Bishop Guertin boys hockey unable to capitalize on opportunities in tie with Salem

SALEM – Gary Bishop stayed outside his team’s locker room Wednesday for a few extra moments.

The frustration was evident coming off the ice from the Bishop Guertin High School boys hockey team, players and coaches, after the Cardinals had controlled most of the action against Salem, but had to settle for a 1-1 tie at the Salem Icenter.

Bishop Guertin put 50 shots on Blue Devils goalie Paddy Capsalis, and while the senior made some great saves, a lot of the shots came from the perimeter and the Cardinals were unable to get much going on around the net. Some of that was by design for Salem, but Bishop felt his players could have done more, too.

“We had a lot of shots, we didn’t finish, we didn’t bear down on the net,” the coach said. “We had chances plenty of times and we just didn’t bear down around the net. We had a lot of outside shots, we didn’t crash the net for rebounds, all the little things we needed to do we didn’t.”

One of the few times Bishop Guertin did go to the net, the Cardinals (3-1-2) got their lone goal of the game, as Douglas Barker put home a rebound after Capsalis stopped a shot by Chase Blazak with 1:17 left in the second period.

That goal came about five minutes after Salem (3-1-1) got its only tally of the game, when Kevin McGuire’s pass from behind the goal line found Michell McGinn, and McGinn beat Bishop Guertin goalie Jacob Perrin (22 saves) to make it 1-0.

“We looked good at times and a little sloppy at times,” Salem coach Mark McGinn said. “That’s a top three team. For us, the effort was there, and that’s what I’m really looking at.”

After a back-and-forth first period, Bishop Guertin nearly took the lead early in the second, when a shot by Nick Gould beat Capsalis, but rang off the far post. The rebound caromed far enough out that the Blue Devils were able to clear the zone.

A few minutes later, Jacob Rodrigue nearly deflected a shot past Capsalis, but just missed the net. Salem was able to get going the other way, and with Bishop Guertin slow to get back, McGinn capitalized with the game’s first goal with 6:21 left in the second.

The Cardinals looked like they might have a good chance to tie it as they went on the power play less than a minute later, but Capsalis made a couple of saves and Bishop Guertin took a penalty of its own near the end of the advantage.

Salem looked like it took a 2-0 lead on the power play, when a shot by Alec Svenson appeared to hit the inside of the post, but officials signaled no goal and play continued. Bishop Guertin killed off the penalty, and moments later, tied it on Barker’s put back.

“Doug Barker has stepped it up,” Bishop said. “He’d been playing on our fourth line, and third line this year, then all of a sudden we put him up and he gets the goal. He’s starting to prove he wants to be that guy.”

Both teams had to kill of penalties in the third period, and with neither side capitalizing, went to overtime. Salem had a great opportunity to win it when McGuire blocked a shot near the blue, controlled the loose puck, and started in on Perrin alone.

But as McGuire approached the goal, two Bishop Guertin players caught up and took him down, and the Salem freshman was awarded a penalty shot with 5:37 left in overtime. As he approached Perrin, the puck rolled off McGuire’s stick and he wasn’t able to get a shot off.

“He hasn’t scored in a few games, so I think he has been pressing a little, put a little pressure on himself,” McGinn said. “He created the opportunity for himself before that, which was more important to me. He kept his feet moving.”

Capsalis kept the game tied when he reacted quickly to glove a point-blank backhander by Ben Peterson with 45 seconds to play.

“We made one glaring mistake and they got a goal,” Bishop said. “We’ve got to come prepared to play. If we get the chance to put the puck in the net, we’ve got to put it in the net. It can’t be that we came close.”