Bow boys hockey beats Windham on late power play goal

SALEM – Ryan Tobeler just wanted to get a shot on net.

With time ticking away in a 1-1 game, and the Bow High School boys hockey team on the power play, the junior got a pass to the right of Windham goalie Max Daly.

When Daly went low to prepare to make a save, Tobeler tried to go high and placed the puck in the back of the net with 1:21 left before the end of regulation, and the Falcons held on for a 2-1 win over the Jaguars in a rematch of last year’s Division II final at the Salem Icenter.

“(Alex) Killion did a good job taking it to the net and (Austin )Beaudette just poked it across to me,” Tobeler said. “I saw the goalie was down so I tried to catch him off guard and fire one off quick. I was lucky I got him. I just knew we had to put more shots on net, and that’s what our line was trying to do, to bring more energy.”

The goal gave Bow (10-1) its ninth straight victory, while handing Windham (8-3) it’s second loss in a row. The two teams meet against on Saturday at Concord’s Everett Arena at 6 p.m.

“I thought we could have played a lot better,” Bow coach Tim Walsh said. “We made a lot of mental mistakes. Our forecheck wasn’t very good, we didn’t put enough pressure on their defense. Our second guy was slow to get to the puck.

“Defensively, I thought we did a lot of watching of the puck, which can’t happen. I think we could be a lot better, but we get another great game against on Saturday against (Windham). That will be great.”

Chris Mead also scored for the Falcons, deflecting a shot by Killion past Daly with 1:04 left in the first period to put Bow up 1-0. That’s where it stood until early in the third, when a shot by Windham’s Tyler Toohey deflected off two Bow sticks past goalie Nate Carrier to tie the game.

“That was two evenly matched teams that played well,” Windham coach Sean Dunn said. “There were swings in momentum. It was perfect.”

Windham looked like it had tied the game on the power play early in the second period, when Brandon Madigan knocked the puck past a sprawling Carrier, but the closest official waved off the goal.

That penalty was the first of six called against the two teams in the second period, and there were a total of 12 in the game, but Tobeler’s winner was the lone power play goal.

Daly helped make that the case in the second, when Bow had a 5-on-3 advantage for 90 seconds, but couldn’t find the back of the net. The Windham goalie stopped a handful of shots as the Falcons struggled a bit on the bigger ice.

“This is the first time we played on this ice and the Olympic (size) sheet makes a difference,” Walsh said. “What happens is, the guys who are on the sides, they get so wide because they’re used to being in certain spots. They go out to the boards and think ‘I’m OK,’ but you’re not. You’ve got to get off the boards more.

“If you don’t play on it, you’re not used to it. We just didn’t move the puck quick enough on the 5-on-3. We let them recover and we got too cute. Instead of making a simple, first option, we’re trying to make behind-the-back passes and one-timers. That’s not us, we don’t do that.”

Bow’s best chance on the power play came when Tobeler sent a pass across the ice to Mead, catching Windham scrambling, but the senior’s shot came from a bad angle and missed the net.

“Sometimes when you get on the Olympic rink and you have the extra second, you double think about what you’re going to do with it as opposed to just having a reaction,” Dunn said. “That can work against you. (Daly) ties up pucks really well and he slows teams down, takes away any momentum that other teams have. He’s really good at getting rebounds, or directing them to the corners, so guys can’t get second chances.”

Windham had a chance to take a one-goal lead of its own on a power play midway through the third, but Danny Donovan missed the net from in close on a rebound. Carrier came up big for the Falcons in the final period to help keep them in position for the win.

“Sometimes your goalie has to be your best player in certain situations,” Walsh said. “Sometimes he has to be your best penalty killer, and Nate played great.”