Regular Season Finale, Hanover 5 - Nashua South 0

Thanks to Everett Logan for another great game report:

On the final day of the regular season, the Hanover Marauders traveled to Nashua’s Conway Arena to take on the Nashua South Panthers. Hanover looked to get off the schneid of their three-game losing streak and head into next week’s playoffs with some winning mojo. The visitors did not disappoint and headed home with a 5-0 victory. 

Even before the game began, the Hanover bench was short-handed. Missing the services of forwards Jonathan Goff and Elias Zinmann, and defenseman Alan Baker, Hanover reshuffled their lines and the early minutes showed the effects of the disruptions in line chemistry. However, Hanover began to gel as the period went on, and junior forward Jake Acker broke the scoring drought at 5:38 of the first. After strong cycling work along the boards low in the Nashua zone by Jensen Dodge and Seth Stadheim, Jake Acker picked up the puck behind the net and took a low-angle shot while walking in from the corner. Panther goalie Alyssa Bennett made the initial save, but Acker pushed in the rebound on the left post. 

Hanover dominated possession for the majority of the period, but Nashua mounted a furious counter attack during the final two minutes of the period. Looking for the equalizer, Mike Noke and Michael Fornier broke into the Hanover zone on a 2-on-1, but goalie Gabe Loud made a spectacular shoulder save on Noke’s high wrist shot off the last-second feed from Fornier.

Hanover began the second period with a quick penalty to captain Eric McCoy, but the Marauders’ aggressive penalty kill kept the Panther powerplay unit on their heels. Forward David Lehmann’s aggressive forecheck beat a Nashua defender to a loose puck behind the net, and then sent a Gretzky-esque centering pass directly to the tape of Casey Starr’s stick as the latter was floating down in the slot. Starr ripped a one-timer into the top shelf at 1:43 of second for the 2-0 Hanover lead.
Casey Starr tallied a "goal of the year" candidate
to give the Marauders a big boost to start the second 
Lehmann nabbed another assist in setting up Hanover’s third goal, as he outworked his Panther marker on the right-wing boards and sent the puck to lineman Drew Tengdin at the right face-off circle. Tengdin fired a low shot off Bennett’s pads, and McCoy quickly banged it home for Hanover’s third goal.  

One minute later, junior defenseman Patrick Logan circled back to grab a loose puck in his own zone and rushed the puck up center ice, splitting three Nashua defenders before wristing a rocket from just inside the blue line that went bar-down for the unassisted goal and the 4-0 lead. 

At 6:51, the Marauders converted their final insurance goal after a beautiful feed from Acker to Stadheim was stuffed by the goalie  .Acker quickly chased down the rebound and centered the puck back to Jensen Dodge who banged it in on the crease for the five-goal lead. 

Nashua made a bid to break the shutout with a point blank shot at 12:30, but Loud made the quick flash with his pad to make the save and preserve the shutout. 

The third period saw no scoring, but plenty of fireworks as the teams combined for twelve penalties. The frustrated Panthers spent the majority of the time in the box, with six minor penalties and two misconducts. Unfortunately, Hanover could not convert on any of their man-up opportunities, but the combination of the relentless Hanover forecheck and Nashua’s revolving door to the penalty box kept the pressure off Loud and allowed Hanover to coast to the finish line with the 5-0 shutout intact. 

With the win, Hanover finishes the regular season 8-9-1 and will head into the playoffs as the #10 seed. The Marauders will face #7 Londonderry on Wednesday evening to open the state tournament, time and location to be announced. 

In case anyone wants a reminder of what happened the last time Hanover and Londonderry met on Jan 17th, here's a good shot from Paul Stinson of Capt Goff celebrating from his backside

More of Paul's pics from that eventful Jan night, and tons more from throughout the season can be found here:

http://hanoverhockeyphotos.phanfare.com/7124926#imageID=253304856

And, the write-up of that Jan 16 game, which the Marauders won 3-2 can be found here:

Jan 16 - Hanover 3, Londonderry 2