Bishop Guertin's Jasmine Shattuck (3) slips the puck past St. Thomas-Winnacunnet-Dover goalie Kensley Harris during Monday's game at Skate 3 Arena in Tyngsborough, Mass. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

TYNGSBOROUGH, Mass. – The Bishop Guertin High School girls hockey team never takes a holiday.

Even when it plays on one.

The Cardinals were all business early Monday afternoon at Skate 3 arena with a 9-0 win over St. Thomas-Winnacunnet-Dover, improving to 6-0 on the season.

Guertin was up 4-0 midway through the first period and led 8-0 after two. It was no contest vs. a program the Cards beat in 2021 in the state finals.

“I thought the girls came out and were ready to play,” Guertin coach Phil DeVita said. “They were focused. We’ve kind of had an on-off season this year with games postponed. But they all came to play, and we played BG hockey.”:

Which was put the skate to the accelerator and go to it. The St. Thomas co-op (1-4) has been a tough opponent over the years, but graduation and injuries, plus a fairly long layoff had the visitors lagging, as they managed just three shots overall on Cards goalie Ciara Fallon.

The question is, how good can this team be?

“I don’t know, we’ve been going hard at practice, girls have been showing up and they’ve been ready,” said captain Gracie Menicci, who had two goals and three assists and is emerging as one of the better players around. “We’re just trying to make plays and it’s been going pretty well. … We’re just trying to keep our heads up and keep above water.”

Guertin hasn’t really been tested too much, winning a tough 6-5 overtime game vs. Concord here to open the season last month and then moved on from there.

“I think every game is a challenge,” DeVita said. “We don’t see a lot of these teams. Each game for us coaches is a challenge, being ready and prepared to play these games. We know there are going to be more challenges ahead, teams are ready to play us each and every night.”

But this was simply no contest. The Cards got hat tricks from Jasmine Shattuck and Carly Green, while Aine Kelly had a goal. Other assists were by Giada Kennedy, Kate Oskirko and Olivia Hamilton.

Bishop Guertin’s Carly Green shoots on St. Thomas-Winnacunnet-Dover goalie Kensley Harris despite the efforts of STAWD’s Elise Frenette during Monday’s game at Skate 3 in Tyngsborough, Mass. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Green got things going 44 seconds in with a rebound goal, and Menicci made it 2-0 on a break-in just under a minute later. Shattuck got her first goal at 6:32 and two minutes later Kelly scored and the Cards were in complete control. STA-Winn-Dov first year goalie Kensley Harris was under siege throughout the first two periods, and Violet Beer was inserted for the whole running time third period.

Menicci made sure in the second period that things would stay as is as she had her second goal and set up Green twice.

“She’s very focused, dedicated, a great leader, she leads on and off the ice,” DeVita said of Menicci. “She practices hard, she pushes the other girls in the locker room. She’s worked hard in the off-season. Up and down the ice, she doesn’t get winded.

She’s worked hard, all of them have. These girls did it on their own.”

And they’ll even work on holidays.

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