Deja Vu All Over Again.

Junior David Lehmann opened the scoring
with a penalty shot goal in the first period.

Three times this year the Hanover Marauders have faced the Trinity Pioneers. Three times the Marauders have outshot the Pioneers by a three-to-one margin. Three times Trinity's sophomore goalie Ethan Messner has been the difference in keeping the game from being a Hanover blowout. Three times Hanover has come away with the victory, this time a 4-1 win on an unreasonably early Saturday morning game at the unfriendly confines of Saint Anselm's Sullivan Arena.

Despite the early start and missing their senior forward captain Jonathan Goff, the Marauders dominated the first period from the opening faceoff, racking up seventeen shots in the first period. Freshman forward Rowan Wilson was promoted up the line ladder to fill Goff's absence and did a masterful job creating opportunities for linemates Jake Acker and Jensen Dodge. But, Hanover could not find a way to solve Messner, who turned away the first sixteen shots that the Marauders threw at him.

Finally, with under thirty seconds remaining in the opening period, junior David Lehmann got behind the Pioneer defense and broke in on Chipman before being pulled down from behind by senior TJ Fell. With 25.9 seconds showing on the clock, Lehmann was awarded the rarest and most exciting play in hockey – a penalty shot. Strangely, Hanover has been awarded two penalty shots this season, both in the Sullivan Arena. Lehmann calmly gathered the puck at center ice and started slowly and deliberately toward Messner in the Pioneer crease. Gathering speed as he approached, Messner came out to meet him, but Lehmann deked quickly to his left and fired a low shot into the back of the net for the 1-0 Hanover lead.

Hanover began the second period right where they left off in the first, and the pressure paid off immediately when senior captain Patrick Logan fed a streaking Jensen Dodge on the right wing, who dropped the puck to Acker who one-timed it home to double the Marauder lead. Logan soon found himself in the penalty box, but Hanover denied Trinity any real opportunities on their man-up and outshot Trinity 3-1 during the two minutes they were shorthanded. Sophomore forward Elias Zinman was particularly tenacious on penalty kill, keeping Trinity hemmed in their own zone with his masterful forechecking. Hanover nearly capped a masterful penalty kill with a goal, as Logan came out of the box and broke in alone on Messner with a long lead pass, but gathered the pass a little too deep to have any options other than to the backhand side, and Messner played it perfectly to shut down the angle.

Freshman Owen Stadheim tallied his first career goal.

Hanover continued the pressure throughout the period, but Messner kept the game close with his strong play between the pipes. However, at 10:22 of the period, freshman Owen Stadheim, who has been setting up linemates all season with masterful assists that belie his young age, finally landed himself on the goal-scoring side of the stat sheet when he padded the Hanover lead with his first career goal. Just as he had in the Bishop Guertin game, Stadheim deflected the puck behind the last defender and broke in alone on the right wing. This time, the speedy forward finished the play beautifully, firing the puck through the five-hole for the 3-0 Hanover lead.

The third goal looked as if it would be the final nail in the coffin for Trinity, who seemed to be losing all hope at seizing momentum and were ready to pack it in for the day. However, senior captain and leading scorer Tyler Chipman had other ideas and gave some life to the Pioneers just 1:47 after Stadheim's goal when he narrowed the lead to 3-1. Just past the twelve-minute mark, Chipman carried the puck over the Hanover blue line on the left wing. Deftly sidestepping an open-ice check attempt, Chipman walked in alone on senior goaltender Gabe Loud and ripped a wrist shot into the top right corner at 12:09.

Trinity came into the third period with renewed energy after the Chipman goal, and what looked for much of the game to be a potential blowout was suddenly looking a little less secure for the Marauders. It's long been said that a two-goal lead is the most dangerous lead in hockey, and Trinity played with the belief they could finally solve Hanover in their third matchup with the Marauders.

Senior Patrick Logan had a goal and assist on the day.

