For a moment on Wednesday night at JFK Memorial Coliseum in Manchester, it looked like the 10th-seeded Hanover High Bears could be a team of destiny.
Trailing No. 3-seed Bishop Guertin 3-2 with less than four minutes to play in a Division I state semifinal, Hanover conjured up some more of the third-period magic that has powered their playoff run.
Senior captain Ronan Przydzielski directed a nifty back-handed pass to fellow senior Ryan Carroll, who chipped the puck past one Cardinals defender and dangled around another before beating the Bishop Guertin goalie top shelf on the glove side to tie the game with 3:40 remaining.
Days after scoring four third-period goals to upset No. 2 Trinity in the quarterfinals, it looked as though Hanover might pull off another comeback.
But it wasn’t to be. With 1:20 to play, a wrist shot from the blue line found its way through traffic and past Bears goaltender Jorgen Drent, a stalwart for the team all season who made 32 saves against 36 shots on Wednesday.
Hanover’s season ended in a 4-3 defeat, and Bishop Guertin will face Concord in Saturday’s D-I final.
Drent, a senior four-year starter, turned away multiple breakaways and uncontested attempts from the Cardinals, who outshot Hanover 2-1 for the game.
With just three seniors, Hanover Coach Dick Dodds, whose teams have appeared in the semifinals three straight seasons, relied on a number of underclassmen this season and did so again Wednesday against an older and decidedly more physical Bishop Guertin lineup.
“We were young and it showed,” Dodds said in an interview on Thursday.
Dodds said he was proud of how his team responded to the Cardinals’ initial onslaught, which included multiple body checks that sent Hanover players down to the ice or crashing into the boards.
Bishop Guertin ended the first period with a 1-0 lead and the shots were 13-2 in favor of the Cardinals.
“We were able to withstand that first period momentum,” Dodds said. “They just kept pounding away and pounding away.”
The second period began much the same way. Just over three minutes in, a turnover to Drent’s left ended up in the back of the net when a rebound found a Bishop Guertin stick.
It appeared Hanover would go into the locker room trailing by two goals, but Przydzielski had other ideas for his last shift of the second period. The Bears center came in hot on a forecheck and delivered a punishing blow to a Cardinals puck carrier, creating a turnover.
Seconds later, Przydzielski had the puck on his stick on the boards and made a beeline toward the Bishop Guertin net, where he beat the goaltender with just 6 seconds left on the clock. Dodds described Przydzielski as one of the most hardest-nosed, competitive players he’s coached.
“That’s Ronan, and that’s just the way he plays,” Dodds said.
The goal delivered a jolt to the team: “The feeling in the locker room compared to between the first two periods …. The boys were up and passionate and enthused.”
Hanover got a break early in the third period when a Cardinals player was called for a 5-minute boarding penalty. Bishop Guertin picked up another penalty three minutes later, setting up a 5-3 advantage for Hanover for nearly two full minutes.
Dodds said his team practiced 5 v 3 scenarios for the first time all season at a practice this week. The work paid off. Jake Rotchford put home a rebound of a Syd Makofsky shot with 8:52 left in the third period to tie the game at 2.
The Bears could have kept a 5 v 4 advantage for about 90 seconds after the goal, but Hanover was penalized for excessive celebration after the goal and Rotchford was sent to the box.
After its penalty expired, Bishop Geurtin began to reassert itself.
A turnover at the blue line by a Hanover defenseman led to the odd-man rush that resulted in the third Cardinals ‘ goal with 4:21 remaining.
Carroll responded 40 seconds later, setting the stage for the Bishop Guertin game-winner.
Dodds had nothing but praise for his senior netminder. Drent had one of the best statistical seasons by a goalie in program history, his coach said, and perhaps the best career.
“We don’t play last night if he’s not in net for us all year long,” said Dodds. Time and again, when the Bears were tested, “Jo Jo was the answer.”
Dodds said he will be back next season to chase the program’s first state championship since 2018.
“The development this year with some of the younger kids has been tremendous,” he said.