The Nashua North boys hoop team had plenty of student support in the Division I semis at Exeter. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

You never know what you’re going to get on the Winter Tourney Trail.

Snow? Sleet? Below freeing temp wind chills? Or 60 degrees?

We saw a little of both in the 2022 Trail, which went from Nashua to Durham to Plymouth.

And this year there was a week break between stops, thanks to the compressed basketball season that saw the finals take place over a week before the hockey tourneys began.

Sit back and enjoy the ride:

Bishop Guertin's Brooke Paquette hugs her father, BG assistant coach Mike Paquette, after the Cards' combeback win in the Division I girls hoop championship game at UNH. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

TUESDAY, FEB. 8

BISHOP GUERTIN HS

The trail begins here as the Bishop Guertin girls basketball team rolls past Manchester Memorial, 64-33 in the Division I preliminary round, but the Crusaders hung around early in the contest.

The theme: Just win. Guertin led 12-8 after one quarter and was having a tough time getting untracked. But by halftime it was 32-12. But the 3-point shooting of Madison Pepra-Omani kept Memorial within somewhat striking distance.

“The tournament’s weird, it’s always weird,” Cards coach Brad Kreick said. “I didn’t expect that we might be a little nervy going into the game, but the first quarter was not our best. … Hey look, it doesn’t matter what it looks like at this point. You’ve just got to win and move on.”

And that’s exactly what the Cardinals did, with three players in double figures led by Brooke Paquette’s 13 points – surprisingly not her lowest total, it would turn out, of the tourney. But they got a reward for their efforts as Londonderry upset Concord and that meant the Cards would get another home game rather than travel for the quarterfinals.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 9

NASHUA HS NORTH

Welcome to the Division I boys hoop tournament, with the No. 2 Titans hosting Timberlane in the prelims. None of these games are ever without some anxious moments for the favorites, and North was down 14-8 early to the Owls, but recovered to lead 28-24 at the half and then pulled away from there.

Freshman Parth Miglani and junior Trevor Labrecque each had 18 points, but the real hero was little known Andres Acorn, who hit two 3-pointers that pushed the lead to 43-33 after three.

“We gave him the game ball tonight,” North coach Steve Lane said. “Huge 3’s. Fearless.”

FRIDAY, FEB. 11

BISHOP GUERTIN HS

The best spot to see a Guertin basketball game – especially when taking photos – is the Colligadome’s stage. Usually it’s a pretty comfortable and quiet spot, also used for ETV broadcasts.

But on this night, it was anything but as the Guertin pep band was set up and rarirn’ to go. Hey, still some room in the corner, and yours truly was an unofficial, honorary band member. Hey, we play a mean camera and notebook.

The Cardinal girls, in their bonus home quarterfinal, play mean basketball, using the old John Fagula adage “It’s a 32 minute game for a reason.”

It was a five point game, with Guertin up 36-31 with about half the third quarter to go, and then the Cardinals unleashed their best weapon – the full court press. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, it was 60-35 after three.

“We changed the press up a little bit and tried to really go after them,” Kreick said. “The game sped up and we got a bunch of turnovers and three 3’s in a span of 45 seconds. We just kept telling the kids, keep the pace, keep the tempo and sooner or later we’ll go on a run.

“Took us a little longer than I would have hoped, but it happened.”

“We’re right there, right there, and all of a sudden it’s a wave that hits us and we don’t know how to come back from it,” stunned Lancers coach Jon Doherty said.

The band – and the Cardinals – played on.

SATURDAY, FEB. 12

BOW HIGH SCHOOL

The Hollis Brookline girls basketball team is always fun to watch in a tournament setting, and this afternoon game – the start time a media-friendly 2 p.m. – was no exception, but only for a little while. We saw the Cavaliers season and the high school career of Division II Player of the Year Elisabeth Stapelfeld come to an end in a 53-29 loss to the Falcons.

We never saw a gym fill up (to a point) so fast. The place was empty 45 minutes prior to the start, as the fans arrived near tip-off.

Stapelfeld was held to nine points after averaging 20 all year. The Falcons had too much of a size advantage.

