Jets bow out against Concord-Carlisle

NORTH BILLERICA – Facing top-seeded, undefeated and high-powered Concord-Carlisle in the Division 3 North semifinals on Thursday at Chelmsford Forum, it was going to take a near perfect effort from the Lynn Jets to succeed.And for much of the first period and a half, the plan was working. But the Patriots broke a 1-1 tie with two goals in 34 seconds late in the second and went on to a 5-2 win.Click here for a photo gallery.”We started running around a bit in the second and it cost us,” Lynn coach Joe Conlon said. “They’re as talented a team as we’ve played all season.”The Patriots came out storming with their offense firing an early salvo at Jets goalie Nick Comeau.Mike Van Siclen and Robbie Snook had a pair of quality chances early but Comeau met the challenge.Taking Concord’s early shot, Lynn steadied itself and delivered a big counterpunch on a power play late in the first.Demetrius Polk took a Ryan Powers pass and ripped a slap shot from the blue line past Steven Saul to send the Jets to the locker room with a 1-0 lead.”We knew going in we’d probably be outshot so we had to take advantage of our chances,” Conlon said.The Patriots had a :34 5-on-3 advantage early in the second but the Lynn penalty killers did the job.Not long after the brilliant kill, though, the Jets saw their lead vanish. Brodie Stone parked in the slot and redirected J.C. Winslow’s shot over Comeau’s shoulder to tie the game at 4:23.The Patriots kept coming and used their late second-period burst to assume control.First Stone finished off a Billy Crosby rebound to make it 2-1 at 10:59. Moments later, Mike O’Brien beat a Lynn defender along the boards, cut to the slot and put a laser over Comeau’s glove for a 3-1 lead.”They are a very hard team to keep up with for 45 minutes,” Conlon said.C-C seemed to put the game on ice early in the third as Winslow snuck in from his defense spot and slid Crosby’s backhand pass by Comeau to make it 4-1 with 11:01 left.The Jets, though, cut it back to a pair five minutes later as Bucky Surette converted off a Jeff Porter feed.Lynn had several other chances but couldn’t slide home loose pucks in the crease. Mike O’Brien closed the scoring for C-C with 1:01 left.”We wanted to cut it to a goal and see what happened but couldn’t,” Conlon said. “It was a great season and hopefully it gives us something to build off of.”