The Concord Crimson Tide showed off their offensive firepower in an ice hockey doubleheader on Wednesday night.

Concord freshman Nolan Walsh scored the opening goal against his father’s team and the Tide boys persevered through a tough first two periods to emerge victorious, 4-1, over Bow in the season opener for both teams.

Immediately afterward, the Concord girls had a dominant showing to bounce back after a rough season-opening loss to defending Hanover and beat Salem, 7-0, thanks to a hat trick and two assists by Brooke Nelson.

BOYS

Bow and Concord were both upset in last season’s playoffs during lower-seeded Exeter’s Cinderella run to the final four in the prelims and the quarterfinals, respectively.

This year’s matchup was particularly special for the Walsh family – unrelated to Concord head coach Dunc Walsh – because Bow head coach Tim Walsh had front-row seats for his son’s first varsity hockey goal, although – unfortunately for him – it was for Concord.

“It’s such a weird situation. People were talking about it for a long time, and I didn’t know how I was going to feel, or react, and when he scored, I knew it was him. But I immediately went to the penalties we took and not being in our position to prevent that pass,” said Tim Walsh. “He’s worked his butt off, and as a dad, I’m very proud. As a coach, I gotta be on my guys for what led to that.”

Nolan Walsh had just missed a shot early in the second period, a one-on-one against Bow junior goaltender Kian O’Leary, who had saved 15 shots up to that point. A few minutes later, Walsh found himself wide open on the left wing during a five-on-three power play in the second period to bang in his first goal for the Crimson Tide, assisted by fellow freshman Rhys Craigue and junior Chad LaRiviere.

Bow, despite being on its back heels for most of the game, was able to respond quickly and equalize thanks to senior Owen Webber – who has been a huge leader for Bow’s offense in past seasons – and who showed his stick skills and shot powerfully into the right side of the net, assisted by junior Alex Cheney and senior Landon Westcott.

“I think just before that, we had a couple of shifts where a couple of guys who don’t normally get to play a whole lot went out and they played up the energy, and it changed the momentum for us. And then Owen gets the goal; it was a great goal,” Bow’s Walsh said. “And I think there was an awakening and a realization that, ‘Hey, we’re right here with the best team in the state.’ And I think we just got to continue.”

This first game was important for Concord not just because of the momentum and morale boost that starting with a win can provide but also because their next game is against last year’s No. 1 seed and runner-up, Windham.

In the game against Bow, the Tide showed resilience where they should have been leading, but were not, going into the third period. Halfway through the third, senior forward Cameron Roy scored on one of the few pucks Bow’s O’Leary wasn’t able to wrangle to see the Tide go ahead. Three minutes later, senior defenseman Cam Chandonnet hit a rocket of a slap shot that sailed into the net and sealed the win for Concord.

“Sometimes you’re out-playing on the territorial advantage but you don’t score. The longer the game goes, the scarier it gets. Bow hung in there. They played hard, and the goalie played well, but we came through with a couple to break it open,” said Concord coach Dunc Walsh. “… That’s what you got to do. You’re not always going to get pretty goals. You got to just go in front of the net.”

GIRLS

The Crimson Tide (1-1-0) piled the goals in heaps onto Salem (1-1-0) and came out with a huge win. The game was physical from the get-go, and penalties were handed often to both sides throughout the game – five to Concord and six to the Blue Devils – but the Tide’s defense did not falter.

Sophomore Nelson was the star of the show, contributing to five of Concord’s goals. She opened the scoring 11 minutes into the first period, assisted by seniors Abigail Colby and Andie Moreira, with a powerful shot that beat Salem goalie, Zeynep Yildrim.

Two minutes later, she assisted junior Elliana Wing after a great move with the puck across goal. From there, there was no stopping the Tide’s offense.

“I think just having a good bond off the ice is really important. Me and Elliana Wing, we really have chemistry on and off the ice and are able to find each other back door and just finish the puck,” said Nelson. “I think we really needed a big win after the 9-2 loss (to Hanover). We were really down on ourselves and couldn’t get out of the hole. But I think this win helped us out of the hole and to get our confidence back.”

Senior Claire Brown had two goals of her own, and Wing would add another to her tally. All in all, eight Concord players put points up on the board, and the win was a sign of what’s yet to come from the team.

“We really needed to just hit a bunch of goals tonight and feel a true win like this. So it’ll be good to kind of carry that into our next game against Keene and keep it going through the season,” said Concord coach Kate Billings. “I preached to them, before the third period that we needed to keep our heads and just play our own game and let them take the penalties so we can be a man up and score smart goals.”

Alexander Rapp can be reached at arapp@cmonitor.com.