CONCORD — The perennial powerhouse of NHIAA Division I girls’ hockey, Hanover High, is headed back to the state championship game after defeating Bishop Brady-Trinity-Bow, 4-1, in a semifinal matchup at Everett Arena on Tuesday night.
After a slow start, the No. 8 seed Bears rounded into form, thanks in large part to the connection between sophomore Pauline Rudd and junior Casey Wilkinson.
The duo accounted for three of Hanover’s goals, with Rudd finding the back of the net twice, each on an assist from Wilkinson. The junior also lit the lamp, and Rudd assisted her.
“Pauline and I have such good chemistry, on and off the ice, I mean, she’s such a great teammate,” Wilkinson said. “She moves the puck well, and I think it showed in this game.”
In addition to the offense from the Bears’ dynamic duo, sophomore Abigale Lindsay also scored, assisted by freshman Sally Gaughan.
The No. 5 seed Falcons, who were drubbed by the Bears, 8-2, in a regular season meeting on Feb. 21, came out in the first period determined not to take that kind of beating again.
They took an early lead about 4 ½ minutes into the first period on a shot from freshman Bridget Pinard off an offensive zone face-off win.
“I kind of like the fact that we had a little adversity there in the beginning, giving up that first goal,” Hanover Head Coach John Dodds said.
Referencing the previous meeting between the two teams, Dodds added: “It’s easy to let it go to your head a little bit and think you’re not going to have to work as hard, and obviously that wasn’t the case.”
While the Bears started the period in a 1-0 hole, they eventually were able to break through, with just under 3 ½ minutes left in the first frame, on Wilkinson’s goal.
Hanover wasted little time building on its lead, scoring again just over two minutes later on Lindsay’s goal after she put a loose puck around the crease past Falcons’ freshman netminder Reese Skoglund.
While the Bears took the lead in the first period, they seized control of the game in the second. Hanover extended its lead to 3-1 under 20 seconds into the frame on Rudd’s first goal.
Although Hanover would not add another goal in the second period, it owned possession of the puck. The Falcons had so little time with the puck that they didn’t even register a shot on goal in the period.
“Our defense — they play a solid game, and we try to teach them to be really aggressive to keep pucks in whenever we have a high forward there — they’re allowed to pinch,” Dodds said. “They do a good job of keeping pucks in, and they also do a good job of jumping into plays.”
The third period was pretty much academic as the Bears added an insurance goal on Rudd’s second of the night midway through the frame to go up 4-1.
The Falcons generated some opportunities in the contest’s final frame. Still, they were unable to break the Bears’ defense or beat their junior goaltender, Ally Mackenzie, again, sealing another state final appearance for Hanover.
This will be the Bears’ third straight state championship appearance — they’ve secured the title the last two seasons.
Despite that, Dodds isn’t talking about a three-peat with his squad.
“We’re not going to talk about consecutive because we’ve got nine freshmen on this team,” he said, adding that the message to his young squad is that they’re going to have to earn it.
“We’re going to have to play better than we did today,” Dodds said. “We’re going to have some good hard practices — we’ll be ready Saturday.”
The Bears will meet No. 3 seed Oyster River-Portsmouth in a rematch of the final of the last two seasons. The squads met twice in the regular season, with Hanover taking both wins.
The NHIAA Division I girls’ hockey state championship is set for Saturday at SNHU Arena at a time to be announced.