Bedford hockey blanks Goffstown

MANCHESTER – The Bedford High School boys hockey team will rely on its defense to win games when it has to.

But coach Marty Myers doesn’t mind when the Bulldogs can keep the puck in the opponent’s zone for long stretches of time.

Bedford did that, particularly in the first period Sunday, and was able to walk away with a 5-0 win over Goffstown in the second day of the Bauer Christmas Hockey Classic.

The win sets up a big game Monday for the Bulldogs, as they’ll play Hanover at 4 p.m. with the winner advancing to Tuesday’s championship game. Hanover defeated Manchester Central 6-2 in the first game of the day.

Jacob Rioux had a goal and two assists for Bedford while Colin Voloshin and Sean McGadden each had a goal and an assist. Alec Lindberg and Eric Voloshin combined to stop 18 shots, as the Bulldogs have given up just one goal all season.

“That’s where we want to be,” Myers said. “We don’t want to get into shootouts and run-and-gun with teams. We’re a very sound defensive team, we have good goaltending and good defense. We always play good team defense. That’s our philosophy is to keep them down so we don’t have to get a whole lot.”

And if the Bulldogs can control the game offensively, even better.

“The further that we play away from our net, the more I like it,” Myers said. “If we can play more in the offensive zone than the defensive zone, we like it. But when you play too much in one zone, I think the kids have a tendency to take some uncalculated risks and then you get the odd-man rushes and breakaways.”

Goffstown’s best chances came in that first period on a breakaway and a couple of odd-man rushes. Maxwell Lajeunesse had the first chance for the Grizzlies, but Lindberg was able to get a piece of the shot and turn it away.

Bedford went on the power play moments later, and Matt Giroux scored to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead at 4:25 of the period. The Bulldogs kept the pressure on for the rest of the period, with Goffstown getting a few chances on odd-man rushes.

“Our coach was happy with our offensive play and be able to suffocate them in the offensive zone, keep them trapped while their guys got tired,” Colin Voloshin said. “We were slowly able to cycle one guy out and one guy out and eventually put the puck in the net.”

The Grizzlies best chance to tie the game came with 3:22 left in the first, when a centering pass hit the back of Lindberg and landed in the crease, but the Bedford goalie was able to cover the puck.

Moments later, Jay Roberto placed a shot over the glove of Goffstown goalie Colin Holt (13 saves) into the far corner to give Bedford a 2-0 lead at 11:56 of the first. It was a lead that proved to be too much to overcome.