ROCHESTER — With their top scorer away on a family vacation, the Somersworth/Coe-Brown hockey team had to resort Plan B.
That called for a spread-the-wealth scoring approach. Seven different players lit the lamp for the Bearcats Saturday in a 7-2 Division III win over Kearsarge/Plymouth at the Rochester Arena.
Somersworth/Coe-Brown (3-3) led 3-2 after the first period, but then scored the next four to pull away, two each in the second and third periods. Kearsarge/Plymouth dropped to 1-4.
"We had some kids get a lot of ice time today that don't usually get playing time," said Somersworth/Coe-Brown coach Shane Maurice. "They've been proving themselves in practice. They came out today and proved that they can keep up and skate and find their own roles on the team."
Sophomore Gage Gagne led the way with a goal and four assists, while Cam Frank added a goal and two assists.
Also scoring were Colby Walsh, Ryan Nester (assist), Cole Perra (assist), Brett Dodier (assist) and Connor Cossette (assist).
All this without leading scorer, sophomore Daniel Strum.
Freshman goalie Cal Welch had a strong game in net with 18 saves.
"For a true freshman, he's come in and been a life line for us really," coach Maurice said. "He doesn't get flustered. He's a very even-keeled kid. He's been great for us to pick up."
Welch is part of a very young team with 10 sophomores and only three regular players back from last year's semifinal team.
"We're a work in progress," Maurice said. "We're young. Still learning their own way, slowly. But they're getting there."
Walsh, Nester and Gagne scored for the Bearcats during a wild first period, while Garrett Sprenger and Nathan St. Pierre countered for the visiting Cats.
A sloppy and chippy second period worked to the Bearcats' advantage despite themselves. Frank scored a power-play goal from Gagne and Dodier at 2:18 and Perra folowed with a tally at 12:25 to up the margin to 5-2.
Each team had three penalties.
a five-minute major by the Cats carried over to the final period, but Somersworth/Coe-Brown was unable to take advantage during the remaining 3:07.
"That was big," said Kearsarge/Plymouth coach David McKenney. "You'd like to get some momentum after that. But it didn't come to fruition."
Two big saves by Welch during a Cats' flurry after the penalty was killed kept Kearsarge/Plymouth off the board before the Bearcats finally put the game away.
"I just watched the puck and made sure I stayed in the zone to keep the team in it," Welch said.
Dodier pumped the lead up to 6-2, scoring from the top of the left circle with a shot to the left corner.
Cossette scored the final goal with less than a second to play.
"We were basically just trying to control the game in the third," coach Maurice said. "Use the penalty and the power play to try to wear them down and control the puck. we worked more on that than worrying about getting a goal. we wanted to slow ourselves down. We were running around quite a bit the whole second period and we were in the box. So just calm the team down and get back into our groove. I think they did a good job of it in the third."
Two Kearsage/Plymouth goalies — Sam Johnson and Zach Ross — combined for 16 saves. Alex Nangle had two assists.
"We've had a theme this year, they're not giving up," coach McKenney said. "Once again they stayed to the theme. It's good to see. They can get down with unlucky bounces. But they played hard to the end."
The Bearcats play in Laconia Wednesday vs. Moultonborough/Inter-Lakes.