BYFIELD, Mass. — Brooke Carlson finally got rewarded.
Governor's top center had created scoring chances throughout the night against No. 9 Phillips Exeter. When Gov's needed a goal most, Carlson (North Andover, Mass.) cashed in, burying a rebound with a minute left in regulation to tie it up, 4-4, and force overtime.
The extra frame came and went as the two sides settled for a back-and-forth draw.
Lana Hardin (Tyngsboro, Mass.) had a goal and an assist for Governor's (1-0-1). Parker Roenick (Exeter, N.H.) and Caroline Justicz (Harvard, Mass.) also scored, and Liz Luong (Framingham, Mass.) got the nod in net for the hosts.
Erin Sears (Cornwall, Vt.) had a goal and two assists for the Big Red (0-0-1), and Paisley Meyer (Greenland, N.H.) and Mia Griffith each had a goal and an assist. Maria Grey also scored for Exeter, while Lily Sabol started in net for the Big Red.
Sears opened the scoring for Exeter with four minutes to go in the first with a shorthanded goal. Emma Shu (Westwood, Mass.) forced a turnover at center ice and chipped the puck to space for Sears, who walked in and buried a wrister.
Roenick answered less than a minute later, driving toward the net from the boards with Exeter scrambling and going five-hole.
Hardin gave Governor's a 2-1 lead with 7:06 left in the second, wiring a wrist shot off the post and in from the right circle after a quick up from Joey Calderara (Windham, N.H.) and Lucia Peraza (Hanover, N.H.).
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Gray responded with two minutes to go in the second, chipping home a rebound in front after Luong made the initial stop on Meyer's bid in tight off a feed from Sears.
Griffith restored Exeter's lead early in the third, finishing a give-and-go from behind the net with Sears on the power play. Meyer made it 4-2 with 13:42 left in regulation, finding the loose puck in the slot, turning and firing one off the bar and in.
Justicz cut it to 4-3 with 10:47 remaining, digging the puck free off a face-off and burying a wrister five-hole.
Let's dive into five takeaways from the game.
1. Exeter's top players dragged them into the fight
It was a rocky start to the first period for Exeter as the Big Red had trouble breaking the puck out cleanly and getting on the same page on regroups and in the neutral zone. They could hardly get anything going.
But with seven minutes to go in the first, Exeter's top line with Gray, Meyer and Sears went to work, along with the top pair of Grace Riley and Claudia Navrat (Cumberland, Maine). It was the first time in the game that the Big Red were able to set up shop and sustain pressure. They wore down Gov's with extended zone time and regained some momentum.
Shortly after, it was Sears getting Exeter on the board with her shorthanded goal. Then Gray found the back of the net in the second. At the end of the frame, it was Gray drawing a trip that set up Griffith's early power play goal in the third. Sure enough, Meyer cashed in herself. Riley's poise skating the puck through the neutral zone and getting heavy shots from the point was key, too.
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It's not hard to see why Exeter's top line has been so successful. They got to their game in the offensive zone, and Governor's struggled to contain the trio when they were on the ice. Anyone would.
2. Carlson came alive in strong game for Gov's top line
Gov's top line was excellent in its own right between Carlson, Hardin and Roenick.
Hardin nearly opened the scoring on the game's opening shift, blowing by the defense off a stretch pass for a breakaway. Her forehand-backhand bid somehow wouldn't go when she had Sabol beat. I couldn't tell if it caught the post or if Sabol got a piece from my vantage point. Hardin was a factor every time she was on the ice, doing a tremendous job in 1-on-1 battles on the forecheck and generating powerful shots. The latter was on display with her goal.
Carlson got better as the game wore on. She drove play and got to middle ice in the offensive zone. Her combination of length, speed and skill is impressive to watch when she gets going, and it's what makes it difficult to knock her off the puck.
The sophomore had several chances around the net in the third, including one drive to the crease out of the corner and another redirect in front. She finally cashed in on a rebound after Hardin forced a turnover high and swung it to Roenick for a wrister from the left circle.
3. Governor's second line provided emotional lift
Governor's second line with Justicz, Ashley Reilly (Burlington, Mass.) and Lexi Durant played with a ton of energy. The trio was crucial to the way Gov's responded after Exeter's goals.
Reilly drew a hook on a strong drive to the net in the first. After Sears scored shorthanded, Reilly was key to the offensive pressure Gov's got in the run-up to Roenick's tally, ringing the crossbar on a deflection in front. After Gray made it 2-2 in the second, Gov's second line responded with a strong forechecking shift that led to two bang-bang chances for Durant in front that Sabol turned aside. Earlier in the frame, Durant and Justicz had a 2-on-1 after Justicz blocked a shot out high.
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Justicz' goal was the turning point in the third period. Exeter looked as if it might have been cruising to victory, but Justicz and the second line flipped the script. They made Exeter pay for an icing as Durant got tied up on the face-off before Justicz won the puck and buried it. With her raucous celebration, hyping up her bench and the crowd, Gov's got the boost it needed to finish strong.
4. Exeter's secondary producers made big plays
For all the fanfare Exeter's top line gets (and it's well-deserved), the Big Red will need their depth to step up to take the next step into the Elite 8.
On Friday, those key pieces for Exeter showed flashes. You had Griffith's power-play tally, taking advantage of a lane to the net for the pass from down low. There were strong plays from Shu on top of hard forechecking from Kiera Dowd (Concord, Mass.),
Shu made key plays all over the ice, putting herself in good spots and playing with an active stick. It's what helped her force a turnover before laying the puck into space for Sears for the shorty. Later, she had a great stick check against Megan Carlson (North Andover, Mass.) at the point. Dowd did a good job of hounding puck carriers on the forecheck and disrupting regroups.
5. Very little room for error so far
The two prep games I've seen so far this season have shared similar characteristics.
For starters, both ended in ties. In both games, the teams I might have expected to win (Exeter and Thayer) didn't play their best hockey out of the gates. Meanwhile, Governor's and Milton Academy were opportunistic and made them pay for mistakes.
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Entering the season, Exeter was No. 9 in our top 10, while Governor's was 18th in our next 15. Thayer was No. 15 and Milton was No. 21. I mentioned in our preseason RinkWise podcast that there didn't seem to be a ton separating many of the teams in our Next 15, with some programs in the back end of the top 10.
It's just a two-game sample, but that's been the case so far. It speaks to the depth among the playoff contenders across the NEPSAC. The margin for error is so thin on any given night.
