Bishop Guertin fans celebrate a goal during the Division I boys hockey semifinals at Manchester's JFK Coliseum. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

What’s the best sign of spring? The fact that right now you’re reading the annual TK Winter Tourney Trail.

That means the snow, which was packed pretty high at the Trail’s start, has disappeared for the most part. That means the spring sports teams have started practice, and the MLB season has begun. It’s a quick change.

And it was a quick trail, ending two weeks ago at a stop it often ends, the University of New Hampshire’s Lundholm Gym.

So let’s begin, keeping in mind this is one scribe’s individual in-person journey through the NHIAA’s postseason events involvling local teams, just the games we attended, not a review of the entire local tourney involvement.

So get your snowshoes on but bring along the sneakers after it will have melted….

SUNDAY, FEB. 22

GOFFSTOWN HIGH SCHOOL

We begin with high school wrestling’s first of three big postseason weekends, the Division II championships at GHS. The event, because of poor weather that Friday night and early Saturday, was moved to Sunday, sandwiched between forecasted storms. Division II has the biggest local contingent – six schools – and five of them finished from second through sixth after Goffstown was far and away the winner. But we were a winner, too – timed it perfectly to arrive about 40 minutes before the finals started, and pulled in right at the beginning of the lot, which meant for an easy exit to beat the crowd at the end.

Meanwhile, Milford was the top local, taking second – without winning a single weight class. How? The Spartans had a whopping 11 wrestlers score points, while Souhegan, which had three division champions, was five points back in third and Bishop Guertin, with two, was fourth. Milford coach Joe Faucher was hard to find after but with some help we tracked him down and he was a happy coach. Numbers always help.

“I’ve got a great group of kids, they all wrestled really hard today,” Faucher said.

The star of the day was Souhegan’s Jack Kaler, earning his fourth straight state championship as the meet’s Outstanding Wrestler, this coming at 132. Two were won at Bishop Guertin. The personal disappointment was not seeing BG’s heavyweight Bishop Kearns wrestle very long as his finals opponent, Goffstown’s Chris Finnigan, had to withdraw early due to injury. Kearns is an absolute beast. But out of the lot we went, home before the next major storm was to arrive later that night.

MONDAY, MARCH 2

NASHUA HIGH SCHOOL SOUTH’S BELANGER GYM

And now the fun really begins, as the local high school basketball teams begin their respective tourney journeys. On this early evening at the Belanger, it’s the girls basketball prelims with No. 4 Nashua South taking on No 13 Pinkerton, the latter not your ordinary 13th seed. Add to South coach John Bourgeois’ worries was the fact sophomore forward Anya Challinger was be out with a concussion against an Astros team that had a distinct size advantage. Plus a coach, Lani Buskey, who was ending a brilliant career at tourney’s end. What took place was one of the best but most wild games on the Trail, as the Panthers were down 41-34 with 2:04 to play. But they outscored the Astros 9-0 to win the game on Addison Borden’s 3-pointer with five seconds left. But in the celebration Borden, jumping up and down, landed awkwardly and tore her left knee’s ACL – and she had come back that season from a right ACL tear. So many mixed emotions, you just can’t make it up.

“We’re at this point hoping for the best,” Bourgeois said afterward. “But that was huge moment for Addie, hitting that big shot because it always hasn’t been an easy road for Addie, including injuries. And for her to hit that big shot, I couldn’t be more proud.”

Buskey, meanwhile, has always been the realist, and she fought off some emotions but was gracious to talk afterward.

“We were a 13th seed,” she said. “I’m proud of my girls. …Whoever gets them (next year) is a lucky coach. They just worked their butts off for me.”

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4

SOUTH’S BELANGER GYM

It’s the second of three straight stops at the Belanger (well, one stop, three games). This time it’s the No. 7 Panther boys hoop team starting its tourney run in the Division I prelims at home vs. No. 11 Windham, and it wasn’t much of a contest – and a glimpse into the future. South junior Shane Lemire had his perhaps his best game ever, hitting five 3-pointers in the first quarter for 15 of his game-high 23 points.

