Telegraph photo by TOM KING Bishop Guertin's Sean Kelley, left, gets mobbed by his happy teammates after scoring the overtime game-winner in the Cards' 4-3 quarterfinal win over Exeter Saturday at Phillips Exeter Academy.

EXETER – Sean Kelley was exhausted.

He and his Bishop Guertin High School boys hockey teammates not only had to deal with No. 3 Exeter’s blazing speed for 45 minutes on Saturday in the Division I quarterfinals, but an extra session as well.

But thanks to Kelley, that session lasted just 6:09, as skating hard down the middle he tipped in a Mike Kiely pass from left wing for the 4-3 overtime game winner.The goal propels the No. 6 Cardinals (13-6) to the Wednesday’s Division I semifinals vs. No. 2 Bedford at Manchester’s JFK Coliseum.

“We had to press them hard,” said Kelley, who also scored BG’s first goal of the game in the first period. “Because they were a quicker team, we had to put the bodies on them. Press them in their zone … We just had to work it down low and keep it down there.”

That was the message Cards coach Gary Bishop was delivering all afternoon to his team – crash the net.

“Go to the net hard,” Bishop said. “I don’t care where you are, go to the net, shoot at the net, follow all your rebounds. … You’re not going to beat a kid like (Exeter goalie Jude Rogles, 27 saves) straight on.”

Easier said than done. Kelley (Sam Cronin assist) and Aaron Pratt (unassisted) had given the Cards leads of 1-0 and 2-1 only to have the Blue Hawks (13-4-2) answer with tallies by Keegan Knight in the first and Ricky Davis in the second.

Then the Blue Hawks grabbed the lead on Brendan Doyle’s goal at 4:12 of the third, as he converted a Davis feed. But Kiely willed his way down right wing at 8:16 and beat Rogles to tie it.

In addition, BG netminder Evan Butler (33 saves) robbed Exeter’s Kole Robinson in the final couple of minutes to keep it tied. “Butler played well,” Bishop said. “He was huge on that, he stole that.”

“They competed and they battled,” Exeter coach Paul DiMarino said of the Cards. “They crash the net hard and they capitalized on that chance at the end. That’s what they do.”

Even when exhausted.

“It was a great feeling all around,” Kelley said. “The game was fast-paced. It was a great game.”

With, for the tired Cards, a great end result.

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