RallyNorth.net

Wed, Feb 27, 2008 04:00 PM @ Pinkerton

Team	1	2	3	Final
Playoff Game Division I Tournament - Round 1
Manchester Central	0	0	0	0
Pinkerton	0	2	1	3

Pinkerton freshman blanks Little Green

Thursday, February, 28 By Peter A. Martin
Staff writer

A hot goaltender in a tournament can be a dangerous weapon.

Not only does it allow a team to be a bit more aggressive, it can give a team a renewed sense of confidence. With eighth-seed Pinkerton looking nervous in the opening 15 minutes of the Division 1 first round game against No. 9 Manchester Central, freshman Kevin Kent was a rock, turning in several clutch early saves. The Astros settled down and cruised to a 3-0 victory.

"(Kevin) was big for us," said team captain Jeremy Lavoie. "He has been playing solid all year, but he really stepped it up and we needed good goaltending. He bailed us out of a couple of tough situations."

"I was nervous, there is a lot of pressure on the goalies," said Kent, who stopped 22 shots to blank Central in his first-ever tournament game. "I knew coming in that it could be (Central goalie Jared) Cox's last game so he'd be going real hard for his team and I had to match him."

With the netminders playing cool during a scoreless opening period, the pressure finally began to ease for the rest of the Astros. Just over a minute into the second period, Lavoie received an outlet pass from Doug Schultz at center ice, streaked in alone and beat Cox stick side by sliding a backhander along the ice.

"Getting the first goal was big," said Pinkerton head coach Casey Kesselring. "Our bench kind of relaxed and it let us get mentally focused on playing our game."

Slowly gaining command of the game, the Astros scored again with just over two minutes to go in the second period. Alex Campbell led a 3-on-1 rush out of his zone along the wing, finding Bobby Meskell with a cross-ice pass. Meskell jammed the puck home underneath a sprawling Cox to give the Astros a more comfortable 2-0 lead, allowing them to try and kill off the clock.

Despite the defensive posture, Pinkerton found the net one more time. Freshman forward Teddy McCarran received a pass in the right slot from big brother Billy and ripped a slap shot into the top right corner of the net with 1:27 left. "I didn't relax until Teddy's goal," said Kent. "Up two goals, it was still a close game."

The Astros now face a daunting quarterfinal challenge in regular-season champion Bishop Brady (17-2) Saturday at 4 p.m. in Concord. The teams have played two close games this season with Brady winning 2-1 in preseason and again during the regular season 5-3 (including an empty net goal).

"I think we have a lot of confidence against Brady," said Kesselring. "We have played them tough throughout the year, but they are the best team in the state so we have nothing to lose. Maybe we get some good bounces and pull the upset. It's David and Goliath."