“I was hot, man, I was shooting everything,” a beaming Lemire said after. “I knew that if I shot it, it was going in. I work on my shot a lot a lot, and I’m confident in it.”

South led 21-10 and simply never looked back. Lemire, along with fellow junior Daniel Karavanic, look to be a one-two punch for the Panthers,who were playing their final game in the Belanger for the season, next year.South would go on to face Bedford on the road in the quarters, but that was that as the Bulldogs would prevail.

FRIDAY, MARCH 6

SOUTH’S BELANGER GYM

Back again, for the final time. The South girls were up again, hoping to hold serve as the fourth seed vs. No. 5 Exeter and reach the Final Four for the first time ever (since The Split). The game was moved from Thursday thanks to a forecast of frozen precipitation, but by 8 p.m. that Thursday night all that was around was a sprinkle. It was the only game moved. The reason we mention it is whenever there’s a tourney postponement, it generally favors the underdog. The favorite is rarin’ to go, but then has to wait. South, without Borden and Challinger but with Nicole De Jesus leading theway, had an 18-12 lead after a very low-scoring first half.

But the second half was all Blue Hawks. South managed just nine points in the final 16 minutes, and you can’t win that way.

“That can’t win any game scoring 27 points,” Bourgeois said. “We had a tough second half there. Really proud of the girls for fighting, especially through adversity … The last couple of weeks we’ve been dealing with a lot.”

A tough one as the best season in South girls hoop history ends at 15-5. That was it for the local Division I girls hoop season, and the loss was a bad sign of things to come as you’ll see reading on.

Bishop Guertin’s Connor McGowan hugs teammate Andre Steinbrueck from behind in the final seconds of the last game of both of their BG basketball careers, a quarterfinal loss at Pinkerton. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

SATURDAY, MARCH 7

This is dubbed “Super Saturday” for the winter season, as the quarterfinals are always a big day in basketball and hockey, and the area had nine – yes, nine – teams playing in nine games. Thus for yours truly, we got in two stops for a tourney tripleheader:

PINKERTON’S HACKLER GYM, DERRY

There would be no lack of offense in this Divsion I boys hoop quarterfinal at noon, No. 5 Bishop Guertin vs. No. 4 Pinkerton. The Astros under coach Mike Dunham never met a 3 they didn’t like, and the Cards could fill it up as well. The place was packed despite the early start, and the Astros were on fire. They hit an incredible 14 3-pointers on the way to an 89-84 win.

“These kids love to shoot,” Dunham, who gives all his players the green light, said. “It’s a fun way to play. They’re shooting with a ton of confidence right now and playing with a ton of confidence, which is huge.”

Those echoed the words of Milford coach Ryan Emerson, who has instituted that style with the Spartans but didn’t have the consistency the Astros had.

And that’s why the end came for a senior-laded BG team led by scoring guard Connor McGowan and forward Eli Youssef that had certainly hoped for at least a Final Four appearance.

“They’re the highest scoring team in the Division,” Horne said of the now-17-3 Astros. “They work (at shooting) in practice, they’re a great team. But I can’t say enough about how proud I am for my guys, how hard they battled, how they stayed in it, they fought. These seniors, they’re really a special group. … They play the right way, they play hard, they never quit.”

And Horne, packing up at the bench, was talking to no one in particular, “We did what we could do, we did what we could do.” And he was right. There wasn’t much else the Cards could have done.

SKATE 3 ARENA, TYNGSBOROUGH, MASS.

Now it’s hockey’s turn with two games – the Division I quarterfinals with No. 3 Bishop Guertin vs. No. 6 Keene, and the Division II quarters with No. 1 Alvirne-Milford and No. 8 Somersworth Coe-Brown.

