Lucky 7

Thanks to guest writer Everett Logan, and the magic of modern communication for a writeup on last night's victory over Pelham-Alvirne

After two subpar performances against bottom-of-the-table teams, the Marauders got off the schneid with a 7-0 win at home against Pelham-Alvirne. Hanover came roaring out of the gate and dominated puck possession in the Avalanche defensive zone from the opening face-off. Just minutes into the game, the pressure paid off as captain Jonny Goff broke the ice with a strong wrist shot off a feed from Jensen Dodge that found the back of the net. The celebration felt like a sigh of relief for the Marauders who had been held scoreless for the previous five periods. However, Hanover was far from done as they would tally three more goals in the period, all by the newly-formed first line of Goff, Dodge, and Seth Stadheim.

On the line's very next shift, they found the net again as strong play along the boards and rapid cycling brought the puck to Stadheim at the face-off circle. Number 9 fed the puck neatly to Goff, who shot the puck on net to be deflected in off the stick of a sprawling Jensen Dodge who had just been sent to the ice by a Pelham-Alvirne defender attempting to un-screen his goalie. 

Minutes later, Hanover scored the backbreaker when Dodge hustled to prevent a P-A clear at their blue line. Dodge fed the puck to a steaking Stadheim who deked his defender twice, froze the goalie with a hesitation move, and then fired the puck cleanly into the top of the net while moving to his left. 

The line was not done with their offensive fireworks as they all but sealed the game in the first period when Stadheim threaded a perfect pass from the right face-off circle to Goff in the high slot, who moved the puck onto his backhand and lifted a clinical shot into the top of the net. 

Pelham-Alvirne was clearly shellshocked by the relentless Marauder forecheck and hustle to every loose puck along the board. In particular, the physical presence of wing Jake Acker had Avalanche players shying away from the corners and allowing Hanover to dominate puck possession throughout the period. 

However, Pelham-Alvirne regrouped during the first intermission and came out determined to stop the bleeding. While the second period continued to show Hanover dominating puck possession by a significant margin, Pelham was able to tighten their defense in the slot and decrease Hanover's prime scoring opportunities. 

Bolstered by their defensive momentum, Pelham-Alvirne was able to apply brief pressure in the Hanover zone, but the Marauder defense and the stout play of goalie Luke Ratliff were more than equal to the task. The heartbreaker for the Avalanche's efforts to turn the tide of the game came at the five minute mark when Elias Zinmann threaded a stretch pass to Jake Acker who quickly separated himself from both defenders to streak in on a breakaway, finished with a deke to the right and a quick backhand goal. 

Pelham-Alvirne held Hanover scoreless for the remainder of the period, but with the smothering Hanover defense bringing their A-game, the game was already out of reach for the visitors. 

The 5-0 lead allowed Hanover to give regular shifts to its third-line players on both offense and defense, and the end of the bench proved just as potent as the regulars in the final period. Recent JV promotion Casey Starr scored his first varsity goal when he pushed a rebound between the sprawling Pelham-Alvirne goalie's right skate and the goalpost. Stadheim capped the scoring toward the end of the now running-time third period with a blast of a wrist shot from the high slot off a perfect feed from linemate Dodge for the latter's fourth point of the night. 

All six of the defensive corps of Patrick Logan, Will Smith, Eric McCoy, TJ Beaver, Braxton McNulty, and Matt Miles rotated through significant ice time and played nearly flawless and frustrating defense to limit the visitors to a season-low 10 shots. As any goalie will tell you, sometimes the hardest games in which to stay sharp are the ones with the fewest shots, but Ratliff made several solid saves on the few scoring threats the Hanover defense allowed to secure the shutout. 

Hanover hits the road and attempts to spawn another winning streak when they face first-place and defending state champions Bishop Guertin at 6:10 this coming Saturday at the Skate3 complex in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts.