Whitman-Hanson Pembroke made the most of their man advantages at Hobomock on Saturday afternoon.

Kristi Kennedy and Alex Davis both scored power play goals, and Tricia Stacey scored the game-winner late in the third period as the WHP girls hockey team continued its strong start with a 3-2 win over the Marshfield Rams.

“They are a good program, and I knew it would probably come down to special teams,” head coach Chris Googins said of his team’s power play. “The girls executed the way we practiced, and we are fortunate to have some skilled players in there.”

Coming off a hat trick against Scituate on Dec. 16, Kennedy wasted little time finding the net again against Marshfield. With WHP on the power play, Kennedy slid the puck between a defender’s legs and wristed a shot inside the near post to give the girls the lead.

Despite getting outshot 9-5 in the first period, Kennedy’s goal stood until the second period when the Rams took advantage of aggressive play by the WHP defense and tied the game on a two-on-one break down ice. Davis put WHP ahead again on the power play in the second, but the Rams answered minutes later with a three-on-one breakaway off a faceoff in their own end.  

“We told our veteran defenders Alex and Tricia that they have got to be 200 percent sure before they go into the offensive zone,” Googins said. “We knew about their speed, but we made it a little more of a point to cut down on their odd man rushes after the second period.”

The defense settled down in the third period to prevent Marshfield from going on another breakaway, but they still remained active inside the Ram blue line. With 4:20 left in the game, Stacey beat Marshfield’s keeper with the game winner that gave the girls their third win of the season in their toughest challenge thus far.

“It was a great high school hockey game,” Googins said. “It was two evenly-matched teams with solid goalies going at it.”

The road for WHP does not get any easier with Sandwich on Dec. 30 and then Division I champion St. Mary’s on Jan. 2. While Googins said the team is looking forward to the matchup with St. Mary’s, winners of 57 straight games, he said they will be in for a rude awakening if they overlook Sandwich.

“They are strong also,” he said. “We have had some great games with them in the past and they are off to a real good start this year. So we’ll have our hands full.”