The Cardinals console each other after bowing 4-2 to Hanover Tuesday night in the NHIAA girls hockey semifinals in Concord. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

CONCORD – They broke two Cardinal rules.

Two things the Bishop Guertin High School girls hockey team knew it could not do in Tuesday night’s NHIAA semifinal clash with rival Hanover were basically take a period off, and spend a lot of time in the penalty box.

Unfortunately, the Cards went 0 for 2.

As a result, Hanover, not BG, will be playing in Saturday’s 10 a.m. state title game at SNHU Arena after a 4-2 win over Guertin at Concord’s Everett Arena. Hanover will face No. 5 St. Thomas-Winnacunnet-Dover, a 6-3 winner over No. 9 Pinkerton in the earlier semi.

The No. 2, 16-4 Cards took a whopping seven penalties on the night and after a 1-1 first period gave up two goals to the No. 3, 16-4 Bears, one on the power play, and never reco vered. Thus, dreams of a second straight state championship were dashed.

“We were playing from behind a lot in that game,” Guertin coach Phil DeVita said. “It’s not what we planned on doing or how we planned it to go.

“We played in the box a lot. It’s tough to come back against a team like that, shorthanded the whole time.”

It’s the art of the chase, and neither team is good at doing it against the other. The Cards couldn’t in a 5-1 loss in early February, and the Bears couldn’t in a 4-3 loss just 10 days ago.

“It’s really hard playing a good team and trying to chase a lead,” Hanover coach John Dodds said. “In our first game we got a couple of goals and they were chasing … Next time we were chasing a lead and it’s just tough.”

Guertin’s senior captain, Julie McLaughlin, did what she could in what ended up being the final game of a great high school career as she scored two goals. Things started off oh, so great for BG, as just 45 seconds in she found herself alone on the doorstep of Hanover netminder Katelyn Smith and poked home a rebound of a Jenna Lynch shot. Just like that at the start it was 1-0 Guertin.

“In the first six or seven minutes, a bit of the nerves were there, they were thinking about last year (an OT semis loss to BG), and how tough this was,” Dodds said. “We had two good battles with them, but after we settled down, we started moving the puck a little bit better, and generated some more shots. They felt a little better about their game.”

But while McLaughlin got a pair, so did Hanover’s dynamic sophomore Maeve Lee, her first coming at 12:59 of the first on shot from near the point after a nifty move to create space. That sent things tied 1-1 into the first intermission.

“Maeve’s a great athlete, she sees the ice well, got good vision,” Dodds said. “She’s like the quarterback out there.”

It was the next 15 minutes to proved to the Cards’ downfall. They were outshot 10-6, seemed tired and a step behind and the Bears made them pay. First Lee had a wrap around goal on the power play after BG goalie Scarlet Casey (21 saves) couldn’t secure a rebound that put the Bears in front 2-1 just 1:38 into the middle period.

Bishop Guertin goalie Scarlet Casey eyes the loose puck duirng a battle at the net with helpf from Jenna Lynch (20) and Riley Molongoski (2) against Hanover’s Eleanor Bradley (7) during the Bears’ 4-2 semifinal win Tuesday night at Concord’s Everett Arena. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

One thing Hanover did all night to make Casey’s life hard was crash the net. They did that to perfection at 5:26 when somehow, with bodies on the ice, Hanover’s Kay Lindsay poked the puck through the mass of pads and gloves to give Hanove a 3-1 lead. The goal was officially awarded to Danielle Rudd, but it certainly appeared Lindsay was, from the BG perspective, the main culprit.

“We knew we needed to (crash the net) against these guys,” Dodds said.

Still, McLaughlin had a chance to get BG within one late in the period on a breakaway but was stoned by Smith. It was that kind of night.

“When you get a lead, it takes the pressure off,” Dodds said. “We lightened up, they got a little tense and started holding their sticks a little tighter.”

“We kind of lost our focus a little,” DeVita said of that bad middle stretch. “The second period obviously wasn’t one of our stronger periods of the year.

“We didn’t play well offensively and they were in our zone a lot. We just got caught running around and we really had to refocus in the third period.”

And, if you’re scoring like they do in boxing, that round was won by Guertin. Despite all their negatives, the Cards had a great third period left in them, highlighted by McLaughlin’s second goal at 10:26, unassisted from the right wing side, closing to within 3-2. She had one more chance in her, but Smith was up to the task with her 26th save.

“I’ll tell you the difference was Katie in the third period,” Dodds said. “Unbelievable performance.”

At the buzzer, Hanover’s Eleanor Bradley scored an empty netter.

“We weren’t skating some of the time and we were reaching,” DeVita said. “But I want to give credit to these girls because in the third period they really rallied and gave everything they had out there. The seniors gave it their all, it wasn’t for a lack of effort. We gave it everything we had.

“They’re a well-coached team and they’re tough to play from behind. …

“They skated hard tonight. They got to loose puck, they were strong on their sticks, they battled hard and they didn’t give us an inch of space.”

Despite all that, the Cards were giving their fans hope cutting that gap to 3-2. Hey, after all, last year’s semis went to OT, why not this time?

“The team picked it up, we thought we had a chance,” DeVita said of the third period. “We put it on the goalie, we had chances, it was just we came up a little short tonight.”