Jameson Bourque picked up 30 saves and the John Stark-Hopkinton boys’ ice hockey team had its power play working on Sunday afternoon, using a pair of first-period goals to turn back Kearsarge-Plymouth, 2-1.
Cam Bourque and Brett Patnode handled the scoring load for the General Hawks as Cam Bourque snapped a wrister into the upper right corner of the net on a power play and Patnode scored 58 seconds later on a feed from Benny Madden to give Stark-Hopkinton (11-4-1) an early 2-0 advantage.
The Cats (7-9) clawed their way back into the contest in the second period when Alex Nangle scored a power-play goal, chipping one in past Jameson Bourque off an assist from Jakob Arnold. But that would end the scoring as both goalies turned back any remaining shots. Kearsarge-Plymouth’s Cody Rowe finished with 30 saves.
“We played strong in the first and third periods, but we took some undisciplined penalties in the second to force us to penalty kill most of the period,” Stark-Hopkinton Coach Denis Kolehmainen said.
Both teams have two games remaining on the regular-season schedule before the start of the Division III tournament.
Stark-Hopkinton visits Somersworth/Coe-Brown on Wednesday and returns home to face Kennett on Saturday. Kearsarge-Plymouth is set to host Monadnock on Wednesday and will travel to Laconia on Saturday to match up with Moultonborough/Inter-Lakes.