{"id":11673,"date":"2024-03-01T09:50:09","date_gmt":"2024-03-01T09:50:09","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"Concord-boys-hockey-gearing-up-for-playoffs-54185170\/","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/?p=11673","title":{"rendered":"Boys\u2019 hockey: Coming off back-to-back losses, Concord looks to right the ship in the playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Concord
Concord junior forward Rowan Arndt prepares to backhand the puck into the back of the net during the Tide’s 7-1 win over Pinkerton on Feb. 3, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Concord
Concord freshman Jaden Haas celebrates after scoring the game-winning goal late in the third period in the Tide\u2019s 2-1 win over Bow on Jan. 10, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>

It\u2019s not too common to see Concord boys\u2019 hockey lose back-to-back games. When it happened last week in losses to Keene (2-1) and Hanover (3-2), it was the first time the Crimson Tide program had dropped consecutive contests in seven years.<\/p>\n

Coincidentally, the second of the two straight losses during that 2016-17 season was also against Hanover. Concord regrouped thereafter\u00a0and reached the Division I championship game that postseason where it lost to Bedford in the final.<\/p>\n

This time around, head coach Dunc Walsh is hoping for a similar type of reversal heading into the playoffs, albeit perhaps one that ends with a championship win.<\/p>\n

The offense and power play struggled during the last week of the season, when the Tide scored just four goals over the last three games. As such, No. 3 Concord\u2019s (14-3-1)\u00a0taken advantage of the week between games to\u00a0regroup and refocus ahead of its\u00a0Division I quarterfinal matchup against No. 11 Exeter\u00a0(9-10-0) on Saturday at 5:45 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it was a bad thing,\u201d Walsh said on Thursday of the two losses. \u201cWe\u2019ve had three good days of practice. We\u2019re going to practice Thursday and Friday. At least now we can focus on who we\u2019re playing. They\u2019ll be ready. They\u2019re hungry. Just gotta take it one game at a time as they say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concord is as familiar with the Blue Hawks\u00a0as a team could be. The two programs faced each other twice during the regular season and\u00a0during the Brian C. Stone Memorial Hockey Tournament on the last week of December. The Tide won the two regular season games, 2-1 and 5-2, while Exeter won the tournament matchup, 4-3.<\/p>\n

More than anything, Walsh said, Concord will need to figure out how to slow down Exeter\u2019s 6\u20194 senior forward\u00a0Cam Keaveney.<\/p>\n

\u201cExeter goes with him. I think he\u2019s the best player in the league,\u201d he said. \u201cHe dominated the (first-round) game\u00a0against Bow. He single handedly just took over. And we know about him; we just played him a bunch of times. You just gotta contain him and not let him beat you. He\u2019s so dangerous in open ice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Improving the offense remains central to Concord\u2019s game plan, too. In the past when the Tide seemed to dominate nearly every opponent, it could score off the numerous odd-man rushes generated out of the defensive and neutral zones. This year, it\u2019s taken more physicality in front of the net, something Walsh continues to harp on.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of it comes down to, you gotta get to the net, you gotta get some rebound goals, tips, screens,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re not always going to get clean 2-on-1 goals or on a rush. We just need to do a better job of getting to the front of the net, getting some tough goals. Sometimes you get knocked over to score a goal, and that\u2019s what it\u2019s going to come down to, just a little tougher around the net, a little grittier and find a way to knock in rebounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scoring on the power play would also help, although\u00a0an injury to defenseman Joe Shoemaker has hampered their success with the man advantage.<\/p>\n

Overall, Walsh said the team\u2019s done a solid job of establishing possession in the offensive zone, they\u2019ve just rushed\u00a0too often to fire pucks on net instead of waiting for better opportunities to open up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we just gotta be a little more patient. That\u2019s the biggest thing,\u201d Walsh said. \u201cIn the Hanover game, we had a 5-on-3. First two guys who touched the puck are shooting the puck. I always tell them, \u2018You have two minutes, so you don\u2019t have to score in the first 20 seconds.\u2019 Just gotta be more patient, take better shots and move it around and try to set it up so we get a real good opportunity with traffic in front.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Tide are under no illusion that Saturday\u2019s game will be easy, even if it\u2019s a three seed against an 11 seed. Walsh noted after Concord\u2019s 5-2 win over the Blue Hawks on Feb. 14 that Exeter was far better than its record showed.<\/p>\n

And with a program eager to get back to its championship-winning ways\u00a0after falling in the semifinals last year, Concord is taking nothing for granted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a three against 11 seed, and people probably see that and say, \u2018That should be an easy win.\u2019\u00a0There\u2019s no easy wins now,\u201d Walsh said. \u201cIt\u2019s the quarterfinals, and Exeter\u2019s a good team, and their record\u2019s a little deceiving, and our kids know that, so it\u2019s probably good. Our kids will not take them lightly.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not too common to see Concord boys\u2019 hockey lose back-to-back games. When it happened last week in losses to Keene (2-1) and Hanover (3-2), it was the first time the Crimson Tide program had dropped consecutive contests in seven…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":188,"featured_media":11674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_newspack_byline_active":true,"_newspack_byline":"by [Author id=188]Eric Rynston-Lobel[\/Author] Monitor staff","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,508],"tags":[91,24,505],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[533],"class_list":["post-11673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-high-school-youth","category-top-headlines-cm","tag-concord-high-school","tag-facebook","tag-paywall","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/43050344-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/188"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11673"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11675,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11673\/revisions\/11675"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11673"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fnewspack_spnsrs_tax&post=11673"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=11673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}