Bishop Guertin goalie Jack Casey reacts after a Concord goal during Wednesday night's 4-1 loss in the Division I semis in Manchester. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

MANCHESTER – Playing from behind is no fun.

And it normally doesn’t get you too many wins in the Division I hockey semifinals, either.

That’s the problem the Bishop Guertin High School boys hockey team has had in their recent Frozen Four losses at JFK Coliseum, and Wednesday night’s 4-1 loss at the hands of Concord was no exception.

“We don’t get that first goal,” BG coach Gary Bishop said. “You need that.”

No, the Crimson Tide, who will play Salem for the title here on Saturday night, got that honor, off the stick of speedy sophomore forward Brooks Craigue, just 3:09 into the game, assisted by Colin Nelson and Tyler Coskren.

Right away, the Cards (12-3) were forced to try to battle back. That got even harder when Nelson, assisted by Craigue, scored with 34 seconds left in the first off a freak deflection that BG netminder Jack Casey had no chance on to give the Tide a 2-0 lead.

“Cardinal rule of hockey, don’t give up a goal in the last minute of a period,” Bishop said. “We put our best guys out there, all of a sudden they get a turnover, and bang, goal. Their first two goals came on our turnovers. Can’t have turnovers.”

Or have Craigue zip up and down the ice the way he did all night.

“Everybody talks about (Tide defenseman Ryan Philbrook),” Bishop said, “but everybody forgets about that No. 3 (Craigue). He may be the best player on the ice.”

“That goal at the end of the first was big,” Concord coach Duncan Walsh said. “Our guys played hard, we tried to keep their shots to the perimeter, which I thought we did a pretty good job.”

Concord took a 3-0 lead into the third, thanks to Noah Drew’s goal, assisted by Joe Ala, at 4:55 of the second. The mountain for the Cards got steeper.

But things almost leveled off for BG early in the third as the Cardinals basically had a power play for the first five minutes of the third period.

That gave them a Dan Woodford power play goal (5 on 3), assisted by Quinn Cepiel, at 1:53 of the third. But it’s those other four minutes the Cards couldn’t take advantage of.

“We needed a second power play goal and didn’t get it,” Bishop said. “Then we can approach it differently.”

The biggest problem? Concord goaltender Kevin Jones, who had 27 saves. He’s been alternating all season with another capable junior, William Pegnam.

“Jonesie played solid,” Walsh said. “He played really well. We don’t know what we’re going to do Saturday.”

Up 3-1, Concord put the finishing touches on things with a Zach Drew goal (Colin O’Brien assist) at 11:26 of the third. Concord is back in the finals after not being able to play in last year’s game when it was canceled.

“That was our goal all year, play on he final day,” Walsh said. “Last year we didn’t get the opportunity, this year we do.”

Clearly, Casey deserved a better fate, as he had 17 quality stops and came of age with his arguably his finest performance of the season.

“He did,” said Bishop, whose team’s only losses this year were to the two finalists. “It was his best game. There was maybe one of the goals I thought he had a shot at. The others, he couldn’t do anything about them.”

So again, the Cards got fine goaltending and for the most part stayed out of the penalty box. Then why did they suffer yet another semifinal frustration?

“They (Concord) finished,” Bishop said, “and we didn’t.”

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