The 4 p.m. game, was BG’s and Keene managed to grab a 1-0 lead in the first minute. But that was all the upstart Blackbirds could muster. It was 1-1 after two periods, but BG had three in the third to advance to the semis. The leader was Dom Trepanier, who had two of those three goals including the go-ahead score.

“He’s a great player for us,” Guertin coach Gary Bishop said. “He does everything. He’s on the power play, he kills penalties, he’s so unassuming. He moves the puck well, and he’s got a great shot. We’re yelling at him all the time, ‘Shoot, shoot, shoot.’ He likes to make plays. I’d rather he shoot.”

Mission accomplished. Later, Cards assistant Mark Mantone was hugging a parent outside the BG locker room. “Hey, what about me,” your humble scribe said. A career achievement, getting a hug from Bad Cop Mark Mantone, to be sure.

In the nightcap, any hugs the Alvirne-Milford Admirals were giving were sad good-byes, as they were completely stunned, 6-1, by Somersworth-Coe-Brown, a 7-11 team coming in that had lost twice to the Admirals the week previous. It was the upset of the local tourney season. Alvirne-Milford was without top forward Brandon Ganas, due to a disqualification in the last regular season game (one-game penalty), but that couldn’t have meant a difference of five goals, right?

The Bearcats were just as loose as could be. Head coach Fred Strum was boppin’ to the pre-game music on the bench and had a blue streak in his mullet-type hair.

“We had nothing to lose, we worked hard all week, the boys gave it everything they had,” Strum said. “We knew we had it in us, we had wins over Spaulding and St. Thomas. They decided to play their best game today and picked a good time to play it.”

And the Admirals? Pretty simple. They picked a bad time to play a bad one.

“It really wasn’t the brand of hockey we’d been playing all season,” Admirals coach Kathy Griswold said. “I don’t know if it was the pressure of the playoffs. We tried everything to get them relaxed, flowing coming into it.

“It really was our worst game all season.”

It was 3-0 after one period, and the closest A-M came was 3-1 early in the second. After the game, a touching scene in which Griswold huddled up with her top players and seniors, and then headed off to the locker room. Parents, friends, etc.formed quite a crowd outside the locker room, and cheered players as they came out in uniform to greet their fans. A nice touch to an otherwise tough ending.

The outcome was typical of the day. Nine teams in the local area played, and the combined record was 1-8. Yes, BG hockey was the only winner, and only two tourney teams were left, the Cards boys hockey and the No. 1 Division II boys basketball seed, Hollis Brookline, a quarterfinal winner that Friday.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11

JFK COLISEUM, MANCHESTER

A BG boys hockey semifinal is almost an annual event, and the Cards were taking part in the nightcap against another cinderella, no. 10 Hanover.

Well, the slipper almost fit. The Bears rallied from a 2-0 defecit to tie it in the third, BG went ahead 3-2 with 4:21 left but Hanover tied it again a minute or so later. Enter Cards defenseman Gavin Santos, who with 1:40 to play, casually flipped a knuckler from the blue line that found the back of the net. Santos, arguably the best defenseman in the state, followed the instructions from the bench that basically said the shot not taken is the goal not scored.

“Honestly, I just went to the net with the puck,” Santos, one of the top defensemen in the state, said. “Our coaches had been telling us to go to the net … I just went to the net and it went in.”

The Bears took this one hard, but they have a ton of returnees and should be a title contender next year. Ironically, the kids hate the nickname to the point that the will not put a ‘Bear’ logo on their uniforms.

Meanwhile, that game didn’t resemble at all the first game in which No. 1 Concord played a 6-0 semi in running time vs. Windham. Good to see former Telegraph sports figures Windham AD Jon Hall and Concord AD Steve Largy in the first game, chuckling at an old scribe gingerly walking down the press box stairs during that first game. After the initial contest, we talked with Tide coach Duncan Walsh about the memories of last year’s three-plus overtime final vs. BG. “It can’t happen again,” Walsh said of the game length.

Dont’t be so sure….

