It was a pretty heated boys’ hockey matchup between Division 2 and Division 3 Dracut High School on Monday night. The Patriots beat the Middies 3-1 at the Edge Sports Center.
Patriot senior captain Mike O’Brien recorded a hat trick. His final two goals broke a 1-1 tie in the second and eventually gave his team the victory.
But Concord-Carlisle (8-4-2) coach Kevin Harrington didn’t think his team outplayed Dracut.
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“Dracut forced us to do things that we weren’t very good at,” said Harrington. “And I thought that’s why you saw the score 3-1. They forced us to fight through sticks and they slowed the game down. And I don’t think we handled it real well. I think my guys have to get back to basics a little bit better.
“I thought, territorially, we had a pretty good advantage and shot wise we had a pretty good advantage, but at the end of the day I just think that Dracut played a better game of hockey than we did today.”
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After a scoreless first period, O’Brien scored the Patriots’ first goal at 8:56 in the second with an assist from senior captain Michael Anastos.
The Patriots were shuffling off bunches of shots throughout the second, with their offense skating right through Dracuts’ defense.
But Dracut tied it up 1-1 with 33.3 seconds remaining in the second. Matt Kelliher scored on a close shot with an assist from Mike Conlon.
“(Dracut is) a good Division 3 team,” Harrington said.
Dracut really pushed forward through Concord-Carlisle’s defense in the first few minutes of the third with a few great opportunities. But the Middies weren’t able to capitalize on any remaining shots.
O’Brien netted his final two goals in the third period at 8:51 from the blue line and 5:55 on a close shot. Anastos picked up his second assist on O’Brien’s second goal, while sophomore Steven Van Siden assisted on O’Brien’s third.
“Dracut came in, they worked really hard and I just didn’t think my guys really responded,” Harrington said.
“I think maybe we were a little bit guilty of overlooking these guys. I tried to warn (my players). I thought we could overlook last week when we played Waltham and we were able to capitalize, and you almost saw tonight that Dracut was able to almost capitalize.”
Next up, Concord-Carlisle hosts Tewksbury Memorial Saturday at 6 p.m. The Patriots will be looking for revenge, as they fell 5-2 to Tewksbury on Jan. 8.
