44 minutes and 49 seconds of good solid high school hockey ended in a way that no athlete wants to see, with the penalty shot awarded and the outcome of the game taken out of the hands of the competitors. The Marauders have no one to blame but themselves for the final result, but there were lots of good signs and positives to build on going forward.
Memorial opened the scoring in the first period on a seeing-eye shot from the point that somehow found the back of the net while they had the man-advantage. Hanover equalized three minutes later when Acker found Stadheim and sent him in alone, and the game was on.
The two teams settled in to a back and forth affair in the second period. Some good shots from both teams, but real quality scoring chances were hard to come by, and the two goalies were equal to the task.
Midway through the third period, Acker was hit square in the numbers and knocked over, for which the Memorial offender was mysteriously called for "cross-checking" rather than the more serious "hitting from behind", and the Marauders had their first power play of the game. The man-up unit possessed the puck well, and created several quality chances including good looks from Lehmann and Stadheim that were nicely turned away. On the next shift after the power play, a nifty move by Smith to gain the zone was followed by a nice centering pass to Tengdin that just missed its mark.
As the end of regulation drew near, the ice began to open up, and the fateful series of events began. With a minute to go, Memorial was able to split the Marauder D pair and send in an attacker on Loud all alone. Loud was equal to the task, and after much discussion, the referees decided "No Goal" was the call to stick with.
Less than a minute later, it was deja-vu all over again as Memorial's Pelletier was sent in in almost identical fashion. Loud again stood tall, but this time the referee's arm was raised, and followed by the dreaded crossing of arms overhead and a point toward center ice. Pelletier cashed the lottery ticket he had been handed, and there was nothing left to do but head home to dreams full of "coulda, shoulda, and woulda".
Hopefully the young Marauders will learn from their first exposure to "big-boy" Division 1 hockey, and come back a stronger team for the experience. Next test, back at Campion rink on Monday night vs Salem, in the home opener - generously sponsored by Jake's Market and Deli.
For anyone who wants to see how real reporters do this job, the link to the Union Leader story is here:
http://www.unionleader.com/article/20151217/SPORTS21/151219133/-1/sports21
No comments:
Post a Comment