Bishop Guertin's Lindsay Hult, right, battles Hanover's Sophia Brackett during the teams' regular season meeting last month. They meet in the semis tonight in Concord. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

It would have made a great championship game, but instead the rematch of last month’s regular season classic between the Bishop Guertin and Hanover girls hockey teams will be a semifinal.

Even so, tonight’s game at Concord’s Everett Arena at 8 p.m. should still be another classic, if 15-0 Guertin’s stunning 7-4 comeback win back on Feb. 24 over the 12-1 Marauders is any indication.

In that contest, Hanover had leads of 3-1 and 4-2 before, with the score 4-3, taking two key penalties that gave BG a power play for the remaining three-plus minutes. That lead to a four goal barrage, and a Cardinal win.

It was thought that game would be a finals preview, but the regional matchups for the semis were a random draw and it worked out BG and Hanover’s regions matched up. But, to be fair, the St. Thomas-Winnacunnet-Dover team has to be considered a title contender as well, now 17-0 going into today’s 4:15 p.m. semifinal at Everrett vs. 6-2 Pinkerton Academy. STAWD topped the Astros 4-1 during the regular season.

The St. Thomas based co-op outsscored its opponents 83-7 during the regular season.

But the Marauders are still considered, as Guertin coach Scott Ciszek will say, “The Giant”, thanks to its 10 straight state titles, a stretch that ended last year.

“For BG to be able to topple the Giant for a second time this season, we are going to have to outwork them,” Ciszek said. “In the last game I believe we did that in two periods and we were able to secure a win.

“This time we’ll be looking to outwork them in all three periods, hoping to achieve the same outcome.”

In that game, the Cards outshot Hanover in the first and third periods. Hanover had the shooting edge to take a 3-1 lead in the second.

This is arguably the best team Guertin has had since the team that lost 2-0 to Hanover in the 2010 title game, which ironically began the Marauders record streak.

It has several veterans – Brooke Yabroudy, Julie McLaughlin, Lindsay Hult, Kate Simpson, just to name a few – and a dynamic scoring machine in sophomore Jenna Lynch. Lynch and Simpson had hat tricks in the first meeting, with McLaughlin scoring the go-ahead goal.

Sage McGinley-Smith, Sophia Brackett, and Natalie Morhun all scored for Hanover in the first game. But it was Morhun who, with her team in a 4-on-4 after ruining a power play with a body check call, took a slashing penalty, and then got slapped with an unsportsmanlike conduct call to escalate the usually disciplined Marauders late downfall. Guertin can’t count on that happening again.

The Cards’ strategy is always simple – possess the puck, shoot the puck, win the game.

“This game is going to come down to who outplays whom and who capitalized on whose mistakes,” Ciszek said. “The plan is simple; we have been preaching it all season. Puck possession, pressure and execution.”

There will be plenty of pressure tonight, as these two incredibly good teams will try to avoid seeing their respective seasons be executed.

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