Bishop Guertin's Julie McLaughlin celebrates her goal that gave the Cards the lead for good in a 8-6 comeback win over Berlin-Gorham Wednesday at Hudson's Cyclones Arena. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

HUDSON – A sign of a very good team is its ability to overcome adversity.

Just ask the Bishop Guertin High School girls hockey team.

The Cardinals were staring the first loss of their splendid season in the face, trailing Berlin-Gorham 6-2 in the second period on Wednesday afternoon at Cyclones Arena.

But they closed to within 6-4 by period’s end, and outscored the visitors 4-0 in the final 15 minutes to stay unbeaten (9-0) with an impressive 8-6 comeback win.

“We had kind of a slow start,” Guertin coach Scott Ciszek said. “They came out and pressured us, more so than any other team so far, they were poking some holes in our game.

“We just kept chipping back, figuring out their team … The girls just kept battling back. That’s what we kept telling them. Keep putting the pressure on them, keep moving the puck and go to the net. And good things would happen.”

They sure did.

“Honestly, we just kept putting pressure and pressure and pressure,” Cards senior Brooke Yabroudy, who had the game-tying goal and an assist, said. “And we didn’t give up. After we scored our first goal, we didn’t give up, and that was the main thing.”

The Cards were led in scoring by a herculean four goals and two assists – a six point day – by Jenna Lynch. Down 6-2, Lynch and Julie McLaughlin scored in the final 1:29 of the second to close things to 6-4.

Then Grace Menicci beat Berlin-Gorham goalie Olivia O’Neil (22 stops) 1:10 into the third to close the Cards to 6-5. Lynch fed Yabroudy at 2:51 to tie the game, and then Yabroundy, with help from Lynch, gave McLaughlin a perfect feed from behind the net and she converted to give the Cards the lead for good 6:29. A minute and a half later, Lynch scored a slow, sliding goal off a faceoff for the insurance goal.

It was a shocking turn of events as it certainly looked like the 2-5 visitors, led by two goals each from Sydney Chapman and Jill Heller, were in control.

But then they may have gotten complacent.

“They definitely didn’t have any sense of urgency out there,” Berlin-Gorham coach Greg Bartoli said. “A lot of puck watching. Maybe their legs aren’t there yet. I think we started dying out in the third. They’re (the Cards) definitely explosive. We see them again (in Berlin) on Saturday, it should be good.”

The Cards needed to control the puck, as the visitors had goalie Sarah King’s number in the middle period (five goals), but King (23 saves) came up with a couple of big stops in the third.

The formula was simple.

“That was about puck possession, pressure, and execution down by the net,” Ciszek said. “They came out, took everything we said between the second and third period, and they executed.”

And showed their coach something. Guertin was without two-way standout Lindsay Hult, who returns from a precautionary quarantine today.

“We’ve got a deeper team than we’ve had in years past,” Ciszek said. “But certainly it shows the girls that played today have a desire to be at the top of their game, and they came out and showed it in the third period.”

And did what good teams often do.