Alvirne-Milford fans show their support for senior forward Brandon Ganas, who missed the team’s only tourney game after getting a disqualification penalty in the Admirals final regular season game, an automatic one-game suspension. A-M was stunned 6-1 by Somersworth-Coe-Brown in the Division II hockey quarters at Skate 3. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

SATURDAY, MARCH 14

MANCHESTER’S SNHU ARENA

Well, guess what – Concord and BG went to overtime after a scoreless three periods in the Division I final. Everyone in the press box simply looked at each other, shaking our heads. Last year the Tide sent it to the marathon finish with a goal in 33.7 seconds left in regulation. But this game, being scoreless, just screamed of a long night, because neither team’s offense could skate around each defense. However, the overtime was up and down, and 6:31 in BG senior captain Jordan O’Hearn ended it, Guertin getting a measure of revenge for the tough loss a year ago. Guertin’s defense managed to hold Concord’s explosive offense keyed by its top line to a mere 18 shots.

It was just a reversal of fortune from a year ago.

“I just saw it go in the net and I was fired up,”O’Hearn said, “because losing last year was the worst feeling ever.”

Logistically, a much better experience than a year ago. NHIAA Hockey Committee member Justin Huft, the Alvirne AD, made sure of that and was a big help. He walked on the ice and took photos for the cowardly scribe who did not want to chance it. The older they are, the harder they fall.

All the celebrations and emotions are always fun to experience after a title game, but the best scene was Tide coach Duncan Walsh talking with Bishop and his staff about the game in the hallway outside the locker rooms over a half hour after it was over. The two head coaches are good friends, and you will not often see that after such a close, high stakes affair. Kudos to all.

One final stop left:

SUNDAY, MARCH 15

UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE’S LUNDHOLM GYM

The day began at 11 a.m. at Lundholm seeing old friend and former Lowell Sun staffer and now freelancer extraordinaire Chris Hurley, who works mainly down and around the Boston area and used to sit for years next to yours truly on the ninth floor of the TD Garden, beginning in its Fleet Center days. Then the Division II title game festivities began with a great rendition of the National Anthem by Hollis Brookline girls soccer and hoop sophomore defensive specialist Ysabel Ramas. And the fun then followed, fittingly a defensive battle.

The area’s only other champion was fittingly crowned, as the No. 1 Hollis Brookline boys hoop team captured the Division II title in grinding, close fashion, 42-37 over No. 2 Pelham. It gave the Cavs a 21-0 season, and they found out tournament semis and finals (four point win over Hanover) are a different animal. But they came through, as the score was all even at 31 after three quarters and HB junior forward Dylan Kelley said his team was ready for “eight minutes of hell.” HB was down 35-34 with 5:04 to play but outscored the Pythons 8-2 down the stretch. It was fitting that the game-clinching free throws came from the Division II Player of the Year, 6-6 Cavs senior Alton Williams, who was a 50 percent free throw shooter a year ago but worked on it extensively over the last 12 months.

After numerous interviews, Cavs head coach Ryan Kelley was the last person from the HB contingent going to the Paul Sweet Oval, where the Hollis parents, friends, fans, and players were gathered. Had it sunk in?

“Not yet,” he said. “If I’m being honest,not yet. I had about seven seconds of joy. And then it was keeping (the players) contained and not running into the crowd. Getting them to half court (for the ceremony). And talking (to media). I haven’t even seen my wife yet, to be honest. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to find her, give her a hug, and find Dylan, and give him a hug.”

He did, and the winter season, and Tourney Trail was just about complete. On the way to the car, two HB students dressed in green St. Patrick’s Day garb were walking through the lot. All the HB student fans were in green.

We asked how come they didn’t dress in school colors, blue and white. “Because we didn’t want to look like Pelham,” was the response, as the Pythons have the same colors.

Of course, silly scribe. On to the spring season.

Hollis Brookline soccer and basketball sophomore Ysabel Ramas sings the National Anthem before the Division II boys hoop title game at UNH’s Lundholm Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)