Boys’ hockey: 4 in a row?
CHS celebrates following a goal against Trinity during the Brian C. Stone Memorial Christmas Tournament. From left to right: Carter Doherty, Brooks Craigue (#3) and AJ Dow.
The Concord High School boys’ ice hockey team is looking for its 4th championship in a row this season.
The Crimson Tide currently leads the Division I standings with a 6-0 record, with recent wins against Pinkerton and Bedford.
Bow, Bishop Guertin and Trinity are the team’s next opponents. CHS will play Bow Wednesday, Jan. 11, at 5:30 p.m. at Everett Arena. The game against Bishop Guertin, also at Everett Arena, will start at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14.
Concord will play Trinity at JFK Memorial Coliseum in Manchester Monday, Jan. 16, at 2 p.m.
The Crimson Tide team is led by two-year captain and four-year varsity player Brooks Craigue, #3, who in 72 games played has racked up an astonishing 147 points.
Other key players include junior forwards AJ Dow, #17, and Dawson Fancher, #10. Behind the offense is senior captain Joey Tarbell, #5, and junior Jack Shoemaker, #11.
The team’s only loss of the season came during non-conference play in the annual Brian C. Stone Christmas tournament, which is played every year in late December in honor of Brian Stone, a hockey great who was inducted into the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey in 2006.
The Tide started 3-0 in the tournament, with wins over Bedford 7-1, Exeter 6-2, and Trinity 5-4, but lost to Exeter 3-1 after an empty netter to Exeter’s Roger Davis.
The Tide has won the state championship three years in a row. Technically CHS shared the title for the 2019-2020 season, but that was because the championship game that year was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic precautions.
The 19-1 Tide was favored to win that title alone.
Concord was favored to win the following year, 2020-2021, and that’s exactly what the team did, led by captains Alex Forward and Ryan Philbrick.
Philbrick, who has committed to play Division 1 hockey for the University of New Hampshire, was named player of the year after Concord’s win over Salem 7-0.
Most teams and most people thought the absence of Ryan Philbrick was going to hurt the Tide last year, as he was considered the best player to come out of CHS, but the team proved they were more than just Philbrick.
Concord went undefeated. Led by Craigue and Tyler Coskren, the team won the state championship against Bedford 3-0.
