Concord, MA – We wanted to be in the house as the Division 2 State Champs began the defense of their crown from 2021-22 so we made the trip down to Concord to see the Tewksbury Redmen travel on the road to take on the upstart Concord-Carlisle Patriots.
In the first period, Tewksbury came out flying, dominating possession for the first five minutes or so. They had a number of strong chances denied by Concord-Carlisle’s junior netminder CJ Bailey. The first period was very physical as both teams tried to set the tone for what would be a pretty even period until junior striker Matthew Cooke broke the seal on this one with a nice toe-drag move around the defender leading to a goal with 5:03 left in the period.
The second period was a much more high-scoring affair as Tewksbury doubled their lead with 12:44 left from a nice goal by senior Ryan Flynn who made a fantastic toe-drag move at the top of the circle to beat the defender and then pick the right side of the net to beat the goalie just under the glove. But Concord Carlisle answered with a quick pair of goals from senior Lucas DeMarco (9:24) and junior forward Jay Carter (7:51). DeMarco scored a power play goal with a nice short side shot to beat the goalie on his glove side while Carter made a great solo effort up the ice and made a nice move around the defender to score on a breakaway. The tie would only last for a little less than two minutes as Cooke scored his 2nd goal of the game to give Tewksbury a 3-2 lead with 6:16 left in the second period. From then on Tewksbury would start to really take over the game with 3 unanswered goals in this second frame. Freshman forward Tyler Bourgea would score with 4:44 left from a great pass by senior Andrew Whynot. Senior forward Conor Cremin scored again soon after to make it 5-2 Tewksbury on an easy rebound tap-in from a point shot by Cooke.
In the third period, the momentum would stick with Tewksbury as Concord-Carlisle could not generate any offense against the tough Tewksbury defense led by team captain Nick Dicioccio. They made life tough on the Patriots, it was difficult to get through the neutral zone during the final frame. About a third of the way through the period Dicioccio led a rush up the ice and beat a defender to create a breakaway and scored short side right above the blocker to make it 6-2 with 11:07 left in the game. After that, it was more of the same with Tewksbury hemming the Patriots in their zone for the rest of the game. The final score was Tewksbury 6, Concord-Carlisle 2. Both teams will be back in action on Saturday with Tewksbury taking on Newton South and Concord-Carlisle facing Lincoln-Sudbury.
Three Stars:
- F Matthew Cooke, Tewksbury (2G, 1A)
- F Jeremy Insogna, Tewksbury (2A)
- D Nick Dicioccio, Tewksbury (1G)