“I’m proud of how we played to the end,” Staplefeld said. “We never gave up. … It’s sad. But I had a good four years.”

She truly did.

They sold pizza in the corner of the gym, and it was tempting. We’ll leave you in suspense.

NASHUA NORTH

Yes, a doubleheader, plenty of time to take in the 7 p.m. North-Exeter Division I boys basketball quarterfinal.

And it didn’t disappoint.

This was the game of the tourney season, one the Blue Hawks seemed to let get away because the thing that was North’s trademark all season – a ball hawking, tenacious defense – was just about perfect. Jayden Montgomery’s quick hands and successive steals plus Trevor Labrecque’s six points in the final 2:26 produced a 57-54 North win. Exeter led 52-49 with that much time on the clock, but as Blue Hawks coach Jeff Holmes said, “We had too many turnovers down the stretch.”

And they were easy to predict. Working with play-by-play man Jason Robie on the Nashua ETV broadcast, we said North doesn’t need 3-pointers with the 2:26 to go because they’d steal the ball, and then steal it again. It was that easy. Fun team to watch, fun game to cover.

“The last two minutes, I had to play my hardest” Montgomery said. “Had to fight it through. … It’s just part of my game, got to play hard at all times.”

On the way out, speculation was where the semis would be, because no site had been determined. Bedford? Pinkerton? Couldn’t be Exeter, could it? On the way out the door, someone in the know said, “Just got the call – you’re going to Exeter.”

For back-to-back nights:

TUESDAY, FEB. 15

EXETER HS

We’re usually in Exeter for an outdoor event at Bill Ball Stadium, but the school volunteered its gym for the site of the Division I girls basketball semifinals.

Bishop Guertin-Pinkerton had the look of what could be a semis classic. Timing is everything, so the key, especially for parking, when you have the second semi is to get there right after the first semifinal ends, and Bedford sent Portsmouth home packing in quick time, so arrival was perfect. Plenty of parking, and the teams were just coming out for warmups upon arrival.

But there was an interesting sight for warmups – last year’s Telegraph Player of the Year, Meghan Stack, who was out all year after knee surgery. Could she be playing? It didn’t appear that was going to be the case, and a check with our inside source said no way would she play in the tourney. But keep them guessing, right? Love the gamesmanship.

As for the game, it was the best game BG played in the entire tournament, despite being down 21-9 early to the Astros, who handed the Cards their first in-state regular season loss in three years a month earlier. As Kreick said, “We could have gone night-night right there.”

What changed? Brooke Paquette got hot, as she finished with 32 points, and Guertin outscored Pinkerton 57-30 the rest of the way.

But the other main factor: 28 Astro fouls in total, and despite having an edge with a larger crowd – Guertin did not travel well in this tournament season – Pinkerton’s momentum fizzled.

“You saw us get a little more hesitant,” Pinkerton coach Lani Buskey said. “You can’t get hesitant, BG’s too good. And then the foul trouble became a hindrance.”

On to the finals. Meanwhile, for this scribe, it was out the door, but how to get there? There were several left and right turns on the way in, and Exeter AD Bill Ball gave directions for the way out. Of course we got lost.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 16

EXETER HS

Back again, and this time we knew our way in the building. And there was quite the crowd as well – a good student body contingent from both Nashua North and Goffstown for the Division I boys hoop semifinals. We hadn’t seen a Titan throng like this all season – remember the fan restrictions – but there were no restrictions for this.

Unfortunately, the North fans didn’t have much to cheer about, as Goffstown prevailed 74-58, pulling away in the second half. It was a unique scene afterward, with Goffstown coach Ryan Cowette talking to writers at one end of the hallway outside the gym and Steve Lane down at the other end. Both coaches gave the other team a lot of credit, but it was clear the Grizzlies had more depth – thanks in part to injuries that the Titans went through in the weeks leading up to the tourney.

North used its trademark pressure but Goffstown eventually found away around it.

“They’re amazing, unbelievably athletic, super physical,” Grizzlies coach Ryan Cowette said of the Titans. “… It’s hard to replicate that type of pressure in practice … but we handled it OK.”

