Bow’s Tim Walsh wouldn’t mind seeing some shenanigans on the ice Saturday afternoon. Nothing too outrageous, of course, but some good-natured goofing would be a positive sign for the top-ranked Falcons (17-2-1) when they take on No. 6 Windham (13-6-1) in the Division II championship game in Manchester at the Verizon Wireless Arena.
“This team is funny. They like to joke around and have some fun with each other,” said Walsh, now in his 15th year as Bow’s head coach. “They’re pretty loose, but I think (in the semifinals) they weren’t loose, they weren’t funny, they were tight. And that was our biggest issue against Keene, we came out real tight.”
The Falcons did get the last laugh against No. 5 Keene in Wednesday’s semifinals when they claimed a 5-3 win that sent them to their third title game in school history. Bow won it all in 2010 and finished runner-up in 2013.
The run to the championship game in 2013 provided “experience for some of our juniors that was just huge,” Walsh said. Doug Champagne was a freshman on that team skating on the first line and learning from his senior linemates, Jake Rand and Chris Fournier, two of D-II’s best that season. This year, Champagne led D-II in scoring in the regular season (28 goals, 17 assists), he has five goals and an assist in two playoff games and don’t be surprised if he’s saved his best for the biggest stage.
“The more stressful the game gets, the more calm he gets and the more he performs,” Walsh said of Champagne.
Juniors Austin Beaudette and Chris Mead also saw plenty of ice time during the 2013 playoffs, and now they help to form a very productive pair of top lines for the Falcons. Beaudette and Ryan Tobeler are the wings for Champagne, while Josh Connor centers the other top line between Mead and Alex Killion.
Walsh will also mix in a third line of Jeff Bell with Branden Tibbetts and Dominque Biron, but he sticks with a tight rotation of four defensemen.
“Those four are just so good, we want them on the ice,” Walsh said.
That core four is made up of seniors Robbie Joscelyn and Jamie Ess and juniors Colin Tracy and Brendan Uhlrich. The seniors provide the grit and tenacity while the juniors, who are both regulars on the power play, do more with the puck.
Knowing he had that kind of talent returning, Walsh had a feeling before the season even began that his team might be playing a game this Saturday at the Verizon. There was only one caveat.
“I thought if we got halfway decent goaltending, there’s no reason we shouldn’t be in the finals, and (freshman) Nate (Carrier) has been more than halfway decent, he’s played fantastic all year long,” Walsh said. “And in the time our other two goalies have had to play, they’ve played well.”
Bow and Windham did face each other this season, but that was all the way back on Dec. 16 in the season opener for both teams. The Falcons won, 3-2, but they aren’t putting much stock in that game.
“We got more out of watching their game last night (Windham’s 6-3 semifinal win over No. 2 Merrimack),” Walsh said. “They’ve got a couple kids up front that are very talented, very slippery players that are going to be tough to play against. And their goalie (Christian Bassi, 24 saves in semifinals) is steady. He’s got great hand-eye and if we put it near his glove he’s going to catch it. And their biggest thing is they don’t stop. They just do no quit. They’re relentless, to be honest.”
The Jaguars showed their tenacity in the semifinal. Trailing 2-1 going into the third, Windham scored twice in 70 seconds early in the period and then kept coming for three more goals and the win.
Bow also came on late in its semifinal. Things were tied at 2-2 before Tobeler and Champagne scored in the final minutes of the second to give the Falcons some breathing room.
“We have to play better in our own zone against Windham than we did (in the semifinals),” Walsh said. “We were terrible in our own zone against Keene and we need to be much better against this team on Saturday because they’ll make us pay for it if we don’t. We’ve got to be disciplined and play our systems really well.”
(Tim O’Sullivan can be reached at 369-3341 or tosullivan@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @timosullivan20.)