MANCHESTER – The timing of the final horn sounding and Concord’s bench clearing were just as synced as its skaters were throughout the game.
Sticks were tossed to the side, gloves and helmets thrown high above the ice and a pile of white and crimson jerseys barreled into the boards clinging onto one another, refusing to let go of the shared embrace.
This was the exact moment the Tide had been longing for throughout the season. They knew they could do it, and anything short would be a failure. But there were no failures, not on this day and not in this moment, as Concord (19-0-2) won its third consecutive NHIAA Division I state boys’ hockey championship, defeating rival Bedford, 3-0, at SNHU Arena.
In a physical, back-and-forth effort, the Tide were forced to mold their typical finesse and fast-playing style into a combination with mere brute force. No. 2 Bedford (17-3-1), known throughout Division I for its physicality and size, established that for the Tide to score, they would have to get checked first.
But no matter for top-seeded Concord. It’s had the biggest target on its back all year long and, on the biggest stage, it shined the brightest. Once the hits settled, the Tide found their way and began the same level of offensive aggression they had in Wednesday’s semifinal win over Hanover.
Shot after shot was sent toward the net until, finally, senior center Cam McGonigle scored the first goal of the game with a nicely timed wrist shot that snapped into the top right-hand corner of the goal with 7:52 left in the first period.
McGonigle, who’s had at least one goal in each of the Tide’s three playoff games, continued his fine play in Saturday’s championship between his puck movement and establishing a flow of play while in the Bedford zone.
His patience offensively wasn’t just in scoring goals but also knowing when to pass the puck for someone else to share the glory. An assist on a power-play goal scored by winger Colin Nelson in the second period that stretched the Tide’s lead to two afforded the opportunity for both McGonigle and the Tide to breathe just a bit easier against a pressing defensive effort.
“I just threw it on net and knew that Colin would get a rebound, and he ended up putting it in the back of the net,” McGonigle said. “It was a key goal.”
If that was the key goal in the Tide’s eyes, the one to seal the deal happened with under a minute left in the middle period, and almost unexpectedly.
Brooks Craigue, a junior center and team captain, toed the blue line at the front of the Bulldogs’ zone, watching the action unfold in front of Concord’s net. With the Bulldogs’ forecheck trying to regain the puck, a check on McGonigle sent him onto his back and, while he sat on the ice, he managed to fling the puck out of the zone right in front of Craigue’s stick.
No stranger to breakaway opportunities, Craigue surged from the blue line and, with a couple of strides, he fired a shot into the goal to score Concord’s third and final goal of the game. It’s every goal scorer’s dream to have an opportunity for a breakaway in a championship, and Craigue didn’t waste his moment.
“Just to beat the goalie,” Craigue said when asked what goes through his mind during a breakaway. “I waited until the last second and just threw it above his left shoulder (and it went in).”
On the subject of goalies, the Tide’s senior netminder, Will Pegnam, delivered a shutout behind 24 saves, and there were moments where it seemed all he did was stop shots. He comfortably left his crease in order to keep the puck in front of him, using his blockers and pads even his skates to prevent Bedford from scoring.
His best moment, however, came on a breakaway opportunity where he stuffed the shot attempt without even a moment of hesitancy – the perks of being a veteran player.
“(I’ve been) pretty confident,” Pegnam said. “Just trusting the team, trusting myself.”
Pegnam and fellow senior goalie Kevin Jones have swapped starts throughout the regular season, but a year ago Jones got the start in the semis and championship. This year, the net belonged to Pegnam.
With 42 saves in his last two games, he’s been a big factor in yet another banner year for the Tide.
There’s certainly been parity in Division I over the course of 20-something years, but with the parity comes one stable force and that’s the Concord program. This season’s championship takes the program to now 11 in total, and the Tide become the first team in 23 years to win three in a row.
The last program to do so?
Concord from 1996-99.
“When we get the lead, we’re pretty good,” Concord coach Dunc Walsh said. “In the third period, it was just about get pucks deep, don’t take chances and don’t give up the odd man rush.”
Sure, the Tide could have continued to be aggressive offensively, but Walsh was forced to readjust his lines and defensive pairings after sophomore defenseman Jack Shoemaker left the game early with a lower-body injury and never returned.
In his place went Nelson, a former defenseman himself, and the shifts for the lines were short in order to keep legs fresh.
It’s another season come and gone with the top team ending where it started. The Tide will lose nine players to graduation, but those nine players have continued to carry the legacy that is Concord hockey. It’s a revered and respected program, and when it takes the ice, the game is immediately elevated.
That’s noted chiefly by the record over the last three years: 63-3-2. This program continues to excel and set the standard that the best Granite State high school boys hockey team plays in the capital.
“Everything we’ve won on the ice has been incredible,” McGonigle said. “This is something I’ll never forget.”
And as the Tide’s skaters stepped off the ice for the last time this season, it truly was a year that will never be forgotten.
Of all the moments throughout the season, hat tricks and saves, locker room jokes and tough practices, it’s all worth it because another trophy will rest where it has the last three years.
With the crimson and white.