However, 2:45 into the period, Logan deflated the Pioneers' hopes of a comeback when he regained the three-goal margin. After a faceoff win by Acker in the Trinity zone, senior Will Smith slid the puck across the point to his blue line partner. Logan pushed forward along the right wing before unleashing a wrist shot from the faceoff circle that beat Messner high on the blocker side. The lead would hold up through the final horn, and Hanover skated off with the 4-1 victory.

Hanover finished the game with a 42-14 advantage in shots, with Loud making 13 saves in picking up the win. With the victory, Hanover improves to 10-4 overall, 7-3 in NHIAA Division I. The Marauders put their five-game winning streak on the line as they continue their three-game road swing against third-place Pinkerton on Wednesday at the Ice Den in Hooksett. Game time is 4:30.

Marauders Hit the Road, Keep Stacking W's

Senior forward Jensen Dodge opened the

scoring with his second goal of the year.

After going 3-0 on their homestand, the Marauders traveled south for a weekday afternoon bout with Exeter. Exeter entered the season coming off a state semi-final appearance last year, but graduated two all-state players in goalie Bryson Desjardins and forward Evan Royer. The latest edition of the Blue Hawks has been struggling in Division I with only two wins, but are never a team to be taken lightly, especially in their home rink. Although Hanover didn't play their most dynamic hockey of the season, perhaps showing a slight hangover after their dramatic upset of Bishop Guertin on Saturday night, combined with the long afternoon drive, the visitors kept their win streak intact and headed home with a 3-2 victory.

The first period was the most even of the three in terms of puck possession and chances on goal. After some initial Exeter pressure on the first shift, Hanover countered and put several shots on sophomore net-minder Alex Warr. Just 2:51 into the game, the Marauders broke through when Jensen Dodge banged home a feed from Jake Acker and Patrick Logan.

Hanover kept the pressure on Warr, but the sophomore made several big saves, albeit leaving many juicy rebounds in the slot that tantalized Marauder forwards, but none could be put away to pad the lead. Exeter countered and tied the game at 6:10 with a beautiful end-to-end individual effort by junior forward Ben Baldasaro. Baldasaro gathered the puck in his own zone and sped up the right wing, putting the puck through a Hanover skater's legs and breaking in alone on goaltender Luke Ratliff, deking to the backhand and roofing the puck for the equalizer.

Baldasaro made a bid for another individual tally a few minutes later, but was stopped by a big open-ice shoulder check by sophomore defenseman TJ Beaver. More back-and-forth action ensued for the remainder of the period, but neither team could take the lead and headed into their respective locker rooms deadlocked at one apiece. Hanover outshot Exeter 12-7 on the period.

Hanover played its best hockey of the game in the second, taking control from the opening drop with both physical play and quality chances on goal. The Marauders would outshoot the Blue Hawks 8-2 in the middle frame, but unfortunately the scoring was more even than the chances. Warr made several key saves, and the Exeter defense was able to clear the rebounds before Hanover could capitalize. However, after relentless pressure in the zone that thwarted several Exeter break-out attempts, Owen Standheim blocked a clearing attempt along the boards and passed to David Lehmann. Lehmann dropped the puck back to Elias Zinman, who took two steps in from the left circle and beat Warr on a clean wrist shot to the low corner just two minutes into the period.

Sometimes luck inserts its hand into hockey games, and despite Hanover outplaying and outshooting the Blue Hawks, Exeter once again tied the score two minutes later on one of their two shots in the period. After Evan Vadeboncoeur ringed the puck along the back boards from the point, the puck took an odd bounce and caromed directly into the slot and came to freshman Cy Leclerc, who banged it home.

However, Hanover took the lead for good at 5:55 when Jonny Goff circled in the Exeter zone and passed to Jake Acker at the right circle. In a move similar to Zinman's, Acker took two steps in before finishing with a low wrist shot to the corner. The 2-1 lead would hold up through the end of the period.