Lane was right when he said “It was a great year.” And most of those players will be back.

FRIDAY, FEB. 18

CAMPBELL HS

The first and overdue look this season at the Campbell Cougar boys basketball team, which had enjoyed a great regular season, going in with a nine-game winning streak into the Division III quarterfinals. A legit contender.

Instead, we got treated to Big Country – the White Mountains Regional 6-foot-9 center Avery Hazelton who scored 25 points and hauled down 18 rebounds. And White Mountains travels well, so just about every play he made was cheered by a thriving fan base in a 73-57 win. Very rare for a tourney team to fall by 16 on its home floor in Divisions I or II, but in Division III, with teams spread out and not all seeing each other, anything was possible, especially in a 4-5 seeds battle.

But the crowd – which Cougars coach Justin DeBenedetto said his players weren’t completely used to – was big. And the parking tough. So yours truly parked on the other side of the building, opposite the gym side where a play was going on in the auditorium. Plenty of parking.

Of course, going out, we took a left out of the gym instead of a right. Walked out, where’s the car? Finally realized after a couple of frantic minutes, should have exited stage right out of the gym instead of left. Whew. The play was done and the car was only one left in the lot.

SUNDAY, FEB. 20

LUNDHOLM GYM

GAME ONE

Championship Sunday. It had been awhile since this scribe had walked into Lundholm, since March of 2018 when Hollis Brookline captured the Division II boys hoop finalBut on this day, it’s a doubleheader, as it’s first the Souhegan boys hoop team’s turn and then the Bishop Guertin girls.

The Sabers finished a great 20-1 season with a 53-51 overtime win over regional rival ConVal. It was a great rags to riches story, as they had a tough season the year before after coach Peter Pierce opted out due to COVID. Pierce came back, and admitted he hadn’t even met a few of his players before, but he sure got to know them during the course of the condensed two-month season.

It was a great atmosphere, fans galore from both teams. And that Saber story almost didn’t have a happy ending when CV’s Austin Knight back-rimmed a heave at the regulation buzzer with the game tied at 42. The Sabers, led by Keegan Burke and Joe Bernasconi, put together a 7-0 run, down 46-45, to win it.

“For those kids, who didn’t play last year, mind you, to come together and play in a final, a semifinal, and quarterfinal and post a 20-1 record, unbelievable,” said Pierce. “Some of these kids I didn’t even know. I hadn’t met them until the first day of the season. That’s pretty remarkable too.”

It sure was. Of course it’s always fun at Lundholm trying to find coaches and where the teams are after the game. The Souhegan post-game interviews were on the floor, but we tracked down ConVal in an out-of-the-way corridor.

But going back upstairs to the gym floor, the side entrance door that was open earlier, well, was locked. Always something, and it was a nice tour of the bowels of Lundholm to get back up on the other side to the open entrance.

GAME TWO

A classic chapter in the annals of the Bishop Guertin-Bedford Division I girls basketball rivarly. Guertin was down 40-33 but Paquette simply willed the Cards to this win, as she scored seven of her game-high 21 points in the final 1:43. The Bulldogs had to watch Guertin do what it did in the season-opening win – hit free throws down the stretch.

Paquette, who had four assists, four rebounds and seven steals, said “I think we had to keep in our minds that anything could happen, especially since in the semifinals we were down in the first half against Pinkerton and we won that. Anything was possible, and we did (this comeback) too.”

“Tough kids,” Kreick said. “Tough, tough kids.”

And with that, basketball was over. On Feb. 20, way too early.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2

SKATE 3 ARENA

Hockey from here on out, and the Bishop Guertin boys were the only local Division I team playing, and had to host Pinkerton Academy in the prelims. Not a gimme by any means. It was school vacation week but the earliest time the Cards could get was 7:50. What, midnight wasn’t an option?

Guertin got just one goal, Cosmo Siano’s tally in the second period, and that’s all the Cards would need to advance in a 1-0 win. It was dicey at the end when it appeared Pinkerton had tied it on a power play with 17 seconds left, but the net had been dislodged. Saved by the peg. BG would move on to the quarterfinals on the road vs. Bedford, so so long Skate 3 for another year.

