Bedford comes back again to beat Merrimack in D2 hockey final

MANCHESTER – Call them the comeback kids.

For the third time in the postseason, the Bedford High School boys hockey team fell behind in the first period. For the third time, the Bulldogs regrouped in the second period and won.

No. 3 Bedford fell behind 1-0 in the first period of Saturday’s Division II hockey final, but scored three times in the second on the way to a 5-2 win over No. 2 Merrimack at the Verizon Wireless Arena.

Chris O’Hara scored two goals, including a shorthanded one to start the third period that put game away, while Stevan Tempesta made 23 saves to lead the Bulldogs (16-3-2) to their second consecutive division championship.

“You can’t under estimate experience and coming here last year was a great experience for me and the kids,” Bedford coach Marty Myers said. “Having that last year gave us a big advantage, I thought.

“After the first period, we didn’t panic. Obviously, we were down one, but we were playing well. No need to push the panic button. Having 10 seniors on the team certainly gives us some experience.”

Bedford also got goals from Kurt Mitchell, Chris Viola and Neil Soucy, who all scored in the second period, as the Bulldogs beat Merrimack (18-3) for the third time this season.

“To beat Bedford, you’ve got to give a 45-minute effort and we had a mental lapse for about 10 of that,” Merrimack coach Kurt Mithoefer said. “In that time period, they did their damage and we couldn’t rebound. We hit a couple of posts and Tempesta made some big saves, saves that other goalies weren’t making.”

Merrimack got two goals from Connor Powell, including the first goal of the game just 2:22 into the opening period.

Powell managed to find his way behind the Bedford defense and Josh Roy slipped a pass to his teammate on the doorstep. Tempesta made the first save, but Powell flipped the rebound over the goal for the game’s first score.

It was the start Merrimack wanted, but the Tomahawks verged from their plan after the first 15 minutes.

“First period, we did a great job of dumping in and putting pressure on them,” Mithoefer said. “That was kind of the game plan. We took care of business in the first period. In the second period, I don’t know if we got comfortable or we sat back or what. Third period, we tried to get back to it.”

With the Bulldogs in such a familiar position, Myers wasn’t worrying when his team went into the first intermission trailing.

“I thought the guys were very tight,” he said. “They were excited, but once we got that first period behind us, the kids settled down and played the way we normally play.

“Going in between periods, one of the things we wanted to do was bring up our shot count. Any time you face (Merrimack’s Brett) Glendye, he’s a great goalie, and we wanted to put the shot count up on him. We did, that’s for sure.”

Bedford outshot Merrimack 18-5 in the second period and tied the game on Mitchell’s goal 1:13 into the second.

“I’m not the fastest skater and I don’t know how I split those defensemen, but there was no hole and I just kind of pushed it in,” Mitchell said. “We’ve been playing all playoffs down. They’re not used to being down, so we had to get on top.”

The Bulldogs got on top 66 seconds later, on Viola’s goal, a shot up high that just made it under the cross bar and seemed to surprise Glendye (28 saves). Soucy made it 3-1 with 3:50 left in the period.

“Going into the second period, we knew we had to come out flying and we had to come out harder than they did,” O’Hara said. “We were frantic in the first period, but the second period, that’s our period. We took the momentum away from them.”

O’Hara gave Bedford all the momentum it needed to start the third, scoring a shorthanded goal 2:40 into the period to make it 4-1. Powell scored his second goal of the game less than a minute later, but the ’Hawks couldn’t get any closer and O’Hara added an empty net goal with 1:25 to play.

“It’s a big game, we’re up and the crowd is into it,” Mithoefer said. “They get one and you hang your head a little bit. They get another quick one and you hang your head a little more. It’s just an avalanche worth of emotions.”

Bedford was able to control its emotions, knowing that Merrimack could come back at any moment.

“A team like Merrimack, they put pucks in nets in the blink of an eye,” Myers said. “Even thought we started to pull away, we knew they could come back at anytime. They’re that skilled and they’ve got an explosive offense. They have very talented kids.

“(The shorthanded goal) was the turning point for us emotionally. Seeing players work hard all the time is helpful, but having a player that does that, that’s an adrenaline shot for sure.”