Exeter made several bids to equalize again in the third, but the Hanover defense and goaltending thwarted any threats. Just over two minutes into the period, Exeter captain Jake Vadeboncouer nearly sped in alone on Ratliff on a breakaway, but defenseman Braxton McNulty chased him down and made a last-second diving save to reach around with his stick and knock the puck away before Vadeboncouer could get off a quality shot. Seconds later, Goff broke in alone on Warr but fired just high.

Hanover doubled-up Exeter in shots on the period at 8-4, but none could find the back of the net for either team. The Hanover defense kept chances to a minimum, with Logan especially delivering a number of big hits for the Marauders that sent several Blue Hawks to the ice and kept the hosts from generating much momentum in the offensive zone.

Exeter's best chance came when the games first and only penalty was called on Hanover with just over two minutes to play. With Warr on the bench for a 6-on-4 advantage, defenseman Will Smith singlehandedly killed nearly the final twenty seconds of the powerplay and by tying up the puck in the corner and refusing to let any Blue Hawk skaters dig it out. The final horn sounded on the narrow 3-2 road victory for the Marauders, despite the lopsided 35-13 advantage in shots.

With the win, Hanover improves to 9-4 overall, 6-3 in NHIAA Division I. Exeter drops to 2-6. The two teams will square off again on February 5 in a pre-Super-Bowl matchup at Dartmouth's Thompson Arena in a reschedule from an earlier snowed-out game. First, Hanover continues its three-game road trip with a Saturday morning rematch with the Pioneers of Trinity High School. The Pioneers are hoping the third time is the charm against Hanover, while the Marauders look to keep adding to their four-game win streak. Game time is set for 11:15 at Saint Anselm's Sullivan Arena.

Marauders End Homestand with 3-2 Victory Over Cardinals.

Senior captain Jonathan Goff scored two goals on the 

night, including a short-handed goal in the first and 

the game-winner in the third. 

On an unseasonably warm January evening, The Cardinals of Bishop Guertin traveled north to Hanover for a Saturday evening tilt at Campion Rink. Two years ago, Hanover had beaten BG during the regular season, and finished the schedule tied in the standings. The tie-breaker should have gone to Hanover, giving the Marauders a home playoff game, but some very questionable “fuzzy math” by NHIAA awarded the home game to BG, a game BG ultimately won on their way to the 2015 state championship. Last year, the Cardinals thumped Hanover 6-1. The Marauders were looking for some payback, and they got it with a 3-2 victory during a rollercoaster of a game that saw twenty-nine minutes in penalties handed out between the two teams. 

Hanover showed their determination for payback from the opening drop of the puck. The Marauders played their best hockey of the season to date in the opening frame, dominating possession of the puck and getting the better of the physical play. Jensen Dodge was particularly aggressive along the boards and on the forecheck, forcing several key turnovers in the Cardinal zone, and coming close to putting Hanover ahead early. It looked as if the early momentum Hanover was seizing might reverse when the hosts were called for the first of thirteen penalties to be called on the night. However, the Marauders dominated the play on the man down, and captain Jonny Goff finished off a particularly aggressive shift by stealing the puck inside the BG zone and writing home the unassisted, shorthanded goal.

Hanover would kill off the rest of the penalty, and soon find themselves the beneficiaries of the ref’s judgment as they received back-to-back power plays midway through the period. The Marauders came up short during the first, despite several good chances, but leading scorer Will Smith doubled the lead during the second man-up at 8:08 of the first. With Hanover set-up in the Cardinal zone, senior forward Jake Acker fed the puck to the left point where Smith ripped a slap shot that deflected off Cardinal goaltender Jake Perrin and into the top of the net. Hanover had several more chances to pad their lead, but ultimately entered the first intermission with the 2-0 lead.

