Greta Norton had a tremble in her voice as she tried to fight off the tears that welled in the corner of her eyes.
Norton, a junior defenseman on the Concord High girls’ hockey team, stood outside of locker room four at Everett Arena faced with the reality that hers was a season ended unexpectedly but still one to be proud of.
“It was so much fun this year,” she said. “We had a great time.”
Concord’s assistant captain held it together long enough before some of the tears gave way with the scoreboard in the background still glowing with the grim result, a 3-2 loss on home ice to No. 5 St. Thomas-Winnacunnet-Dover in an NHIAA Division I quarterfinal.
Things started off according to plan for the No. 4 Crimson Tide in Friday night’s game. They capped off a mostly back-and-forth opening period with a goal from freshman Tess Mulkerron and headed into the first intermission with a cool 1-0 lead and triple the amount of shots on goal as their opponents.
The middle period provided no relief in terms of separation after Juliana Grella scored the equalizer for St. Thomas roughly half way through the period. Concord had its chances throughout, however, with two power-play opportunities, one of which extended into the final period.
But a few difficulties – an 0-for-4 performance on power plays, for one – mixed with line-switching issues and spacing on the ice started to catch up with the Tide as the game progressed. With both teams desperate for a goal to go ahead, Kayley Young poked the puck just past the inside of Concord goalie Lily Hillsgrove’s left foot for the one-score advantage with 7:11 left in the game.
Moments later, offensive flurries from both teams ensued, first by St. Thomas after Isabella Carey scored on a backhanded shot that extended the lead to two goals. It was a short-lived lead, however, as Mulkerron scored only 20 seconds later to cut the deficit back to one.
Concord got the break it needed with 1:06 left in the game after St. Thomas was called for too many players on the ice, giving the Tide a skater advantage for the rest of the game. Once Concord won the ensuing face off and controlled the puck in the zone, Tide coach Tim Herbert pulled Hillsgrove to make it a full 6-on-4 situation.
Unfortunately, the equalizer goal for Concord never came, and the best chance came in the neutral zone with puck clanging off the top of the crossbar and bouncing over the top instead of falling in the net – a dramatic end to an otherwise successful season.
“The beautiful thing about hockey is it’s all about a bounce of a puck,” Herbert said. “And tonight, it didn’t bounce our way.”
Concord ends its season with a 14-5-0 record that included five straight wins to close out the regular season. There isn’t a need to hang heads in the long run because of a recent shortcoming. Next season will bring with it a different team, as the Tide lose Hillsgrove and captain Libby Brown to graduation. But much of the core returns, highlighted by Norton and every single defenseman.
For now, the sticks will be stripped of their tape and the blades covered, until next winter’s new season begins.