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Cardinal girls hope to skate into tourney after win

By Tom King - Staff Writer | Feb 22, 2019

Telegraph photo by TOM KING Bishop Guertin's Elise Harnish, right, and Kingswood's Abigail Kelly collide during the first period of the Cards' 10-3 win Thursday at Skate 3.

TYNGSBOROUGH, Mass. – You need to have patience during the course of a high school sports season.

For example, just three weeks ago, it looked like the Bishop Guertin High School girls hockey team might be a casualty of the ever growing NHIAA sport and the 70 percent tourney rule.

The Cards were 3-8, and not even close to a playoff berth. Fast forward to Thursday afternoon at Skate 3 Arena and their 10-3 win over Kingswood Regional, their fifth in their last six games, should put them into the postseason.

The way they’re playing now, it’s where they likely belong.

“I think we’re at the top of our game,” said Cards sophomore Lindsay Hult, who had two goals and two assists in the win. “In the beginning of the season, we were kind of starting off slow, but after the Souhegan game ( an 8-2 loss back on Feb. 2), we came together, picked it up, and are playing to our best ability.”

It would be hard to argue that. Now granted, yesterday’s win was against a severely undermanned 1-12 Knight squad (bench of three), but Guertin badly needed it nonetheless and led 6-0 after one period.

“We’ve definitely started to jell a little more,” said Cards assistant coach Phil DeVita, who ran the team for head coach Scott Ciszek, who was away due to a family commitment. “We’ve got a lot of young girls on the team that have really started to pick it up, they’re really starting to get it, jell together, the last couple of games. Really come together as a team, very cohesive, playing well together.”

Guertin scored twice in the first five minutes and never looked back in their likely final home game of the season. Emma Wallat had two goals, as did Brooke Yabroudy (plus two assists).

Other goal scorers were Elise Harnish (plus an assit), Mackenzie Husson, Julie McLaughlin (plus assist) and Hayley Kastner. Dara Estes and Dominique Von Mulhenbrock Rodriguez each had two assists while Abigail Richard has a single assist.

The Cards managed just one goal in the second period (by Wallat 53 seconds in), but put two in in the first three minutes of the third to put the game away.

Kingswood got two goals by Abigail Kelly in the third and one by Quinn Meserve in the second as Jillian Luby and Alexus Booth had the assists. Otherwise it was an easy day for BG netminder Sarah King (eight stops) – much easier than her Knights counterpart Isabella Savage (14 saves).

Kingswood coach Paul Landry has been keeping an eye on the ever-improving Cards. He was once an Exeter coach and remembers some great games with the Cards.

“I’ve been watching the standings,” Landry said. “They seem to be hovering. They want to get that last spot or the second to last spot. I think they’ll get in there, and it will be an interesting situation for them moving forward. They’re a good team.”

Yes, moving forward the Cards wrap up the regular season Saturday at 10-win Bishop Brady-Trinity-West. But they should be able push ahead in tourney form.

“I think they all have to play well together,” DeVita said. “We just need to be focused, work hard, and practice hard, play together as a team and good things will happen.”

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