Hanover came out in the second determined to hold the lead and exorcise their season-long second-period demons. However, BG came out of their locker room equally fired up and determined not to let this crucial road game get away from them. The two teams circled and traded blows like prize fighters in a championship bout, with Hanover unable to land the knockout blow, and BG unable to counter. It looked as if the Marauders would get their best chance to land that knockout to the Cardinal jaw when they were awarded a five-minute power play at 9:24 after a BG contact-to-the-head penalty. The Marauders did have several good chances, including senior captain Patrick Logan being stoned on the doorstep by Perrin. But, hockey is a game of momentum swings, and BG looked to swing that momentum in their favor when forward Cam Fagan scored the Cardinals’ own short-handed goal with forty seconds remaining on the Hanover power play. The energized Cardinals kept up the assault, but could not find the equalizer and the two teams headed into their final break with the 2-1 Hanover lead intact.

The third period began with that palpable air of tension that only certain sporting events seem to create. Both teams circled and took deep breaths before the opening face off, knowing an epic battle was ahead. The feeling in the building was that the team to score next would win: should Hanover score, the insurance goal would be a safe enough cushion to ensure victory; should BG score, the momentum swing would carry them through to scoring the additional game-winner. The players steeled themselves for the onslaught.

It looked as if Hanover would be the ones to land the knockout blow and seal the victory early in the period. With Cardinal defenseman Aiden Wilkie serving a high-sticking penalty just 41 seconds into the third, the Marauder power play went back to work. After several strong chances while set-up in the BG zone that came up short, Hanover seemingly scored on transition when Smith fed a stretch pass to David Lehmann and the puck glanced off the junior forward’s skate and into the net. The Hanover bench erupted, but the celebration was short-lived as the referees disallowed the goal for being kicked in.

BG’s all-state junior Ben Peterson had made his presence known all evening, displaying dazzling speed and lighting-quick cuts. Peterson had created several break-away  opportunities for himself on the night, but each time senior goaltender Gabe Loud had come up big and bailed out the Marauders with the save. Eventually, however, Peterson found a way to break through and hit the back of the Hanover net one-third of the way through the period off a feed from Jacob Rodrigue.

Just 26 seconds after the Peterson goal, the next-goal-wins dynamic seemed to be playing out, and the

Junior defenseman Braxton McNulty was a force on the 

penalty kill, including three blocked shots in one shift.

momentum of the evening clearly seemed to be swinging to the visitors when Patrick Logan picked up the first of two nearly consecutive penalties, both on highly controversial calls. However, the Hanover penalty killers bailed out their captain and displayed some of the most aggressive and passionate hockey of the season in killing off four minutes of penalties in the span of 4:39. Defenseman Braxton McNulty almost single handedly prevented the Cardinals from taking the lead, blocking three shots on the same shift. In the final minutes of the second power play, BG was circling the net and passing with precision and energy, looking as if they might break through for the lead at any second. However, freshman Owen Stadheim stripped the puck from Peterson at the left point and carried the puck coast-to-coast on a breakaway before being denied the lead by Perrin. Despite the save, the effort ended an imminent BG threat and all but killed the second penalty for the Marauders.

After dodging that bullet, the Marauders felt their confidence returning and the pressure began to swing back toward Perrin in the Cardinals’ end. Just under two minutes after killing off the crucial back-to-back power plays, Acker collected his second assist of the night on Jonny Goff’s second goal. Acker fired on the Perrin from the right slot, and the Cardinal net minder left a rebound on the left doorstep, on which Goff quickly swooper in and banged home. Once again in the period, the Hanover bench exploded, and this time the scoreboard confirmed their jubilance.

However, there was still 2:52 left to play before Hanover could claim victory, and BG had other plans than to surrender quietly. After calling a timeout, coach Gary Bishop pulled Perrin to the bench for an extra attacker. But, Hanover maintained the counter attacking pressure and kept the Cardinals’ chances to a minimum, the few of which Loud handled to preserve the lead. The final seconds ticked off, and Hanover secured a crucial two points in front of a raucous and jubilant Saturday night crowd.

