Pinkerton girls hockey starts strong and holds off Bedford

GOFFSTOWN - Scott Dunn felt with the way the Pinkerton Academy girls hockey team had been playing and practicing, the Astros could jump on Bedford early during Saturday's game.

Pinkerton was able to do just that, but what have been more important for the team's long-term fortunes was the way it finished.

The Astros scored twice in the game's first four minutes and held off a furious third-period charge by the Bulldogs before pulling away for a 7-3 win in Division I action.

Freshman Jordan Wasiejko had three goals and two assists and Kelsey Levesque had two goals and an assist while goalie Alexis Skafas came up with several big stops in the third to help Pinkerton (3-7) pick up the win. After starting the year with five straight losses, the Astros, who are in their first season as a varsity program, have won three of five.

"We had a good week of practice this week," Dunn said. "They were highly motivated. They were giving effort all week. Because of that, we were looking at this outcome, we were pretty confident about it. We had a good game plan. We clamped down on (Bedford’s) defense because we know they’re their best players, and it was a good result."

Lauren Riviere also had a goal and an assist for Pinkerton while Spencer St. Pierre scored and Molly Fahey had an assist.

Bedford (3-9) got three goals from Madison Lucontoni, with Kendall Cassidy, Danielle Lucey and Elizabeth Shatney each recording an assist.

But the goals by Wasiejko and Levesque just 34 seconds apart in the first period were too much for Bedford to overcome.

"We have a strategy that we want to start quick," Dunn said. "We want to get the puck deep, we want to forecheck, we want to pin their defense and get that opportunity early. It’s a momentum swing. You get those first two, a lot of times, the other team, the air comes out of them. Bedford though, I’ve got to give them credit, they really fought and never quit. You want that momentum and it worked for us."

It was still 2-0 at the start of the second period, but Wasiejko made it a three-goal lead at 4:07 of the period.

"It’s really helpful," Riviere said. "When you have that lead, you get the momentum going and you’re really excited to keep going. It really gets you motivated."

Lucontoni answered with her first goal just 38 seconds later to get the Bulldogs on the board, but three minutes later, Wasiejko capitalized on a Bedford turnover next to its goal for her third score of the game and a 4-1 lead.

St. Pierre made it 5-1 when she deflected Riviere's shot from the blue line past Bedford goalie Hanna Paradis with 5:50 left in the period. But the Bulldogs would get it back, as Lucontoni scored just four seconds into the first power play of the game, making it 5-2 at the end of the second.

That goal gave Bedford some momentum going into the third, and the Bulldogs were able to control possession early in the period.

"Our first shift came off and said that’s the worst shift they’ve had," Dunn said. "They needed to step up their game. (Bedford) was putting pressure on us and getting shots."

Lucontoni had the majority of those opportunities, backhanding a shot off the post early in the period, and the senior put three quality shots on goal on one possession, but Skafas came up with a save on each. After the third, Lucontoni was able to get the rebound and this time beat Skafas to make it 5-3 with 6:02 remaining.

Pinkerton had a chance to go back up by four, but Hannah Feldman, who relieved Paradis to start the third, made a pad save on Levesque, and Lucontoni ended up with the puck going the other way. All alone with Skafas, Lucontoni flipped the puck over the sprawling goaltender, but it hit the crossbar and settled in the crease.

Moments later Levesque buried a rebound for Pinkerton to make it 6-3 and Riviere added an empty-net goal with seven seconds left to finish off the scoring.

Pinkerton returns to the ice on Wednesday when it heads to Kingswood at 7:10 p.m., while Bedford travels to face Bishop Guertin on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.