Bow boys hockey hands Keene its first loss to win D2 championship

MANCHESTER – Doug Champagne knew he had put the puck in the back of the net, even if no one else seemed to know.

When officials finally singled the Bow High School senior had scored the first goal of Saturday’s Division II boys hockey championship, the tone had been set for the Falcons.

No. 2 Bow scored in the first two minutes of both the second and third periods, and held off a late charge by No. 1 Keene to knock off the undefeated Blackbirds 4-2 at SNHU Arena to win the program’s second title, and first since 2010.

Champagne had two goals for the Falcons, the second of which proved to be the game winner 1:45 into the third period, and Austin Scarinza added a goal and an assist, as he scored on the power play with 2:29 to go to give Bow (18-2-1) some breathing room.

The win comes in the third trip to the final for Champagne and the rest of the Falcons’ seniors, who lost in the final to Bedford as freshmen and to Windham last season.

“It feels a lot better,” Champagne said. “They had a great team and they were undefeated, and to stop them feels a lot more special. We had seven seniors who had been here for their third time. We definitely weren’t as nervous because we knew what we had to do. We knew we could beat them if we played our game, and luckily we came out on top.”

Ryan Tobeler also scored for Bow and Chris Mead and Colin Tracy each had an assist, while goalie Nate Carrier made 23 saves, including 10 in the third period.

The four goals was the most allowed by Keene (18-1) all season, as the Blackbirds fell behind 3-0 before a goal by Tim Greenwood put them on the board with 8:49 remaining in the game.

Gaetano Delonge made it a 3-2 game with a goal of his own with 4:48 to go, on a shot that was deflected by a Bow defender past Carrier, but that was as close as Keene could get.

“It was a weird game for us,” Keene assistant coach Chris McIntosh said. “I don’t think we ever thought we were out of it. Hockey is a very emotional sport. I thought we stayed with it and stayed in it. We had enough time and we were there. We had enough momentum in some sense, just a couple of goals short.”

Nate Darwin and Griffin Kane each had an assist for the Blackbirds, and Myles Ditkoff made 20 saves, 10 of which came in a first-period barrage by Bow.

Keene controlled possession for the first few minutes of the game, but it was the Falcons who had the better chances, and capitalized on one of them.

After a Blackbirds power play had expired, Mead brought the puck into Keene’s end and tried to get a shot on Ditkoff, but misfired. The senior forward continued around the net and found Champagne on the other side of the goal, who slipped it past Ditkoff.

Initially, the on-ice official blew the play dead, but the goal light came on and a goal was awarded to Bow at 11:44 of the first period.

“All season, our biggest weakness was the first period,” Champagne said. “To get one early, that definitely got our momentum going. I knew it went in, I just didn’t know what was happening. No one said anything. Chris Mead whiffed on it, but it was a smart play to bring it around the net. He saw me in front, I got it and fired it quick. It snuck in.”

It was a much different start for the Falcons from when they lost to Keene twice during the regular season.

“The biggest thing was not turning the puck over like we did the previous two times,” Bow coach Tim Walsh said. “And we came out strong. We gave up three goals in the first period when they played them both times, and that made a difference for us.”

It was still 1-0 to start the second period, until Tobeler scored on a two-on-one, ripping a shot past Ditkoff to make it a two-goal game just 1:27 into the period. Champagne got his second of the game 1:45 into the third on a shot along the ice that seemed to fool Ditkoff, making it 3-0.

When Keene made it 3-2, Walsh started to get a little anxious, but felt like his players didn’t.

“They were fine,” he said. “I may have been more worked up than them. They stayed with it and made some smart plays, keeping the puck in their zone. They won a lot of loose puck battles along the boards.

“I thought that was unbelievable job by our guys to win those battles against a veteran team that’s big. Our guys rose to the challenge and came through.”