Concord boys hockey dominates in shutout win over Exeter

CONCORD – Bradley Murphy knew the Concord High School boys hockey team would be fired up to play its first home game in over three weeks.

But the Crimson Tide senior had no idea just how much he and his teammates would control Saturday night’s game against Exeter.

Concord dominated from the opening faceoff, almost getting a goal 10 seconds into the game, and kept the puck in the Blue Hawks end for most of the first period. It took the Tide until the second to get on the scoreboard, but Concord still cruised to a 4-0 win over Exeter in Division I action at Everett Arena.

“We hadn’t played a home game in a while, so we were anxious to play at home in our white jerseys,” Murphy said. “We were ready for a good game and all of us came out and played hard. We knew they’re a good team. They have a good goalie so we knew were going to have to get a lot of chances.”

Murphy had a goal and an assist, as did Matt Norris and Colin Kastle, as the Tide (8-0) outshot Exeter 43-11 and didn’t give the Blue Hawks (5-5) many chances. Matt Chorlian also had a goal while Alex Marceau had two assists, and Drew Livingston had a helper.

Had it not been for an outstanding performance by Exeter goalie Bryson Desjardins, who made 39 saves, the game could have been over a lot earlier.

“He’s good,” Concord coach Dunc Walsh said. “You can’t get frustrated. We dominated the period but had nothing to show for it. You’ve got to keep plugging and not get down about it. You’ve got to score ultimately to win the game. We felt pretty good about the way we were playing, we just had to continue to do it.”

The Tide did in the second period, although Exeter had a chance to score early in the frame. Concord almost got on the board about five minutes in, when a turnover in the Blue Hawks end left Murphy alone to the side of the net with Desjardins, but the goalie was able to make the save.

[For more photos from this game, go here.]

But less than a minute later, Desjardins slipped as he moved to his left to make save and the puck went back to the other side to Kastle, who put it in the open net to make it 1-0.

Exeter had a chance a few minutes later, when Jake Vadeboncoeur and Anders Dachsteiner moved into the Concord zone on a two-on-one, but Dachsteiner couldn’t control a pass from Vadeboncoeur and the puck went wide of the net.

“We’ve struggled in first periods this year and we came out at even,” Exeter coach Jim Tufts said. “We said these are the things we need to do better, so let’s play a little better. In some ways, I thought we did, but they got a couple of good ones.”

Norris made it 2-0 with 3:52 left in the period when a shot trickled through the legs of Desjardins and sat in the crease. The Concord senior co-captain was the first one to it and hammered it home.

“They were kind of flukey plays around the net,” Walsh said of the goals in the second period. “Our guys skated and all three lines were moving.”

Chorlian made it 3-0 at 3:38 of the third when he skated across the front to the net, spun and fired a shot past the glove of Desjardins, surprising the goalie. Murphy’s goal put the game out of reach with 5:04 to play, when he scored off a rebound of a shot by Norris.

“That was really important,” Murphy said of the third goal. “If they got some momentum, that game could have been different. We could have lost some confidence and not gotten that second goal (of the period).”

Instead, Concord got the win and remained undefeated. The Tide returns to action Wednesday at Londonderry, while Exeter gets back on the ice Monday against St. Thomas.