Bedford, MA – It’s been a wacky past couple of days of games getting shuffled all over the state due to power outages from the recent blizzard but MassNZ made the trip to Edge Sports Center to catch a D2 playoff tilt between the 12-seeded Patriots of Concord-Carlisle and the 21-seeded Red Raiders of Melrose. This matchup would determine who would advance to the Sweet 16 to face the winner of Woburn and Silver Lake. Pregame parking was certainly an adventure but we were able to make it in just in time.
In the first period, there were quite a few fits and starts as both teams looked to gain an early edge. Both teams showed active sticks that led to turnovers and most of the neutral zone was clogged up, not allowing for odd man rushes either way. The house was busy as both teams were crashing the crease looking to outnumber the opposition. Ultimately the best chance in this frame came on a shot from Melrose which trickled behind Patriots’ goalie Sam Griswold but it was quickly fired out to safety by a defender and on we went. There were a couple of netfront looks at the other end but none of them found the back of the net: we were tied 0-0 after 1.
In the second period, the Patriots came out of the locker room with a mentality in mind: hit or be hit and they spent the next 15 minutes living that philosophy and making things tougher on the Red Raiders. They didn’t have much room to operate in this period and when they did get the puck into the attacking zone they were not getting close to the net and the big CC defense shut off those lanes. There were several Grade A looks at the net and it seems as if it would only be a matter of time before they would cash in. Just 6:14 into the frame a nice play on the end wall by junior Joe Grasso allowed him to turn and fire the puck to the slot where fellow junior Declan Daley was waiting and he fired a twisted wrister past the netminder to make it 1-0 Patriots. Daley hit the Conor McGregor swag celly and celebrated in front of the student section. CC was emboldened after this goal and continued to turn up the heat. They would create several turnovers in the neutral zone and that led to clean shots in transition. They would put a couple more quality looks on net but neither would find the twine and we went to the third with the score 1-0 Concord-Carlisle with Melrose needing to dig deep to extend their season.
In the third period, Melrose made its strongest push of the night and worked the cycle down low to make things uncomfortable for the Patriots. There were a couple of quality looks in front but Griswold was equal to the task. Melrose continued to establish that pace of pay for the opening five minutes of the period as they fought hard with their season on the line. But little by little Concord-Carlisle began to right the ship and they tilted the ice back to even as we hit the halfway mark of the period. They were able to create a couple looks of their own in the attacking end but neither was of any consequence on the scoreboard. The game took on a tit for tat style flow as each team traded rushes back and forth as we looked up at the clock and it was down to the final five minutes. Melrose looked to press but they were unable to get lateral passing plays set up quite how they wanted due to CC’s defensive sticks. We got down to the final 1:20 of play and Melrose pulled their goalie to gain the man advantage. A whistle with 52.6 seconds left meant Melrose could take a timeout to regroup and strategize…but the bad news was that the draw was in their end and they had to put in the goalie. They would drive the puck into the offensive end and repull the netminder…but to no avail. The Patriots advance to the Round of 16 by the slimmest of margins: 1-0.
Three Stars:
- G Sam Griswold, Concord-Carlisle
- F Declan Daley, Concord-Carlisle
- F Mason McLean, Melrose