Concord boys hockey picks up fourth straight win with victory over Bishop Guertin

CONCORD - The Bishop Guertin High School boys hockey team got thoroughly acquainted with the visiting penalty box at Everett Arena Wednesday night. In a contest featuring two of Division I’s traditional title contenders, Concord earned a 3-1 victory over the Cardinals, who took seven penalties in defeat.

The victory marked Concord’s fourth straight and moved the team to 8-1 on the season. The Cardinals (5-3) had won their previous five games entering Wednesday’s bout.

The Crimson Tide went 1-for-7 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

“We’ve got to stay out of the box,” Bishop Guertin coach Gary Bishop said. “All the penalties we’re taking are lack-of-skating (calls) so that’s on us.”

Concord senior forward Kyle McKinnon notched the game-winning goal when he broke a 1-1 deadlock on a shot through traffic in front of the Cardinals’ net with 5:13 remaining in the second period. Devin Philbrick and Derek Kelleher assisted on McKinnon’s tally, which came 11 seconds after Bishop Guertin killed off its fourth penalty of the game.

“I was battling in front with their D along with Derek and Devin and saw the puck bouncing, took a swing at it, got lucky,” McKinnon said of his game-winner.

Crimson Tide sophomore Alex Forward capped the game’s scoring with a power-play goal that came following a cross-ice feed from Ryan Philbrick with 6:51 remaining. Forward’s score came shortly after Concord’s five-on-three advantage expired.

Concord coach Dunc Walsh said he saw some good shifts from his power-play unit but also a few that could have been better.

“It’s all about breaking out of our zone,” Walsh said. “If we break the puck out clean and we get it set up, usually the power play’s pretty good. If we rush it or we don’t wait for guys to be in their spots, then sometimes it breaks down and then once we don’t get it set up, then we’re in trouble.”

Concord freshman Tyler Coskren’s unassisted goal with 2:39 left in the first period opened the game’s scoring. Bishop Guertin’s Patrick Madden answered with a back-door goal off assists from Ben Young and Aaron Pratt 15 seconds later to knot the score at 1-1.

Bishop said it was difficult for the Cardinals to get into a rhythm considering the amount of time they spent in the penalty box.

“Any momentum that you might have had is gone,” Bishop said. “Now you’ve got your lines all mixed up trying to kill penalties because now you’ve got guys in the box, two guys in the box. You’re pairings are all screwed up on defense. It’s hard to play when you’re that many times in the box.”

Concord outshot the Cardinals, 20-14, over the first two periods and 28-20 overall. The Crimson Tide forced Bishop Guertin to largely settle for mid-range or long-distance shots.

“That’s the thing we’ve been working on all the last couple weeks is getting in (close) and we didn’t do it (Wednesday),” Bishop said. “We didn’t follow our shots. All the things we’ve been doing and working on in practice the last couple weeks, all of a sudden they stopped doing.”

Parker Taylor made 19 saves for the Crimson Tide. Chris Sullivan turned away 25 shots for the Cardinals.

“We’re in the meat of the season and they’re a team just like us,” McKinnon said. “It was a really important win for us. Glad we played the way we did and got the win.”