Marauders Open Holiday Tournament With Win

 

Senior goaltender Gabe Loud made 16
saves to pick up the tourney opening win.

The Hanover Marauders traveled south to the cozy confines of JFK Coliseum to open the annual Manchester Holiday Tournament. After picking up their first win of the season against Nashua South, the Marauders looked to continue their budding win streak, and a 3-1 victory over last year's Division II runners-up started the tournament off with a crucial two points.

The first period saw plenty of Hanover pressure, as they outshot the Falcons by a 10-3 margin. However, Bow goalie Nathan Carrier was able to stave off the Hanover attack for the first 80 percent of the period until the Marauders finally broke through at 12:26. Senior defenseman Will Smith continued his offensive output by setting up the first goal with a blast from the left point. Carrier made the initial save with his left pad, but left a rebound in the slot that junior forward David Lehmann banged in for the goal and the 1-0 Hanover lead that would hold up into the first intermission.

In the first three games, Hanover found the middle period to be their most challenging, but the Marauders looked to break the pattern today and came out flying in the second. Despite being down a defenseman and seeing Smith and senior captain Patrick Logan alternating double shifts throughout the game, Hanover showed no signs up a let-up and kept relentless pressure on Carrier throughout the period. Jensen Dodge and Lehmann proved particularly tenacious on the forecheck, while Elias Zinman and Jake Acker created significant offensive pressure. The Marauders came within inches of doubling their lead at 10:13 when a puck-rushing Smith fed captain Jonny Goff with a perfect pass and the senior forward unleashed a blistering wrist shot that clanged off the crossbar.

However, despite being outshot 15-9 in the period, Bow benefitted from some fortunate officiating when Joey Goff was taken out with a hard hit from behind that puzzlingly saw no call from the referees. Bow collected the loose puck inside the Hanover zone and senior forward Christopher Mead fired the puck on Loud from the left circle. Loud made the initial save, but Hanover was unable to clear the crease and Colin Tracy eventually banged in the rebound after multiple attempts to even the score.

In the final frame, Hanover kept the pressure coming, but none of their efforts could get past Carrier and it looked as if the game may end in a frustratingly lopsided tie. However, when Bow's Austin Beaudette was sent to the box for a crosscheck at 11:53, the Hanover power play went to work. with 37 seconds remaining in the man-up, Lehmann returned the earlier favor to Smith, the former feeding a cross-ice pass to the latter who fired a high slap shot from the right point that banked off Carrier's mask and into the Falcon net for the 2-1 Marauder lead.

With just over a minute remaining and a face off in the Marauder zone, Bow called their time-out and pulled Carrier for the extra attacker. Hanover staved off the Falcon pressure, repeatedly clearing the puck out of their zone and forcing Bow to regroup. With the clock ticking down, Logan chipped the puck off a Bow attacker and fired a long shot from center ice into the empty Falcon goal to seal the victory with 8.2 seconds remaining.

Hanover outshot Bow 36-17 on the afternoon, with Loud making 16 saves and picking up the win. The Marauders look to build on the win as they take on Division I foes Trinity High School at 2:00pm tomorrow.