FRIDAY, MARCH 4

CYCLONES ARENA

Ahhh, a much more media friendly 4 p.m. start time, with the Cardinal girls hockey team cruising to a 10-2 quarterfinal win over Bishop Brady-Trinity, which had no more than 10 players, an almost impossible task.

A chat with BG athletic director Ryan Brown while taking first period photos revealed the NHIAA hockey committee, on which Brown sits, made a switch from past practice and had the top- seed bracket teams play in the earlier semifinal in all divisions, figuring it would be more of an advantage. Of course, where were all the local semifinalists? In the No. 2 seed bracket. Disadvantage.

SATURDAY, MARCH 5

On this day, we mastered the art of being in two places at once (kinda sorta). Let us explain:

SAINT ANSELM’S

SULLIVAN ARENA

It had been awhile since we visited Sullivan and Saint A’s, pre-pandemic we think. But at 4 p.m. here we were with the Guertin boys taking on Bedford in the Division I hockey quarters. Bedford/St. A’s has the best music, and both schools had a good fan showing.

And it looked like there’s be a JFK Coliseum tourney trail stop for the Division I semis after Guertin jumped out to a 2-0 lead.

Nope. Bedford scored five unanswered and the Cards, who had 11 new regulars, saw their season come to an end. Quick interviews afterward because we had to hustle back to Nashua…..

CONWAY ARENA

This was the scene of the Hollis Brookline-Derryfield boys hockey team’s Division III quarterfinal with Kearsarge-Plymouth. The hope was to get there before it ended (started at 5 p.m.), and the fear was HBDS is so good there’d be third period running time.

Well, there was no running time, but upon arrival there was 1:24 left and a time out with HBDS up only 2-1. And Kearsarge-Laconia got a goal with 17 seconds left to tie the game. Incredible.

HBDS athletic director-emeritus Rhon Rupp was stunned, and the Warriors were angry coming off the ice. He wanted to know how long the overtime should be, if there was any period limit. “Until someone scores,” we told him, “but don’t worry, it’ll be over in about three minutes.”

Turns out we were 1:30 off, because it took only that time for HBDS’s Torin White to get the game-winner. On to the semis – and Plymouth State.

See? Two places at once – almost.

TUESDAY, MARCH 8

EVERETT ARENA,

CONCORD

The last time we were here was when the Bishop Guertin girls were celebrating a wild 4-3 overtime semifinal win over Hanover en route to an undefeated state championship season.

Well, this semifinal with the Bears – that’s Hanover’s new nickname – would not have the same joyful result. Yes, Guertin’s talented senior, Julie McLoughlin, would score early and get another goal late, but Hanover hung on for a 4-2 win.

Why the Bears? The community felt the former nickname “Marauders” symbolized pillage and plundering. Problem is, the logo with the pirate with the eyepatch was still on the uniforms. Oh well. But the Bear mascot did visit the press box and give us the 411 on how it all happened.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9

PLYMOUTH STATE

HANAWAY RINK

We were watching the forecast all week. Coating to an inch, it looked like, with next to nothing north of Manchester.

Surprise. The trip to Plymouth State University – first time yours truly had made that lovely ride since the 2011 softball semifinals – was brutal. Snow, sleet, plows, sand spreaders, made an hour 10 minute journey take over two hours to cover the HBDS Warriors in the Division III semis against Belmont-Gilford.

After watching a talented top seed Berlin-Gorham team win its semifinal 4-1, it was the Warriors turn. But other than a Jacob Roy breakaway goal off a Belmont-Gilford turnover, they couldn’t solve B-G goalie Colin Logan, who had 33 saves.

It was a tough loss for the Warriors, whose mission all year was to get back to the finals after bowing to Berlin last year. But it wasn’t to be.

Sanborn has done a great job, and says “I’ve got a couple more years in me, I think,” as head coach.

A look outside, and the snow was coming down as it made its way up north. That means that the 2022 Winter Tourney Trail’s end in Nashua would take another, oh, two hours. At least.

Spring is just ahead.

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