BY MATT STOUT

For once, Bow hockey coach Tim Walsh said he would like to feel what it’s like to be in the other locker room following a Division II semifinal game.

So, on Tuesday, March 6, he did.

Moments after speaking with his team following its 6-3 loss to Spaulding of Rochester at the Rinks at Exeter – Bow’s fourth straight defeat in the league’s final four –  Walsh walked over to Spaulding coach Paul George, asked if he could have a minute with his team and walked into the Red Raiders’ joyous locker room.

He just wanted to congratulate them, of course, and wish them luck in defending their state title in the final against Oyster River on Sunday, March 11.

And perhaps for once, Walsh wanted to see how the other half lives.

“You have to look at the positive side that we’re here and other teams aren’t; we’ve been here every year but one in my six years,” said Walsh, whose team finished at 12-5-3. “But it is frustrating because I’m sick of having this speech with my kids. I’m sick of going in there and saying, ‘You know, it was a great season but unfortunately, we didn’t come out on top.’

“I’d much rather have the other conversation and the celebration,” he continued. “But we’re going to stick with it and keep plugging away, and we’ll do it. We’ll do it.”

Unfortunately for the fourth-seeded Falcons, Tuesday wasn’t the day they did. Top-seeded Spaulding riddled Corey Cotnoir and the Bow net with 36 shots, 16 more than the Falcons, and unleashed 20 in the first period alone.

Cotnoir made 19 of his 30 saves in that frame, but neither he nor the Bow defense could hold off the Red Raiders thereafter.

Junior Jamie Ferullo netted a hat trick and added two assists, and Matt Norraik added two more goals for Spaulding. Together, they negated scores from Bow’s Greg Bueddeman, who put his team up 1-0 in the first; Brett Borbidge, who made it 3-2 in the second; and Alex Stevens, who gave the Falcons a slight glimmer of hope when he closed the gap to 5-3 in the third.

Yet, Spaulding was quick to respond each time, netting a goal 2:09 after Bueddeman’s, 1:39 after Borbidge’s and again 2:09 after Stevens’, the final score coming off the stick of Eric LaBatte.

Walsh called that responsiveness a sign of a champion. George said it was simply about doing his homework.

“I’ve seen five or six of (Bow’s games on film),” said George, whose team is now 20-0 and  owns a 39-game winning streak. “The kid’s (Cotnoir’s) hands are gold ... so everything that goes from his waist up, he eats. So we tried to keep the puck down, we tried to get second or third opportunities,  and we just tried to create chaos and confusion around the goal.”

Spaulding had little problem executing its game plan, turning what many thought would be a low-scoring affair into anything but that.

“I said all along, ‘If we score three goals, we win,’” Walsh said. “I would have told you three years ago if we scored five against Dover (in the semifinals), we’d win. But in the playoffs, funny things happen, and some guys rise to the occasion, and their guys rose to the occasion tonight.”