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April 11, 2007

Pinkerton's Richard helps Monarchs take second at national tourney

Matt Langone

Last month Mike Richard's high school hockey career ended abruptly when his Pinkerton squad lost to Bishop Guertin in the semifinals of the Division 1 state tournament.

Fortunately for Richard, the bad taste of that loss to BG was quickly replaced with the sweet taste of victory.

Richard and his Monarchs Junior B hockey team were recently able to go where no team from the Empire Junior League had ever gone before. The Monarchs knocked off several nationally ranked teams on their way to the Junior national championship game in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Although the Monarchs fell to the defending champion St. Louis Junior Blues 4-0, it was still a tremendous run at the five-day national tournament

"It was pretty exciting," said Richard, a three-year varsity player at Pinkerton. "We weren't expecting to win a lot of games at the national tournament. But then we went 3-0.

"It was great to win some games after the loss we (Pinkerton) had."

This past winter, Richard scored 20 goals and added 22 assists for Pinkerton, which earned him honorable mention status on the All-Division 1 team. He also earned the right to play in the New Hampshire High School Senior All-Star game.

However, Richard chose instead to join the Monarchs in Troy, N.Y., for the Empire League's final four tournament.

"My high school season was over and my Juniors team was in the playoffs," said Richard. "It was more important."

Richard's decision paid big dividends for the Monarchs. He assisted on the game-winning goal against AppleCore (N.Y.) to help the Monarchs advance to the championship game. Richard then netted a third period goal in a championship game loss to the Junior Bruins, but it was still enough to qualify the Monarchs for the national tournament.

The Monarchs came into the tournament as heavy underdogs and were surrounded by teams that were all ranked in the top 12 nationally.

"There was really good competition at the tournament," Richard said.

Teams from the Central States Hockey League (CSHL) and Western States Hockey League (WSHL) had historically dominated the tournament. Meanwhile, Empire League teams had consistently struggled to get this far.

The Monarchs faced the second-ranked Phoenix Polar Bears in their first game and were able to stun the national power, 4-1. Londonderry native Brice O’Connor, whose brother Kyle also played on the team, scored a goal and Richard chipped in with an assist.

The Monarchs followed with a 4-3 overtime victory against the No.3 Minnesota Ice Hawks, and then Richard added an assist in a 5-3 win over the Flint Junior Generals. Finally, the Monarchs upset the No.4 Dubuque Thunderbirds, 3-0, in the semifinals before losing to St. Louis in the finals.

The national championship had escaped Richard, but he was happy with his play and thought he represented himself well, just in case there were some scouts in attendance.

"I thought I played pretty well," Richard said. "I heard that there might have been some scouts there, but I didn't really pay attention to it. It was a pretty big stage."

After Richard graduates from Pinkerton this spring, he plans to take a year off and play more Junior hockey. He hopes that will then lead to Division 1 college hockey.

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