MANCHESTER, N.H. — Pinkerton's run at a second-straight Division I state hockey title crashed during a four-minute stretch of the second period in last night's semifinals.
The second-seeded Astros squandered a two-goal lead as third-seeded Exeter rallied for a 3-2 victory before about 500 at the JFK Arena.
"You have to give (the Blue Hawks) credit," Pinkerton coach Casey Kesselring said. "They came after us hard and outskated us to a lot of pucks. It really could have gone either way, but you have to give Exeter credit."
Looking for its third victory of the season over the Blue Hawks, the defending champs (16-6-1) appeared in control when junior Alex Desrosiers scored from the slot 11 seconds into the game's first power-play opportunity. The goal, which was assisted by Zach Sanford and Jake Dion gave the Astros a 2-0 lead five minutes into the second period.
"We kind of stemmed the tide in the first," said Kesselring, whose squad had won 11 times in a 12-game stretch that began with an 8-2 rout over the Blue Hawks on Jan. 23. "Then we got the goal on the power play and things looked good. That's how games turn: the puck goes up the board, our team misplays it, it ends up in our end and we take the penalty, and they score. Then they catch us and they got the momentum."
Exeter (18-5) climbed to within one on a power-play goal of its own with 9:19 left in the period on a goal by Derek Fernholz off a nice centering pass. The Blue Hawks needed only eight seconds to tie the score on a goal by Dakota Evans. Greg Hayes provided the game-winning goal with 5:04 left in the second, ramming in the rebound of a shot by Devin Stoddard.
"The second period they came out and were all over us," said Pinkerton's senior goalie J.J. Solloway, who made 28 saves. "They were just banging us, and we got that penalty that gave them their first goal and it was a total momentum swing.
"After last year when we won, we set that same goal. We worked even harder, but you win some and you lose some. We played as a team though."
Pinkerton's first goal was scored by Teddy McCarron on a rebound off a shot by Zach Sanford 10 minutes into the opening period. McCarron, who finished with a team-high 20 goals, is one of 14 underclassmen on the team's 20-man roster that return next year.
"I just hope all the guys come back," Kesselring said. "We have some guys that have won and we have guys now that have lost. They've seen both sides of it. But we bring a lot of our top guys back so, hopefully, we'll come back next year and have a strong year. We get five of our top six forwards back and three of our top four (defensemen), so you have to like our core coming back."
Exeter will play fourth-seeded Concord, which upset No. 1 Bishop Guertin, 5-3, Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester.
Exeter 3, Pinkerton 2
Exeter (18-5):0âÇ3âÇ0 — 3
Pinkerton (16-6-1):1âÇ1âÇ0 — 2
Goals: E — Derek Fernholz, Dakota Evans, Greg Hayes; P — Teddy McCarron, Alex Desrosiers.
Assists: E — Chris Pope, Zac Kelleher, Will Vogt, Devin Stoddard; P — Zach Sanford, Jake Dion, Andrew Walsh, Justin King.
Saves: E — Nolan Daley 30; P — J.J. Solloway 28.
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