By Jerry Liptak

Just prior to Bishop Guertin’s inaugural NHIAA contest, the girls hockey team head coach, Mark Karaska, said he and his assistant, Myia Yates, were nervous and excited.

No surprise there.

Yet, after losing to host Concord on Jan. 2, 5-0, the post-game mood of a more relaxed Karaska was at least as excited, despite the lopsided outcome.

And with good reason.

The Cardinals suit up 17 players; 13 are underclassmen, including eight freshmen and five sophomores.

In the loss at Everett Arena to the Crimson Tide, that preponderance of youth played a key role in the setback.

“They were pressuring us,” said Karaska. “Concord was so quick that we

couldn’t even get (the puck) out of our (defensive) zone.”

Still, Karaska’s inexperienced charges trailed just 1-0 well into the second period, when a pair of short-handed tallies put Concord comfortably in front.

“We really spent our tank in the first period,” said Karaska, who added he has two exceptional lines – the “red” line of senior Korissa Bailey of Pelham, junior Rachel Karaska and freshman Taylor Hadley, and the “yellow” line of freshmen Emily Doran, Morgan Enos and Kayla Lambert.

Most teams, however, skate a minimum of three lines to avoid fatigue.

Right now, BG is developing that third line from what Karaska called a solid group that includes four sophomores – Briana Barbaro, of Pelham Lydia Hayes, Erin Donovan and Alanna Lynch.

And Karaska said his two seniors, Bailey and defenseman Marie Turner, are setting a positive example for their teammates.

Anyone closely watching the match with Concord would be hard-pressed to disagree: Turner worked tirelessly along with junior Katherine Dufour in front of freshman goalkeeper Marissa Anastasi. Bailey skated aggressively throughout the match, consistently fighting in the corners for possession of the puck.

Turner and Dufour, both captains on the team, will eventually give way to another group of freshmen; each are defensemen: Haley Mierzwa, Madalyn Northcutt of Windham and Riley O’Brien.

The team’s other goalie, Christiana Carlini, is a sophomore.

So, fans and foes alike should expect growing pains from Guertin, just like the majority of the remaining eight Division I girls ice hockey programs with newfound varsity status.

But BG, 0-3-0 following a 7-3 loss to St. Thomas-Dover on Saturday, Jan. 5, and a 3-1 setback at Lebanon on Tuesday, Jan. 8, faces  tests against Berlin, at Oyster River and then D-I’s heavy favorite, Hanover, before winless Exeter visits Jan. 19.