Bedford boys hockey leaves no doubt in win over Trinity in D1 championship

MANCHESTER - The Bedford High School boys hockey team went into Saturday's Division I championship game with something to prove.

Not just that it was the best team in the division this season, but that the first time the Bulldogs faced Trinity wasn't indicative of who they were this season.

No. 3 Bedford not only proved its point, it did so emphatically, scoring four goals in a little more than seven-minute span in the second period on the way to a 7-0 win over the No. 5 Pioneers at SNHU Arena. The title is Bedford's third in D1 in the last four years and sixth overall.

Parker Roberto had a hat trick, with all three goals coming in the second period, and added two assists while Jack Sylvain had a goal and two assists and Cameron Wasylak also scored a goal and an assist, as Bedford (17-3-1) dominated throughout, outshooting Trinity 42-17 and avenging a 5-4 overtime loss during the regular season.

"I think it was just a lot of anger from the previous game we played against them," Roberto said. "We really wanted to show them it was a huge fluke. I think what pushed us forward was the first goal, it really got us started, built our confidence, and the rest of the team just started to put it together."

Quinlan Kerr and Alexander Lobdell also had a goal apiece for the Bulldogs and Shea Guimont made 17 saves while Jake Sanclemente had two assists and Parker Joyce, Brett Niland and William Scott had one assist apiece.

"The kids came out strong and they put a lot of shots on net quickly," Bedford coach Marty Myers said. "They did a good job limiting Trinity to a handful of shots in the first period.

"We wanted to put pressure on at least two of their guys at all times, the puck carrier and the one we thought they’d go to, which was either the wall guy or the center guy. We wanted to put an aggressive forecheck on them and turnover pucks in the offensive zone so we could get quick chances."

Trinity (14-6-1) got the first quality chance of the game, when the Pioneers ended up with a two-on-one break. A shot by Cadin Booth beat Guimont but rang off the crossbar and bounced away.

The Bulldogs finally broke through at 12:57 of the first period, when Trinity goalie Ryan Brewitt (35 saves) stopped an initial shot by Roberto. But the rebound went right back to Roberto, who hesitated before sending a pass out front to Kerr, who sent a shot through Brewitt's five hole for a 1-0 lead.

"We felt OK after one," Trinity coach Mike Connell said. "We’ve been doing that all year and we’ll get into it now. They banged in those two quick ones, and you could kind of feel it a little bit, but even at that point, there’s still plenty of time to go."

Roberto scored his first goal 23 seconds into the second period, and then got his second a minute later, making it 3-0 Bedford. The Pioneers seemed to get some like when the Bulldogs' Owen Roberto was called for a slash, but Bedford killed off the penalty, and a minute later, Wasylak buried a rebound on a shot by Niland to make it 4-0.

Parker Roberto completed the hat trick just 1:14 later and Bedford led 5-0 with 7:13 left in the second period.

"We got a couple of quick ones and I think that with the philosophy of getting the puck to the net and getting the second shot kind of help us a little bit," Myers said. "Parker’s game is always good. He always gives us a good game and a great effort. Him being a senior this year, it was no surprise on his effort that he gave (Saturday) and his production."

Bedford took three more penalties in the second period, as Trinity played with at least a man-advantage for much of the remainder of the period. But the Pioneers were unable to take advantage and finished the game 0 for 5 on the power play.

Sylvain scored 46 seconds into the third period to make it 6-0 and Lobdell sent the game into running time with his goal just 49 seconds after that.