RallyNorth.net

HOOKSETT — Pinkerton learned a valuable lesson about cashing in on scoring opportunities yesterday. Luckily, the Astros get a second chance to put it into practice.

The fourth-seeded Astros seemed to have an edge in talent and on the scoreboard over the Division 1 tourney’s Cinderella team — 12th seed Trinity — in quarterfinal play at the Ice Den. But Pinkerton saw several huge scoring chances go unrewarded and the youthful Pioneers, fresh off a 6-1 shocker over No. 5 Exeter to advance, never took their foot off the gas pedal. With aggressive forechecking and physical play, Trinity scored twice in a three-minute span to tie up the Astros with 5:14 left in regulation.

A veteran Pinkerton roster didn’t panic. On the power play in the final minute, a rebound score by Nick Currier with 3.5 seconds remaining to put the Astros past the Pioneers, 5-4.

Next up will be top seed Bishop Guertin Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Manchester’s JFK Coliseum in the semifinals. Guertin sent over 60 shots at No. 8 Salem’s net yesterday but was forced into overtime to prevail and advance.

Everything in the early action indicated a Pinkerton victory — good positional play, quality passing, and calm resilience against a Pioneer squad prone to take the body. Adding in a pair of short-handed goals from an active Jason Carace seemed to make the recipe complete.

But the Astros saw point-blank second period scoring opportunities from Billy McCarran and Carace along with rebound attempts from Jake Dion and Teddy McCarron go by the wayside. The 3-1 advantage after two was convincing but not as much as a 5-1 bulge would have been.

"It really would have been nice," Pinkerton head coach Casey Kesselring said. "Then we got up 4-2 (on Carace’s second short-handed score) and things looked OK but Trinity came right back."

Just 39 seconds later on the same penalty, senior Barry Kendall drove a bullet past goalie J.J. Solloway’s right elbow to cut the lead in half, then grabbed the rebound of captain Jeff St. Jean’s doorstep drive on his next shift to knot the count.

Kendall also had a four-star opportunity with 2:20 left as did freshman Tyler Theodoulou a minute later, but Solloway (20 saves) blocked them both.

"That was a lot of pressure (when they came back to tie it) but I didn’t let it get to me," the junior goalie said. "Even when you’re winning, I think of it as a 0-0 game all game because you see how quickly things can change."

Pinkerton seized upon a power-play opportunity off of a hooking call with 59.7 seconds left. Patiently setting up its final shot at victory, Carace glided into the left corner and sent the puck out to Andrew Stefanelli at the left point. The junior sent an accurate wrister to the lower right corner of the net that Trinity sophomore Cory Kolden (31 stops) stopped with his left toe. But Currier was Johnny-on-the-spot for the rebound, tucking the puck into the open corner for the victory.

"On the power play, I just set up out front," Currier said of his second goal of the day. "I’m supposed to be the screen guy but I saw the back door was open. Stef saw me and did a good job getting the puck to me. I had the whole net to just put it in and start the celebration."

"Even though we scored when down a man — Carace and Currier are dangerous short-handed — penalties were a big obstacle for us to overcome," Kesselring said. "All of a sudden, they’re in our end and building momentum. I thought 5-on-5 we controlled the game."