Sports Week in Review: Unified team is the seeded No. 2

In other quarterfinal action, also set for Friday at 5 p.m., No. 1 Keene (7-0) is slated to host No. 8 Londonderry (3-4) or No. 9 Bedford (2-4), who met Tuesday night in a preliminary round game; No. 4 Exeter (5-2) hosts No. 5 Oyster River (3-3); and No. 3 Dover (6-1) hosts No. 6 Nashua North (4-4).

Should Berlin win on Friday, it would host a semifinal game on Tuesday at 5 p.m. against the winner of the Dover vs. Nashua North contest.

The finals are scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 16 at Bow High School at 4 p.m.

The Mountaineers closed the book on the regular season last Thursday with a 54-40 road win over Winnisquam (1-5) in Tilton.

The win was the second of winter for Berlin over the Bears, who the Mountaineers beat 72-58 at home on Jan. 11.

In last week’s tilt, Caleb Vicars led all scorers with 20 points, while Kurt Maslausky netted 10 points for Berlin.

“It was a total team effort, unselfish play and cohesion was the story tonight,” Karen Turgeon, Mountaineers’ head coach, said.

Every Mountie scored at least four points with Eric Crawford tickling the twine for eight.

Partners Liv Clorite, Aric Huter and Ellen Law all have been crucial this season being playmakers, rebounders and being the eyes and ears on the court all year. Coach Turgeon said they have been an important part of this team and show what unified sports is all about.

Mountaineers rally to beat Kennett, again

The Berlin-Gorham boys’ hockey team rallied from a two-goal second-period deficit with three unanswered goals to defeat rival Kennett High 3-2 at Nucor’s Notre Dame Arena on Feb. 1.

Berlin-Gorham (10-3), the reigning three-time defending champs, earned bragging rights and a regular-season sweep over Kennett with the win. The Mountaineers beat the Eagles 2-0 in Conway on Dec. 14.

This game was filled with penalties and also featured a playoff-like atmosphere. Kennett jumped out to a 2-0 lead and was carrying the play for all of the first period and half of the second period. Kennett had the better of the chances in the first period and took the lead on a Noah Deyak goal from David Silvia and Cam Fusco.

The Eagles doubled their advantage in the second period with Gabe Shaw lighting the lamp from Nolan Proulx.

The second goal lit a fire under the Mounties, who cut the lead in half with Brody Duquette stealing the puck in the offensive zone and beating Kennett goaltender Zach Moore.

Not long after that goal, Landyn Croteau repeated Duquette’s feat, creating a turnover and netting the equalizer.

With 11:32 to play in the third frame, the Mountaineers cleanly won a face-off draw and got the puck back to Keija Morton, who one-time a shot past a screened Moore for what proved to be the game-winner.

On Saturday, in a rematch of last year’s Division III title game, undefeated Belmont-Gilford beat the Mountaineers 4-1 at Merrill Fay Arena in Laconia for a regular-season sweep of Mike Poulin’s troops. The Bulldogs beat the Mounties 4-2 on Jan. 4 in Berlin.

The Bulldogs scored just 17 seconds into Saturday’s clash but the boys from the North Country tied the contest early in the second period on a Jason Sweatt goal. The hosts regained the lead late in the frame and tacked on two insurance goals in the third period.

Berlin-Gorham hosted and beat Sanborn-Epping (5-6-2) 3-1 on Monday. No details were available at press time.

B-G was scheduled to play Kingswood (7-4-2) in Wolfeboro on Wednesday night. Results were not known as of press time.

The Mountaineers are scheduled to travel back to Laconia on Saturday (1:45 p.m.) to pay Laconia-Winnisquam-Inter-Lakes (0-11). B-G won the first encounter between the two teams 8-1 at Notre Dame Arena on Jan. 18.

Berlin boys are on the playoff bubble

The Berlin High boys’ basketball team saw its playoff hopes take a hit on Jan. 31 in Bristol when the host Bears, who have struggled all season, snapped an eight-game losing skid to upset the Mountaineers 45-42 in overtime.

With 21 teams in the division, and the NHIAA’s 70 percent rate of teams that qualify for postseason play, this means the top 14 teams will make the tournament. As of Tuesday, the Mountaineers sat on the playoff bubble in 14th with a 4-10 record.

Berlin had handled Newfound (2-11) 49-40 at home on Dec. 13, but the Bears were primed to pull off an upset.

The game was back and forth all night and Berlin players were playing with a lot of heart. The Mounties fought hard and kept it tied 42-42 at the end of four quarters.

Heading into overtime, both teams showed signs of fatigue with the defense taking over for both sides. With time running out and the game tied at 42, Newfound held possession and threw up a desperation three-pointer as time expired — the ball found the bottom of the hoop and the Bears celebrated the victory.

Jeremiah Dow led Berlin with 15 points, while Brian Perry Jr. was locked in on defense. Haden Poulin chipped in nine points.

The Mountaineers traveled to rivals White Mountains Regional (5–8) on Tuesday for their final regular-season road tilt. No details were available at press time.

Berlin was looking for a measure of revenge after falling 31-25 at home to the Spartans on Jan. 3.

The Mountaineers hosted Mascoma Valley (10-3) on Wednesday night. Results were not known as of press time.

The Mounties are slated to wrap up the regular season at home against Somersworth (7-7) for Senior Night on Friday, at 6:30 p.m. Prior to tipoff, the team will recognize its seven seniors — Ross Belanger, Jacob Dalphonse, Jeremiah Dow, Sawyer Holbrook, Kevin Murphy, Brian Perry Jr. and Anthony Poirier — for their commitment and dedication to the program over the past four years.

Woodsville snaps Gorham’s win streak

The Gorham boys’ basketball team (7-8) saw its three-game win streak snapped on the road in a 60-48 loss to Woodsville (12-2) on Monday night.

The win gave the Engineers a season sweep over the Huskies after winning 54-50 in Gorham on Jan. 19.

Prior to Monday’s setback, the Huskies were on a roll, hosting and beating Lisbon (0-16) 45-7 on Jan. 24; topping (8-7) Colebrook 74-68 at home on Jan. 31; and besting Lisbon at the Panther’s den 44-13 last Friday.

When Gorham hosted the Colebrook Mohawks, fans were treated to an entertaining, but physical game. Both teams were aggressive and the game was up and down the court for most of the first half with Gorham leading by five at the half and never trailing for the remainder of the game.

Coach Dave Morrissette had his boys ready to defend holding off a tenacious Colebrook team for the important win. Kolton Dowse led the Mohawks with a game-high 32 points while Isaac Langlois led Gorham with 30. Kody Lemieux dropped in 13 points, while teammate William “Chase” Carder added 10.

With 25 teams in the division, and the NHIAA’s 70 percent rate of teams that qualify for postseason play, this means the top 17 teams will make the tournament. Gorham was tied for 14th with Franklin as of Tuesday.

The Huskies were scheduled to host Groveton (9-6) on Wednesday. Results were not known as of press time.

Gorham is scheduled to close out the week by traveling to Lincoln to play Lin-Wood (6-8) on Friday (5 p.m.), and is slated to wrap up the regular season by hosting Pittsburg-Canaan (5-10) on Tuesday (6:30 p.m.).