Here’s a few tids and bits from the local high school front as we get ready to start our journey along the Tourney Trail next week:

—- There’s no underestimating the competitive nature of the high school athlete. This week, especially Wednesday, was the perfect example.

Here’s why, and let’s do the timeline: Locally, you had the Hollis Brookline-Derryfield hockey team beating Belmont-Gilford 3-2 in sudden death overtime on an Aidan Chretien goal sometime around 6 p.m. Fast forward to a couple of hours later, when Campbell’s Tori Allen hits a bucket with five seconds left to give the ninth-seeded Cougars a 53-51 road win over St. Thomas in Dover in the Division III girls prelims.

But nothing can likely ever compare to what the Bishop Guertin boys hockey did another two hours later, after 10 on Wednesday night. The Cards were up 4-3 when Salem tied the game with just seven seconds left in regulation. Overtime, right? Guess again. Guertin won the faceoff, and went right down with Mike Kiely scoring literally at the buzzer for the most dramatic 5-4 win you could likely ever have. There’s video out there on social media, etc. to show it. Amazing.

And heck, go back to Monday night when the Hollis Brookline girls hoop team almost came back in the fourth quarter from 16 down vs. Hanover, Christina Balsamo’s 3-point shot hitting the front rim with seven seconds left in what was a 62-60 loss. When high school kids want to compete, the level can get really, really high.

—– Speaking of the Cavaliers girls hoop team, where the heck are the Division I and II girls basketball semis and finals going to be played? It used to be that Southern New Hampshire University would be the site for Division I, II girls and Division III boys basketball. But SNHU is evidently unavailable for whatever the reason is, be it being spring break week creating lack of help or the school is limiting some of its high school tourney business. The boys have been shipped out to Keene State. The girls? There’s all sorts of rumor and conjecture anywhere from Dartmouth College to the University of New Hampshire being considered as the site for the Division I finals. Please, not Dartmouth. Imagine, Bishop Guertin and say, Merrimack, Bedford or Manchester Memorial, all within 15 miles of each other, having to haul all the way up to Hanover? Really? Not a good idea. There has to be some better solution. Pinkerton Academy used to be the site of the Division I girls tourney, it certainly could be again if available Sure it’s home court for the Astros but it’s worked in the past. NHIAA officials weren’t available Thursday for any insight.

“It’s frustrating not to know,” Guertin girls coach Brad Kreick said. “But I have to assume they’re (the NHIAA) are on top of it and will come up with something that works.”

Still, you have to think that coaches and athletic directors are privately miffed and even more than mildly annoyed that the tournament is less than a week away (prelims next Wednesday) and, at least as of late Thursday, there was no resolution made public. Stay tuned.

—- It doesn’t look as if the North-Souhegan hockey team has completely clinched a Divison I tourney berth, not quite yet., and will be a big Bishop Guertin fan on Saturday.

It’s three teams – N-S, Bow, and Londonderry for the final two spots. Unofficially, as we see it, what the 6-9-3 Saber-Titans don’t want to have happen is be tied with Londonderry for the 11th and final spot. That only happens if Bow upsets Concord and Londonderry upsets BG in a 4 p.m. game at Tri-Town. The Lancers and North-Souhegan didn’t play during the regular season so because of rating vs. tourney teams, the Lancers would have the edge.

Currently North-Souhegan, done for the regular season, is 10th and Bow is 11th, with Londonderry out.

—- Today is a big day just south of the border, as representatives of the some 380 member schools of the Massachusetts Interscholastica Athletic Association will gather in Marlborough, Mass.to vote on a proposal for a statewide tournament. Essentially, it gets rid of the sectional title, has the internet site MaxPreps seed 32 or more teams in as many as five divisions. In essence, you could have a team from Cape Cod traveling, say, to Springfield or even further into western Mass. to play a tournament game. It’s home field/court advantage until quarterfinals.

Yikes. It looks like the makings of a disaster. Guess we can’t complain too much here, right?

Tom King may be reached at 594-1251,tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or@Telegraph _TomK.

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