With the win, Hanover improves to 8-4 overall, 5-3 in NHIAA Division I. Bishop Guertin drops to 5-2-2 overall, 3-2-2 in Division play. Loud made seventeen saves for the win. Hanover hits the road on Wednesday for the first of three straight away games when they take on the Blue Hawks of Exeter. Game time is 4:00 PM at the Rinks of Exeter.

Marauders Continue Winning Home Stand with Shutout of Memorial

Senior forward Casey Starr scored the 

eventual game-winning goal in the 1st.

On an unseasonably warm and sunny Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday afternoon, the Marauders hosted perennial rival Manchester Memorial at the cozy confines of Campion Arena. The Crusaders, usually among the leaders in Division I, were sitting in an unaccustomed spot in the standings – last place with an 0-5 record. Surely, the visitors would be hungry to get off the schneid and enter the win column. However, Hanover's defense and goaltender Gabe Loud had other ideas, and the hosts carried the holiday with a 4-0 shutout for their fourth home win in a row.

Hanover dominated the action from the start of the first period, but despite the strong edge in possession, the Marauders' shots were too often errant in the early going. Memorial goalie Lauren Calnan was rarely tested in the opening minutes – despite the abundance of shots flying off the Hanover sticks, Calnan only had to make six saves. However, the Marauders soon found the back of the net when sophomore centerman Hans Williams won a clean draw to defenseman Braxton McNulty at the point. The junior blueliner wristed a hard, low shot toward Calnan that senior forward Casey Starr deftly deflected upward into the top of the Crusader net for his second tally of the year and the 1-0 Hanover lead.

Memorial mounted minimal counter pressure in the period, but the Crusaders' accuracy was superior in getting the black biscuit on net. Nevertheless, Loud turned away all seven of the visitors shots in the period, and the two teams entered the first intermission with Hanover still leading by one.

Looking to shake their second-period bugaboos, Hanover came out of the intermission flying. However, the vigorous play soon found the Marauders shorthanded for four minutes, picking up a double minor just 59 seconds into the game. However, the extended penalty only seemed to energize the home team, as the penalty kill units maintained possession of the puck for the majority of the man-down and mounted an effective counter-attack to keep Memorial frustrated and on their heels.

Freshman forward Owen Stadheim set up two Hanover goals.

After killing off the double penalty, Hanover got back to work at even-strength and stepped up the pressure on Calnan and the Crusaders' defense. After numerous close chances and relentless pressure in the Memorial zone, senior captain Patrick Logan fed the puck from the point to freshman centerman Owen Stadheim, who quickly fed to linemate Elias Zinman, who pushed the puck home for the 2-0 lead at 9:10.

Hanover wasn't finished with their pressure and was determined to make the second period their strongest of the game. Just over a minute and a half later, defenseman scoring phenom Will Smith fed captain Jonny Goff, who fired the puck past Calnan for the 3-0 Hanover lead. The lead would hold up for the remainder of the period as the teams headed into the locker room for the second intermission.

The Marauders employed their full bench in the third period, and defensemen Duncan Bailey and Sam Seelig logged valuable and solid minutes on the blueline for the Marauders. Stadheim was a force in the neutral zone all day, and the freshman set up linemate David Lehmann for his second assist at 12:19 for Lehmann's third goal of the season and the final insurance goal that would allow Hanover to coast to the 4-0 win and another valuable two points as the Marauders look to climb their way back toward the top of the division table. With the win, the Marauders improve to 7-4 on the season, 4-3 in NHIAA Division I. The Crusaders drop to 1-8, 0-6 in Division I. Loud finished with 14 saves for his second shutout of the season.

Hanover will close out its homestand on Saturday night as they host perennial powerhouse Bishop Guertin, the 2015 state champions and 2016 runners-up. BG graduated numerous seniors, including player of the year Justin Pearson, but returns a solid corps including all-state forward and current league goal-scoring leader Ben Peterson. Come cheer on the Marauders as they take on the Cardinals at 6:40 at Campion.

