CONCORD – The Zamboni was off the ice, the nets were put back in place and the horn sounded, notifying the teams that the third period of Wednesday night’s Division III hockey semifinal was ready to start.
Souhegan goalie Erik Hayden makes a save during the Division III semifinals.
But there were no teams. The horn sounded again, and still no one came.
Finally, after the third horn, the Souhegan High school boys hockey team exited its locker room and made the daunting march to its bench for the final 15 minutes of what would become a 9-0 victory for top-seeded Kennett.
The fifth-seeded Sabers, already down 7-0 and facing a running clock for the final period, knew their season was coming to an end in the worst way imaginable.
There was reason to be positive. The game, much like the season, would be measured in more than just wins and losses.
“We didn’t quit and that’s the main thing,” Souhegan coach Ed Viola said. “We kept going.”
While those on the outside of the Souhegan program assumed that the Sabers would struggle to reach the semifinals for the sixth straight year, Viola expected to see his team playing.
“I told them after the game, I totally expected to be here tonight,” he said. “Looking at the teams, I knew we were in that middle group and that’s where we ended up. We ended up two points out of third place.
“We lost some games that we shouldn’t have that would have made the difference. We beat some good teams. The only teams we didn’t beat all year were Kennett and Bedford, and those are the teams going to the final. I don’t measure success in wins and losses. The kids grew as individuals.”
Individuals who, knowing their season was ending in a short 15 minutes, refrained from giving up or succumbing to the dirty play that too often accompanies the final period of a hockey blowout.
“I have a lot of respect for Souhegan,” Kennett coach Mike Lane said. “They’re a class act. I thought, after losing as much as they did, I never expected they’d be back in the semifinals. Souhegan had a tough night and you feel for a team what that happens.”
Viola acknowledged that Souhegan would have to played “a mistake-free game to beat them,” but that went out the window after Kennett’s first goal was put into the Souhegan net by one of the Sabers. The Eagles added three quick goals late in the first period, and it was 4-0 at the first intermission.
“At the end of the first, I told them we weren’t out of it, and I really believed that we weren’t,” Viola said. “You just have to keep playing the game and do your best. It wasn’t for a lack of effort. We made physical mistakes probably caused because we were too tight. Everyone was too excited.”
If the Sabers weren’t out of it then, they were when the Eagles scored two more goals in the first minute of the second period.
“And against a team like this, it’s tough to come back,” Viola said. “They don’t give up many goals.”
After a starting the season with back-to-back losses to Kennett and Bedford, Souhegan went 13-5 the rest of the way, including the playoffs. Five of those losses were to the Eagles and Bulldogs. Perhaps the most disappointing part was that Wednesday’s game wasn’t closer.
“We played them hard during the regular season, so I didn’t expect this at all,” Viola said. “They stepped up and we weren’t ready for that.”