Eagles earn second trip to state title game

White coach is in the birthing room, players win semi-final game

It may be a bit much to call it the second blessed event of the evening but while head coach Jim Terry was at the Memorial Hospital with his wife and new-born son, his players were 90 miles south at the Everett Arena in Concord defeating John Stark 6-3 and advancing to the Division III finals.The Eagles earned their second straight trip to the Whittemore Center on the campus of the University of New Hampshire by rallying from 3-2 first period deficit to wear down the Patriots. The championship game will be played Sunday, 4:30 p.m.Assistant coach Peter Hall took the reins Tuesday with help from athletic director Steve Mello, who said Thursday, he's "more than happy to retire 1-0," in his brief coaching stint. The coaches went with the strategy of slow and steady wins the race and that's exactly what happened as John Stark ran out of gas in the third period."We played four lines in the first period while John Stark played just two all night," Mello said. "Once the third period came around we were much fresher and it showed on the scoreboard. You can't go with two lines especially when you get onto the bigger ice surfaces. This was just a total team effort, everyone did their part."Coach Hall agreed. "We wore them down, you could see it happening," he said. "When Brian (Frechette) scored what proved to be the game-winner in the third, it gave us all, of the momentum and took the wind out of (John Stark's) sails."Kennett High looked liked a team on a mission early in this contest, jumping out to a 2-0 lead inside of 90 seconds. Elliott Irvin put the Eagles in front with assists from Timmy White and Kyle Bergeron. Just seconds later Todd Frechette lit the lamp from Owen Thomas and Ben Hall. "I thought we were going to cruise," Hall said, laughing. "I think we got a little over-confident, started playing back on our heels, and before we knew it we were down 3-2 at the end of the first period."Kennett regrouped in the second period in which both defenses got stingy. The lone goal of the period came courtesy of Ben Hall from Todd Frechette and Owen Thomas. "That was a big goal," Coach Hall said. "It got us level going into the third period."In the third, Brian Frechette netted what proved to the game-winner four minutes in from Hall and Todd Frechette. Thomas made it 5-3 (from Hall), and Kyle Bergeron closed out the scoring (from Irvin and White) late in the contest.Kennett, the No. 2 seed, will meet top ranked ConVal for all of the marbles in the championship. The Cougars withstood a game-effort from defending champs Monadnock, winning 3-2 in Wednesday's nightcap at the Everett Arena. ConVal handed the Eagles the lone blemishes on their record with a pair of January victories, 5-2 in Peterborough and rallying from a 3-1 deficit in the third period to win 4-3 in overtime in Conway."They're good, but we know we can play with them and we can beat them," Hall said. "They're big and physical, but only have two lines hopefully we can wear them down, too. It should be an exciting game. I look forward to Sunday's game and getting Jim back on the bench.""I like our chances," Mello said. "We have the experience of being there last year I think we remember what happened."Mello is also in the process of setting up a spectator bus for those who would like to travel down for the game. The deadline to signup is noon in the school office on Friday. For details, call 447-6364.