A look at the shot totals may indicate a lopsided game between No. 2 Bow and No. 10 Portsmouth-Newmarket in their Division II quarterfinal matchup Saturday at Everett Arena.
The Falcons outshot the Clippers, 53-18, but the final score was far more modest – a 3-1 win for Bow advancing Coach Tim Walsh and his players to yet another postseason meeting with Windham – this time in the semifinals.
“This time of year you get the win, you get the win,” Walsh said. “You win and move on, only one team can. It doesn’t really matter how you win, but we did. … You look at the differential in shots, it says we had control almost the whole game. But you’ve got to finish and their goalie played really well.”
The Falcons (16-2-1) tried to make life as easy as they could for Nate Carrier (17 saves) between the pipes. Portsmouth (9-10) managed 10 shots through two periods, but it took Bow 25 shots before one finally went through.
It came off Doug Champagne’s stick, giving Bow a 1-0 lead 5:12 into the second period. Champagne circled behind and tried to jam the puck around the post and under Portsmouth goalie Lance Lavoie’s pad. After that attempt failed, Champagne had another chance and lightly flipped the puck over Lavoie’s shoulder into the back of the net.
Austin Scarinza (two assists) and Chris Mead (goal, assist) were credited with the assists. Lavoie finished with 51 saves.
“We knew we were going against a great goalie,” Champagne said. “It’s hard get them on him. So we just had to keep peppering shots and we knew one would go in.”
Dylan Stutts almost tied the game on a breakaway chance four minutes after Champagne put Bow in front. Stutts had a clear path to the net as he crossed the blue line but Brandon Tibbetts closed in from behind and lifted Stutts’ stick to breakup the play.
Ben Wheeler made a similar play toward the end of the second when Portsmouth’s Beau Arsenault saw his one-on-one chance end before he could shoot. Oscar Kozikowski took a shot a minute later that rang off the left post. Another inch to the right and the Clippers would’ve tied it.
Mead gave the Falcons some breathing room with a goal 43 seconds into the third. Scarinza threw a shot at the end boards to the left of the net that deflected behind Lavoie, slid through the crease and into the slot. Mead, crashing toward the net, came onto the puck and snapped it into the open the net to give Bow a 2-0 lead.
“When we got that one, we (on the bench) could relax a little bit as coaches for a second,” Walsh said. “The shift after that goal was a good shift. We always talk about the shift after goals is the most important shift of the game to that point and our guys played well.”
That relief was followed by some worry as a Portsmouth skater crashed the net and collided hard with Carrier as he covered the puck. Carrier’s helmet absorbed most of the contact. Walsh and a trainer came onto the ice as play was interrupted for a couple minutes.
Carrier eventually stood back up and stayed on the ice. The Clippers tested him quickly and scored seven seconds later on a shot from Owen Kane, cutting into Bow’s lead 2-1 with 9:03 left.
“He seems to be fine,” Walsh said of Carrier. “He gets run into quite a bit. … I was concerned that he was hurt. The second I got out there, I knew he was alright. I think he was startled that it happened.”
The game heated back up with Portsmouth down by just one. Colin Tracy was called for tripping with 7:54 left, putting the Clippers on a critical power play. The Falcons were fortunate to kill the first 1:24 of the penalty when Portsmouth’s Andrew Weeks was called for a trip. Another minute later and Kozikowski was called for a cross-check.
Tracy returned to the ice and Bow had a 5-on-3 power play followed by a 5-on-4. The Falcons couldn’t score with the extra man, but senior forward Austin Beaudette netted a backhand goal on an empty net for a 3-1 lead with 30 seconds left.
Bow will face Windham in the semifinals at the Rinks at Exeter on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. Bow beat Windham, 2-1, on the road on Jan. 25 and then played to a scoreless draw in their second meeting three days later in Concord.
But the game that sticks out most between Bow and Windham is the D-II championship last season, a 4-3 loss for the Falcons. Windham beat No. 6 Dover on Saturday, 4-1.
“We know what we’ve got coming,” Champagne said. “They’re a great team, they’ve got another great goalie. We know it’s going to be a great game – hopefully we come out on top.”
(Nick Stoico can be reached at 369-3339, nstoico@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @NickStoico.)