Tournament hockey: Hats off to Concord's Philbrick
Mar. 4—Ryan Philbrick's natural hat trick led the Concord High School boys hockey team to a 5-1 NHIAA Division I Region Two preliminary-round victory over Hanover Wednesday at Everett Arena in Concord.
Concord (13-2) will host Bow (4-7) in a region quarterfinal on Saturday. Bow defeated Bishop Brady of Concord, 4-3 in overtime, behind sophomore Josh Billow's game-winning goal in its preliminary-round bout on Wednesday.
Hanover finished the season with a 3-10 record.
Concord led, 1-0, after the first 15 minutes and Philbrick, a junior forward, added his three goals in the second period to give the Crimson Tide a 4-0 cushion entering the final frame.
Philbrook scored from the right point off a Crimson Tide offensive-zone faceoff win, from the doorstep via an assist from Joey Ala, and following a Hanover neutral-zone turnover. He scored his second and third goals over a one-minute span, with his last coming with 1:41 left in the second period.
"He's the leader of our team. There's no question about it," Concord coach Dunc Walsh said of Philbrick. "We expect it out of him. He just steps up when you need him."
Hanover coach Dick Dodds said Philbrick also had a hat trick against the Marauders in an 8-2 Concord win the last time the teams played on Jan. 23.
"He's extremely quick," said Dodds, "so he's got the speed to cut on a dime. You try to lay a body on him, you can't hit him...He's two plays ahead of everybody else."
Walsh said the Crimson Tide got their forecheck going early, which Dodds said made it difficult for Hanover to break the puck out all game.
"We tried many different ways to do it but they were all over us," Dodds said.
Concord junior defenseman Alex Forward opened the game's scoring with a first-period backdoor power-play goal off assists from Colin Nelson and Brooks Craigue. Tyler Coskren capped Concord's scoring in the third period via an assist from Craigue.
Crimson Tide junior goaltender Kevin Jones made 13 saves.
Junior goalie Luke Ives made about 42 saves and senior defenseman Tom Lyons scored the lone goal for the Marauders.
"They're one of the best teams not just this year but that we've had in our league in a couple years," Dodds said of the Crimson Tide. "It's fun playing against them but it's a challenge."
—
