Bow hockey Coach Tim Walsh has been pushing one thing in practice all season. He wants his team to play the “complete game” as he calls it. No lapses on defense, no bad penalties, constant movement, good passing.

So Walsh wasn’t necessarily surprised Saturday night when the Falcons put together something that was pretty close to that complete game he keeps talking about.

“We’ve been talking about playing these complete games all year,” Walsh said following a 7-2 thumping of Oyster River in Division II action at Everett Arena. “(We want) complete periods, trying to get better every game. And every game is better than the previous one. Every week is better than the week before. … So that in March, we are playing our best hockey because that’s when it really matters.”

The Falcons (8-1) haven’t lost since Dec. 21, a 3-0 home setback to Keene (8-0), the only undefeated team left in D-II. Since then, Bow has rattled off seven wins in a row and outscored its opponents, 49-20.

“It’s kept us going and made us want to win even more,” senior captain Doug Champagne said of his team’s lone blemish in an otherwise satisfying season.

One of the things that has propelled this win streak, according to senior defenseman Colin Tracy, is how the Falcons have started each game and how they’ve finished each period.

“Some games we come out slow,” said Tracy, who scored two goals and dished two assists in Saturday’s win. “But tonight, we got the first goal and got things rolling pretty quick. That’s what we need to keep doing every game.”

Alex Killion started the scoring with a breakaway goal 6:29 into the first period, assisted by Tracy and Ryan Tobeler (two assists).

As for ending periods strong, Bow did just that Saturday. Over the final five minutes of the first and second periods, the Falcons scored five goals. Benjamin Wheeler put the Falcons up 2-0 with 1:38 to play in the first, while Killion tallied his second goal of the night just 14 seconds later. Both of Tracy’s goals came from the blue line with less than five minutes to play in the second and just like that, the Falcons led 6-1 going into the third period.

“When we are playing complete games, in the last five minutes of the period, that’s when you’re playing your hardest and when you really should be,” Walsh said. “The other team can be thinking about the end of the period, saying ‘oh we get to take a break in a minute.’ And that’s when you have to capitalize.”

Freshman forward Austin Scarinza also tallied a goal and an assist for Bow, while Austin Beaudette and Brendan Ulrich provided one assist each.

The Falcons applied relentless pressure all night long and ended the game with a 39-18 advantage in shots. Bow took nine shots in the first period before Oyster River (3-3) recorded its first. The Bobcats needed a two-man advantage to record that first shot and registered just four in the first period.

“We knew we had to keep dominating the game. When we moved our feet, they couldn’t skate with us,” said Champagne, who scored his only goal of the night with 8:05 left in the third.

Bow’s best opportunities were a direct result of another thing Walsh has been stressing all season: Moving without the puck.

“The other four guys aren’t standing around watching. Everyone is moving and supporting and making those short, quick passes,” he said, “Our best asset is our speed. We are using that. Our skating game is what we have been pushing in practice and it shows on the ice right now.”

Champagne couldn’t agree more: “We have a lot of energy on our team. We know we can beat most of the other teams with our speed alone.”

Oyster River couldn’t hang with the Falcons. And if Bow is lucky, not many other teams left on the schedule will be able to hang with them either.

But the road ahead isn’t easy for Bow, which will play back-to-back games against defending champion Windham before the end of the month and a rematch with Keene is circled as the second-to-last game on the schedule. Windham topped the Falcons, 4-3, in last year’s championship game.

That’s not what Bow is thinking about yet, though.

For Tracy, it’s all about sticking with what works.

“We just need to keep doing what we are doing,” he said. “I mean, we are finding each other, working hard, work hard in practice, making sure we do whatever we can to win. Just have to keep doing that.”