I girls first team.
• Kayla Lambert, junior, defenseman, Division I girls first team.

Merrimack

• Tyler Caron, junior, forward, Division II boys second team.
• Erik Glendye, junior, forward, Division II boys honorable mention.

Nashua North

• David Thorp, junior, goalie, Division I boys honorable mention

Souhegan

• Ben Rafferty, senior, defenseman, Division III boys first team
• Quinn Carroll, sophomore, forward, Division III boys second team.
• Erik Hayden, junior, goalie, Division III boys honorable mention.

Technorati Tags: awards, Bishop Guertin, boys hockey, girls hockey, Merrimack, Nashua North, Souhegan

The Cardinals outshot the Marauders in the early going, but couldn’t get any of them past Hanover goalie Emily Eickhoff. The Marauders were also able to shutdown Meghan Turner and Taylor Hadley, two of the Cardinals’ top offensive threats.

Bishop Guertin's Meghan Turner tries to find space between two Hanover players during Saturday's championship game.

Technorati Tags: Bishop Guertin, Division I, girls hockey, playoffs

Megan Turner and Lauren Dupont added a goal each for the No. 2 Cardinals, who will take on top-seeded Hanover in the championship game on Saturday.

The playoff win was the first for BG since girls hockey became a sanctioned sport by the NHIAA, and the title game appearance will also be a program first.

Hadley’s first goal of the game broke a 1-1 in the second period and came off a 2-on-1 break with Turner. Hadley added the insurance goal, also in the second period, that put the Cards up by two goals.

Turner scored the game’s first goal at the 4:48 mark of the first period, giving BG a 1-0 lead before the Bobcats tied it three minutes later. Dupont scored what proved to be the game-winner with just under eight minutes left in the second period.

The Cardinals will face No. 1 Hanover, which defeated Lebanon 4-1. The teams played twice this season, with both games ending in 4-4 ties.

For more on Tuesday’s game, go here or here.

Technorati Tags: Bishop Guertin, girls hockey, playoffs

All that’s at stake is a spot in the Division I championship game.

As the No. 2 seed, the Cardinals got a bye into the semifinal round, which means they haven’t faced another team since Feb. 27. BG will take on No. 6 Oyster River, which upset No. 3 Concord in the quarterfinals, at 5:30 p.m. at the Everett Arena in Concord.

The teams played twice during the regular season, splitting the two games.

Here’s a closer look at the game, and a look at how the program started.

Technorati Tags: Bishop Guertin, Division I, girls hockey, playoffs

Unlike Class L and I girls basketball, all of the high school hockey teams will have a few days to prepare for their first opponents. The Division I boys preliminary round starts Wednesday, while the Division I girls quarterfinals are on Friday. The Division II and III boys quarterfinals begin Saturday.

In Division I, the Bishop Guertin boys are once again the top seeded team after finishing the regular season 12-2-2. The Cardinals earned a bye in the preliminary round and will start the playoffs in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

Who they’ll face will be determined Wednesday, as the winner of No. 8 Manchester Central (11-7-1) and No. 9 Nashua North (6-9-1) will take on BG. The Little Green and the Titans will play Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the JFK Coliseum in Manchester.

Merrimack (11-7) enters the Division II tournament as the No. 5 seed and will play at No. 4 Timberlane (11-6-1) on Saturday at 4 p.m. The Tomahawks defeated the Owls twice this season, including a 4-3 win last Thursday that ended Merrimack’s six-game losing streak.

If Souhegan is to make it to a fifth-straight Division III final, it will have to win a playoff game on the road. The No. 5 Sabers (12-6) will travel to face No. 4 John Stark (12-5-1) on Saturday.

Also in Division III, Hollis/Brookline (9-8-1) enters the tournament as the seventh seed and will take on No. 2 Bedford (16-2) at the Tri-Town Arena in Hooksett on Saturday at 4 p.m.

On the girls side, Bishop Guertin (11-3-2) is the No. 2 seed an earned a bye into the Division I semifinals. The Cardinals will play the winner of No. 3 Concord and No. 6 Oyster River on March 9 at 5:30 p.m. at Everett Arena in Concord.

