Strong start by Somersworth dooms Alvirne

TYNGSBORO – Brian Gould called the Somersworth High School boys hockey team the best team in Division III.

The Hilltoppers showed why on Saturday.

Somersworth scored six times in the first period against Gould’s Alvirne team and left Skate 3 with a 7-2 win over the Broncos. The Hilltoppers (10-0) remain the only undefeated team in the division and now have a two-game lead in the loss column over Alvirne (8-2) and Belmont-Gilford (9-2).

“These guys are definitely the class of Division III right now,” Gould said. “I thought the first three shifts of the game, we skated with them, and then they scored the first goal and we kind of backed down. The overall game, we came back and played hard for two periods after that. That first period killed us.”

Petter Bulting had two goals and four assists for the Hilltoppers while Steve Wolf and Jaret Canney each had two goals and an assist. Colby Seiring also had a goal for Somersworth. Ben Dutil had both goals for Alvirne, one each in the second and third periods.

Wolf started the scoring at 3:48 of the first period and Canney made it 2-0 less than 90 seconds later. The Broncos were able to hold off Somersworth for a few moments, but Bulting made it 3-0 with his first goal at 9:59 of the first.

The Hilltoppers scored three more times over the final five minutes of the period, including Seiring’s goal with just 25 seconds left.

“You give up four or five goals in the first period and you’re done,” Gould said. “I don’t know of anybody that can come back from that.

“We didn’t forecheck them at all. I told them at the beginning of the game, we’ve got to press these guys, and everybody sat back in that first period. In the second period, we came out and forechecked more. If you can forecheck a good team, you can cause them to make mistakes in their own zone.”

Wolf got his second of the game at 4:32 of the second period to make it 7-0 and, despite Dutil’s first goal at 8:17 of the middle frame, the game was set for running time in the final period. Somersworth coach James Canney knew he had to help his team get there.

“I called a timeout in the second period, late in the period,” he said. “We were shorthanded and I wanted to keep that margin so we keep that running time. The score says it was easy, but I wasn’t comfortable. That’s a good team. I think if we played them again, the score wouldn’t necessarily be like that.”

The only that would happen is for Alvirne and Somersworth to meet in the Division III playoffs.

The Broncos are back on the ice on Wednesday when they play the final of three straight home games against John Stark.