Bishop Guertin goalie Conor Hayes tries to cover the puck with Concord's Tyler Morin (15) on his doorstep away from the Cards' Dom Trepanier during Saturday's game at Skate 3 in Tyngsborough, Mass. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

TYNGSBOROUGH, Mass. – You can never be disappointed when the Bishop Guertn and Concord High School boys hockey teams tangle.

Unless it’s with the final score.

Saturday’s 1-1 overtime tie at Skate 3 Arena left both Division I teams a little disappointed, but at the same time, they won’t complain.

“I’ll take the point,” Guertin coach Gary Bishop said, his team now 4-2-1. “We did go to the net, we got a lot chances. We’ve got to outwork people, we’re not going to out-finesse anybody.”

The two teams will see each other next Saturday night again in Concord.

Concord, still unbeaten at 5-0-1, was missing two key injured players, arguably their best two in defenseman John Shoemaker and forward Dawson Fancher. So they’ll be satisfied to escape without a loss.

“I’ll walk out of here with a tie and be happy,” Concord coach Duncan Walsh said. “Our kids played hard, our goalie was good … It was a good game, we’ll take the point.”

However, in the second, Concord took a 1-0 lead after a BG turnove led to a goal by Chad LaRiviere, assisted by Jordan Dustin and A.J. Dow at 3:44. However, just over three minutes later, Guertin took advantage of a two-man power play advantage with James Mantone firing a wrister from out a bit just between the faceoff circles to make it 1-1. Caleb Yeung and Isaac Idarraga getting the assists.

It stayed that way with each team surviving, and BG goalie Conor Hayes was sharp with 25 stops. Guertin, though, dominated the extra session, and had a pair of 2 on 1 breakaways, but shot the puck directly on Mayer (27 saves) both times rather than pass.

“I’d rather them pass,” Bishop said. “The goalie’s all locked on the shooter. You’ve got to make a pass and get a return pass. You just can’t shoot on a 2-on-1. If you get close to the net you have to, but you’ve got chances from the blue line in.”

Then the Cards got a break when Concord’s Tyler Fennelly was called for hooking with 2:10 to go in the OT. But again, the Cards came up empty.

Bishop knew what his team had to do – aim low on 6-foot-1Tide goalie Luukas Mayer. “You’ve got a goalie who covers the whole net, why do you try to beat a 6-4 goalie high?” he said. “Shoot at his feet, shoot at his pads, rebounds, indirect, anything. And we didn’t.”

“A typical BG-Concord game,” Walsh said. “A lot of blocked shots, guys sacrificing their bodies, taking a hit to make the play. That’s what you have to do in a game like this.”

So now the teams move on. Concord actually is off until next Saturday’s rematch, but the Cards have a tough one on the Monday holiday here at 2:30 p.m. vs. Arlington Catholic. But they played much better yesterday than their last game a week ago vs. Trinity.

“We’ve got 15 new players,” Bishop said. “The guy who is going to stick handle around someone to make a great play, we don’t know who that is yet. They’re all trying to create their own identity right now. … Everyone’s going to get better.”

Bishop Guertin’s Caleb Yeung (8) battles Concord’s A.J. Dow along the boards during Satuday’s Division I game at Skate 3 in Tyngsborough, Mass. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

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