Bridgewater-Raynham Trojan center Jon Hart is certainly one acquaintance the Whitman-Hanson boys hockey team would like to forget and never bring to mind.

Hart scored four goals and added an assist as the Trojans ended the 2011 portion of the Panthers’ season on a down note by handing them a 7-2 loss at Rockland Rink on Dec. 28.

After falling behind 2-0, the Panthers cut the lead in half with 7:19 to play in the first period, but Hart scored the next three goals of the game, and added another in the final three minutes of the third period.

“He was unstoppable,” head coach Rich Manning said of Hart. “We have a thin defensive core, and sometimes we don’t have our guys out there because they need a break, so sometimes we don’t get the right matchup … and the game got out of hand when he took over individually.”

The Trojans took control of the game early with a goal by Mike Chapmen 1 minute and 27 seconds into the game and added another a little more than four minutes later.

Whitman-Hanson’s scoring came entirely from junior right-winger Chris Boussy, who put the Panthers on the board in the first with a backhander through the five-hole of Trojan goalie Dylan Joyce and then scored on the power play with 4:01 left in the third.

“He was awesome tonight,” Manning said of Boussy. “He’s been sick … so he’s not been himself, but it was easy to see tonight that he had his legs, and he rubbed off on his linemates and teammates. He was a spark for us in many ways, and it was nice to see him get a couple.”

But the Panthers were not able to build momentum off either goal as the Hart scored less than 30 seconds after Boussy in the first period and did the same a little more than a minute later following Boussy’s second. Hart’s first goal was a game-changer for the Panthers, who were starting to put shots on net in the first period before Hart took the wind out of their sails.

Hart scored the only goal of the second period, and scored his final two in the third sandwiched around Boussy’s score. John Dray added a goal for the Trojans in the final minute.

Despite the disparity on the scoreboard, Manning said he saw continued improvement from the team in the loss, and was proud that they continued to work for their second goal late in the third period despite the Trojans four-goal lead.

“I’m really happy because we made a lot of hockey plays tonight, which is something we haven’t done,” he said. “We’ve been banging the puck, hot potato, that type of thing and today we made some plays out there and some guys woke up. We’re going to hang onto the positives as far as making hockey plays moving forward and not worrying about the 7-2 score.”

“I think the kids are realistic this year,” he added. “We’ve got a lot of young kids and a lot of freshmen and sophomores taking a regular shift and there are some mismatches out there … Nobody is happy about losing and nobody is happy about getting scored on, but I think they understand so they’re not getting down and they’re pushing forward to the next shift. Hopefully, that serves us well next week.”

Manning also said the lopsided score was indicative of the Panthers’ youth, particularly on defense. Senior captain AJ Glynn continued to play the bulk of the game on the ice for the Panthers to lead the defensive lines despite battling illness, and Manning complemented the captain on keeping his young linesmen upbeat and in the game.

“He logs a lot of minutes out there… and he’s done exactly what we’ve asked of him,” he said. “He’s a leader on our team, he’s a horse and he’s got a great attitude, and that rubs off on the rest of the guys.”

The Panthers will look to start 2012 off on a high note when they return to Rockland Rink Jan. 4 to host the Silver Lake Lakers.