Marauders Drop a Five-Spot on the Panthers

Junior defenseman Braxton McNulty

had a goal and a crunching open-ice

hit on the evening.

On the longest night of the year and their final league contest of 2016, the Marauders brought some fireworks to light up the evening as they beat the visiting Purple Panthers of Nashua South to get into the win column with a 5-1 victory at Campion rink.

After two straight one-goal losses to start the season, Hanover came out fired up in the first period, eager to set the tone. Nashua South found themselves on the defensive early, and Vincent Annichiarico was sent to the bin with a tripping penalty at just over five minutes into the initial frame. At 5:42 of the period, just over 30 seconds into the penalty, captain Jonny Goff fed the puck to Jensen Dodge, who fired into goalie Nathan Radin. Radin made the initial stop, but sophomore center Elias Zinman was on the doorstep to bang in the rebound for the powerplay goal, his first of the campaign. 

Hanover would double the lead just under three minutes later on an extra-attacker goal. Panther defenseman Tyler Goy had tripped a Marauder, and senior goalie Luke Ratliff headed to the bench to send on an additional Hanover skater. Senior defenseman Will Smith continued his goal-a-game pace when he took a pass from Jake Acker in the Panthers' zone and fired it past Radin at 8:31. He and the Marauders weren't done, as 2:36 later Smith fed the puck to his defensive partner, junior Braxton McNulty, who wristed a shot into the upper corner. Hanover entered the first intermission with a 3-0 lead and 12-3 advantage in shots.

The Panthers regrouped in the locker room, and Hanover perhaps came out coasting a little too much in the second stanza. Nashua more than doubled its shots on goal in the second, and one of their eight shots found the back of the net on a goal-mouth scramble where it initially looked like Ratliff had made the save. However, wing John Pinksten managed to squeak the biscuit past the Hanover netminder, picking up the goal at 3:08 of the period. Captains Michael Fournier and Robert Haverty picked up the assists. 

Despite outshooting the Marauders 8-4 in the second, Ratliff was equal to ever other Panther effort and the two teams entered the second break with a 3-1 Hanover lead. 

Hanover came out with renewed fire in the third, and would outshoot the Panthers 10-4. Radin held the hosts at bay for most of the period, until TJ Beaver scored the third defenseman's goal of the evening with just over five minutes remaining, with assists going to senior captain Patrick Logan and 

freshman center Owen Stadheim. Nashua attempted to claw closer by pulling Radin with a minute remaining in the game, but Acker picked-off a pass and fired the puck into the empty net to cement the win.

Next up for the Marauders is the annual Manchester holiday tournament at JFK Coliseum. Hanover will open against last year's Division II runners-up, Bow at 2:00pm on Monday.