Even top-seeded defending champions have lessons to learn in the playoffs. In the quarterfinals, the Crimson Tide learned not to let your opponent hang around. So in the semifinals, they didn’t just beat their opponent. They buried them.
Senior captain Tyler Morin recorded a hat trick and an assist, with his first goal coming just 46 seconds into the game, and linemate Nolan Walsh had four assists as the Concord High School boys’ hockey team (19-1) defeated the No. 4 Windham Jaguars (12-8), 6-0, in Wednesday night’s Division I semifinal at JFK Coliseum in Manchester.
The No. 1 Tide will have a chance to defend their title against No. 3 Bishop Guertin (13-5) on Saturday at SNHU Arena.
Concord’s top line of left wing Morin, fellow senior captain Chad LaRiviere at center, and Walsh, a sophomore right wing, scored early and often.
On the first shift of the game, Walsh collected the puck in his own zone and sent a pass from blue line to blue line, setting up an odd-man rush. With one deft touch of his stick, Morin had control of the puck behind the Windham defender marking him. Morin’s shot beat Windham senior goaltender Roberto Robles (23 saves) on the near side of the cage for a 1-0 lead 46 seconds into the game.
With three minutes left in the first period, Morin received the puck from Walsh behind the goal line and sent the puck to LaRiviere near the top of the crease, whose wrist shot to the near side made it 2-0.
A similar play made it 3-0 with 12.8 seconds left in the first, this time with Walsh passing the puck from behind the goal line to Morin, who one-timed the shot past Robles.
Senior defenseman Michael Barry was also credited with an assist on the goal.
“That’s how we need to come out against teams like that,” Concord head coach Dunc Walsh said. “That’s a big uphill climb against us. Saturday (in the quarterfinals) we might’ve learned a little lesson. We let Bedford hang around and that was scary. But tonight we came out really strong.”
The Tide beat No. 8 Bedford in Saturday’s quarterfinal, 4-2, but Concord squandered a 2-0 first-period lead, allowing the Bulldogs to tie the game, 2-2, heading into the third.
On Wednesday night, Concord doubled its lead instead.
Although the Jaguars played better defense and slowed the Crimson Tide’s momentum in the second period, sophomore Austin Proulx found the net when sophomore Rhys Craigue one-timed a pass to Proulx on a give-and-go, and Proulx put it away to make it 4-0 with 6:21 left in the period.
Less than two minutes later, Concord was on the penalty kill, but the team’s top line scored its fourth goal of the night, with Morin completing his hat trick on a shorthanded goal, with Walsh assisting.
“I’m feeling pretty amped up. I’m playing with these awesome linemates and they make it really easy for me,” Morin said. “We’ve been playing together for a long time, since youth, and we’ve been practicing together all year. It’s really hard for teams to stop our down low movement at the net.”
Just 28 seconds later, Craigue scored another shorthanded goal to make it 6-0.
The Tide’s sophomore netminder Carter Heise faced his toughest shots in the second period, particularly one sequence near the middle of the period when Windham put some bodies in front of him, forcing Heise to make a pair of saves in a flurry through traffic.
Although Heise made 21 saves in the shutout, Windham’s opportunities were nowhere near the level of quality that Concord’s produced.
“We’ve been together all season and we know where (each other are) at this point,” Nolan Walsh said. “I think we had better chances. All of (Windham’s) chances were from the outside, which is what we wanted to do. We had the chances and we capitalized.”
Walsh is the team’s leading scorer with 34 goals in 23 games (including the Christmas tournament), but tonight he was the setup man.
“They all have different skills, but they’re a really good line, obviously,” coach Walsh said. “They move the puck. Unselfish, almost to a fault. Some nights I have to tell them, ‘Shoot, shoot!’ They’re so unselfish. … They complement each other. We split them up midseason and tried to find some balance, but we were at the point that they should play together.”
While the Morin-LaRiviere-Walsh line stood out, it was “a good team effort,” according to coach Walsh.
Concord’s second line of Proulx, Craigue and freshman center Griffin Blaine was on the ice for two of the three goals that the Tide scored in a span of 1:56 in the second period, which broke Windham’s spirit and sent the game into running time.
“We haven’t had a lot of shorthanded goals, but we want to put pressure on the other team and force them to turn it over,” coach Walsh said. “Everybody was solid, our D was pretty good and limited (Windham’s) chances.”
Concord next turns its attention to Saturday’s championship game, a rematch of last year’s Division I title game, which the Tide won 2-1 in four overtimes.
Concord and BG split the regular season series, with Concord winning 4-3 on home ice on Jan. 17, and the Cardinals winning at their rink, 4-2, on Feb. 4. The Tide will need another quick start if Concord hopes to avenge its only loss this season.
“(Getting a fast start) was absolutely the message going into this game,” LaRiviere said. “I’ve got the best linemates in the world, so it’s easy to play (well) when you’ve got guys next to you like that.”