Trinity comes up short against unbeaten Bishop Guertin, 4-1

TYNGSBOROUGH, MA — You’ve got to bring your best hockey if you’re hoping to knock off one of the best teams in the Granite State. Trinity High did not and paid the price in a 4-1 loss to Bishop Guertin, Saturday afternoon at Skate 3.

John Mantone had two goals and two assists to lead the Cardinals, who improved to 5-0-0 on the season, heading into showdowns next week against Bedford (3-1-0) and top-ranked Concord (6-0-0).

Trinity (1-3-0) stayed close through the first two periods but failed to take advantage of some scoring chances, especially in the first period.

“I didn’t think we played our best hockey, to be perfectly honest,” said Trinity Coach Mike Connell. “We had some chances early on, we didn’t finish. Then I think they wore us down. They’re a physical team, they had some big hits. They were clean hits, but I think they wore us down.”

Bishop Guertin led just 2-1, with 10 minutes left in regulation, when a bit of “puck luck” bounced in the favor of the Cardinals.

Mantone intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and made a hard rush down the left side, then snapped a centering pass, toward Logan Vogel. Trinity’s Anthony Ronzello came streaking back toward the net to break up the play but the puck deflected off his stick and past goalie Brendan Heppler, making it 3-1.

“Yeah, we got a little bit of puck luck there when it bounced off his stick but that was good because up to that point I felt like a lot of bounces weren’t going our way,” said Bishop Guertin Coach Gary Bishop.

The Cardinals added an insurance goal with 7:12 remaining when defenseman Mike Ponto’s wristshot found its way through a crowd of players and into the back of the net before Heppler ever saw it.

Heppler played well, overall, with 31 saves, including 13 in the second period.

“(Heppler) played well, he was seeing the puck well and when he could see it, he was making some big stops for us,” said Connell.

After a scoreless first period, Bishop Guertin broke the ice with a goal from Mantone, 6:38 into the second period. Vogel worked hard to extract the puck from along the boards, then found Mantone, unattended, in the high slot. The senior captain settled the pass and ripped a shot just under the crossbar to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.

Their offense sputtering a bit, Trinity caught a break in the form of a penalty to BG’s Zach Greer for hooking. The Pioneers wasted little time taking advantage of the power play. BG goalie Brayden King (23 saves) made a stop on Aiden Palmeter but he couldn’t control the puck. Tyler Peltak was there to jam home the rebound and tie the game.

Trinity had just one penalty in the game, a tripping call on Ben Canny with 1:24 to play in the second period. Bishop Guertin made their only man-advantage count when Vogel (1G, 2A) scored a power-play goal with just 34 seconds remaining,

“Oh, that was huge, obviously, to get that goal right before the end of the period,” said Bishop. “Up to that point, it’s tied and the game can go either way. ”

Trinity is back in action Wednesday, playing host to Manchester at 4:30 p.m. at the JFK Coliseum. Bishop Guertin hosts Bedford at Skate 3, Wednesday at 7:50 p.m.