Technorati Tags: boys hockey, girls hockey, playoffs

This week’s plays come from a mixture of basketball and hockey games, all of which came down to a key moment when either team had the chance to pull out victory (or in some cases, a tie). So, in order by date:

• Meghan Turner’s third-period goal that gave Bishop Guertin a lead in Monday’s game against Hanover. The teams combined for six goals (three each) in the first period and none in the second before Turner’s goal with 11:33 left in the third. After a turnover at center ice, Turner got in to the Hanover zone alone and got goalie Emily Eickhoff to commit low before flipping the puck over her right shoulder for a 4-3 BG lead. The Cardinals and Marauders ended up skating to a 4-4 tie.
• Mike Mitchell’s two free throws for Milford with 13.8 seconds left in a game at Bedford on Tuesday. Mitchell made a lot of great plays in the third quarter to help the Spartans build a 12-point lead. But with 13.8 seconds left in the game, Milford was only up one – on the road, in front of a raucous crowd – when Mitchell went to the line. He sank both, forcing Bedford to take a 3 just to tie the game. Milford went on to win 50-47.
• Tyler Caron scores from the ice to help Merrimack stay undefeated. The Tomahawks led Kingswood Regional, 4-0, with  12:55 remaining in the second period, and then watched as the Knights battled back and tied the game 34.4 seconds before intermission. Locked in a 4-4 tie, Caron scored the go-ahead goal on a power play with 11:30 left. He finished off the win with 4:25 remaining when the puck caromed awkwardly off the boards right to the front of the net. Kingswood goalie Matt Boucher couldn’t handle the bounce and Caron dove in front to poke the puck past Boucher. Caron’s teammates piled on top of him and Merrimack left with a 6-4 win.
• Dimitri Floras ends the first half of Merrimack’s win over Bishop Guertin with a dunk. It’s fairly uncommon to see a dunk in a high school game in New Hampshire. It’s even more uncommon to see a freshman do it, but Floras showed in Friday night’s game that he’s not an ordinary freshman. With Merrimack up double digits as the first half came to a close, Floras had an uncontested lane to the basket and slammed it home. He added a few more nifty drives in the fourth quarter to help preserve the 58-55 win, but none like his first-half dunk.

Technorati Tags: Bishop Guertin, boys basketball, boys hockey, girls hockey, Merrimack, Milford

Bishop Guertin and Hanover helped prove that on Monday.

The Cardinals had leads of 2-0 and 3-1 in the first period, along with a 4-3 lead early in the third, but the Marauders battled back to earn a 4-4 tie in a game at Skate 3. Both teams sit at 5-2-1 on the season, two of six teams that have at least five wins at the halfway point.

“We played well and we just kept fighting,” BG coach Myia Yates said “We kept coming at them but they kept coming at us. It was a great game, great back-and-forth.

“That’s what is so great about our league right now. Everyone is so competitive and anyone can beat anyone on any given day.”

Except for this particular regular-season game, even though the Cardinals received two goals and two assists from Meghan Turner and 31 saves from goalie Christiana Carlini. Taylor Hadley added a goal and an assist while Mikaila Petrillo chipped in with a goal and Emily Doran had an assist.

Hanover was led by Tessa Hill, who had a goal and a helper, while Madison Dewhirst, Courtney Mayers and Madison Hill also scored.

Madison Hill’s goal with 6:24 left in the third period sent the game into overtime after Turner scored on a breakaway early in the period to give BG a 4-3 lead.

Tuner helped get the Cardinals on the board first while the Marauders were on the power play. The sophomore streaked down the left side of the ice with the puck and drew the defense toward her before flipping it to Hadley on the right side of the net for the shorthanded tally.

BG went up 2-0 when Petrillo gathered a long rebound near the blue line and sent the puck past Hanover goalie Emily Eickhoff, but the Marauders answered less than a minute later when Dewhirst scored on a rush.

The Cardinals went back up by two when Turner picked the puck out of a scrum in front of the net and knocked it past Eickhoff. But Hanover rallied again, getting goals from Mayers and Tessa Hill, who scored with 30 seconds left in the period, to tie the game at 3.

“It was good being up two, but we can’t let down,” Yates said. “I think we let up a little bit in our defensive zone coverage. We were giving them a little too much room to attack.”

That’s where it stood through the second period. BG was shorthanded for nearly five minutes in the period, including a 5-on-3 for Hanover that lasted 1:17.

But the Cardinals held on each penalty kill, holding the Marauders without a shot during the two-man advantage.

“We played hard and we played with heart, especially in that second period where we were down 5-on-3,” Yates said. “We were able to kill that and Hanover didn’t capitalize on it.”

Turner put BG back on top with 11:33 left in the third period with a breakaway goal. After forcing a turnover at center ice, she skated in alone and when Eickhoff committed down low, Turner tossed the puck over her right shoulder for a 4-3 lead.

Hanover got another 5-on-3 with 6:25 to play and this time capitalized. Madison Hill beat Carlini to her glove side to tie the game, but the BG goalie came up big from there. Carlini made another big save during the remaining power play and came up with a few more toward the end of overtime to preserve the tie.

“She played real strong,” Yates said of Carlini. “In the second and third period, she really picked us up and kept us in the game.”

The Cardinals return to the ice on Sunday against Souhegan at the Cyclones Arena in Hudson.

Technorati Tags: Bishop Guertin, Division I, girls hockey, Hanover