Bow hockey Coach Tim Walsh is in a good spot to start the season. Most teams would be when they have last season’s Division II Player of the Year returning for his senior season and are coming off a championship game appearance.
But Doug Champagne, Bow’s electric shooting forward who potted 34 goals last season, isn’t going to be the only Falcon grabbing headlines this season if the program hopes to return to the D-II final for another shot at a state title.
“You never know who is going to show up on what night,” Walsh said. “I don’t want to say we definitely should be back, but if the kids play the way they’re capable of and we coach the way we’re supposed to coach, we should get there.”
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Walsh is probably right to stop short of calling a finals return anything close to a sure thing. Bow will first have to survive a string of tests through January and February, including a pair of games against defending champion Windham, one with D-II newcomer St. Thomas Aquinas (down from D-I), and two with Keene, a team that shares some recent history with Bow that could spill over into the new season.
Last year, Bow got the better of the Blackbirds in overtime during a regular-season meeting. Bow then knocked Keene out in the semifinals on its way to a 4-3 loss to Windham in the title game. This season, Keene, much like Bow, sees most of its key players returning to the roster – including All-State picks Nate Darwin and Hunter Gallant – who combined for 79 points for Keene last year.
With a new season – and perhaps some old grudges coming into play – Wednesday night could be one of the best matchups Everett Arena will see this season when Bow hosts Keene at 7:30 p.m.
“I’m not naive enough to think that we’re just another game on Keene’s schedule,” Walsh said. “I know they don’t like us … and there’s a score to settle. We’ve got to be ready to play. Keene has some talented kids that are smart and don’t quit. Darwin is big and can shoot the puck. I’ve been thinking, how do we stop a kid like that?”
Wednesday’s game will be Bow’s second of the season. The Falcons were scheduled to face Dover on the road Saturday, but winter weather gave them the day off. Bow comes into the game 1-0 after opening the year with a 10-0 victory over Winnacunnet in Concord last week. Keene took a 4-1 win at St. Thomas in its season opener.
While the Falcons may have had fun putting pucks through Winnacunnet, it won’t be so easy moving forward. Four goals won’t always come that quickly for junior forward Ryan Tobeler. And Nate Carrier will likely face more than six shots the next time he takes the ice. He certainly had an easier night than his counterpart for Winnacunnet, Tanner Holt, who still managed 52 saves in the loss.
Call it a confidence boost to start the season, but Walsh wasn’t completely satisfied with his team’s performance, saying afterward that some stretches in the game were “uninspired and the effort needs to be much better going forward.”
Such will be true in Wednesday’s game as both teams bring talented rosters to the rink.
“It should be a good game,” Walsh said. “If it’s not, it’s because one of the two teams didn’t show up.”
The deepest part of Bow’s roster is at forward, where Walsh says the top two lines see a mix of combinations. But for the majority of puck drops, at least for now, the top line is centered by senior Austin Beaudette with Champagne and Tobeler on the wings. A lot of scoring will be expected from that group. Senior Alex Killion centers the second line between Chris Mead and Austin Skarinza.
“Our second line is really no different from the first, and that’s something you’ve got to work with,” Walsh said. “It’s something a lot of teams in our league don’t have.”
One team that does enjoy that depth, Walsh pointed out, is Keene.
The blue line has the most notable lack of depth on this year’s team. With All-State honorable mention defenseman Robbie Joscelyn lost to graduation, the Falcons will look to seniors Colin Tracy and Brendan Ulrich to anchor the defensive corps as the top pairing.
A thin line of defensemen will be manageable, though, with sophomore Nate Carrier returning to the crease after earning the job outright last year. He’ll be backed up by sophomore Jason Howe and senior Kinsman Corthell, who is dealing with an injured hand.
Carrier gained Walsh’s confidence last season and should be a mainstay between the pipes for Bow going forward.
“When you get a goalie that’s steady, you can do more and work on other things,” Walsh said. When you struggle in net, “you have to change the entire game; the way you play defense, teaching the kids to block shots, spending more time working on defensive zone faceoffs.”
With the season still in its infancy, it’s the intangibles that are still taking shape on this team. Champagne and Beaudette were named captains with Tobeler and Tracy as assistants. Walsh said there is still “a long way to go” as the team improves together.
“We’re nowhere near where we were at the end of last year as a team,” Walsh said.
Walsh might still be waiting for that next leader to step up. Without Joscelyn, Bow is missing one of its toughest players who brought grit to the ice each game.
“Robbie was a physical leader, a real presence,” Walsh said. “He’s a kid where you knew when he was out there and you had to keep your head up. Not that he was out there just hitting … but that changes the tone for a lot of things.”
(Nick Stoico can be reached at 369-3339, nstoico@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @NickStoico.)