Acker's Three Points Puts Marauders Back in Win Column

Senior forward Jake Acker had two goals and an assist to pace

the Marauders' attack on Saturday night in their 3-0 victory. 

The Marauders opened a three-game homestand on Saturday night as they took on the Trinity Pioneers for the second time this season, but the first in Division I action as the prior meeting was part of the non-league Manchester Christmas Tournament. As in their first meeting, the score was much closer than the action, as Trinity goaltender Ethan Messner was phenomenal between the pipes for the Pioneers and was the only thing keeping the game from being a blowout in the Marauders' favor. As in Manchester, Hanover outshot Trinity by a three-to-one margin, but Messner's saves kept the game close and Hanover came away with the 3-1 victory.

Hanover dominated the action in the first period and created a number of quality scoring chances. The best chance of the opening minutes came at 3:43 when senior captain Jonny Goff put the puck through a Trinity defender's legs and broke in alone on Messner, but the sophomore goalie made the save on the hard wrist shot and kept the Marauders off the board.

Defenseman Will Smith opened the scoring action with a power 

play goal in the first period off a cross-ice feed from Jake Acker.

After several more saves, Hanover finally solved Messner at with a powerplay goal at 10:48. With Trinity's Eric Favreau serving an interference penalty, Jake Acker fed a quick pass across the slot to defenseman Will Smith who was cutting hard to the net. Smith redirected Acker's pass inside the left post for his team-leading seventh goal of the season. Despite more Hanover pressure, Messner held the fort and the teams entered the first intermission with the 1-0 Marauder lead.

As has been the pattern for much of the season, Hanover's least inspired hockey came in the middle frame. Trinity saw its best chanced of the game in the second, and nearly tied the game at 7:08 when Trinity's captain and leading scorer Tyler Chipman got behind the Hanover defense and broke in alone on Marauder netminder Luke Ratliff. Chipman ripped a wrist shot toward the upper corner of the Hanover net, but Ratliff made a big blocker save to preserve the lead. However, just 26 seconds later, Chipman again fired on Ratliff, and this time the shot took an odd deflection off the senior goalie's shoulder and bounced behind him, where junior forward John McNichols banged it in for the equalizer. Hanover could not regain the lead and the teams entered the final intermission knotted at one apiece.

Hanover hit the ice in the third period with renewed energy and again put Trinity on their heels, forcing Messner to make more big saves to keep his teammates in the game. Freshman Owen Stadheim played his best hockey of the year to date and was dynamic in both carrying the puck through the neutral zone and feeding pucks to his line mates. Junior defenseman Braxton McNulty blocked two shots and made several key poke checks to thwart the Trinity offense.

Midway through the period, it looked as if Trinity might have the opportunity to take the lead when Jensen Dodge was called for an interference penalty. However, the Hanover penalty kill unit of Smith, Acker, Goff, and Patrick Logan kept possession of the puck for nearly the entire penalty and mounted a relentless man-down counterattack, to the point that Trinity's contingent of traveling fans began jeering at their team in frustration. Acker capped the brilliant kill with a well-deserved shorthanded goal at 7:03 when he stripped the puck from a Trinity skater on the breakout and fired a wrist-shot past Messner for the 2-1 Hanover lead.

Trinity could mount no significant pressure for the remainder of the period, but Messner was able to deny everything else Hanover threw at him to keep the Pioneers within reach. With one minute remaining, Trinity coach Mike Connell summoned Messner to the bench for the extra attacker, but Acker once again stole the puck in the Trinity zone and quickly slid the puck toward the empty net. After what must have seemed like an eternity to the Pioneers' player, coaches, and fans, the puck finally banked off the right post and trickled past the goal line to cement the 3-1 win for Hanover.

Messner made 25 saves on the night to Ratliff's 10. With the win, Hanover improves to 6-4 overall, 3-3 in NHIAA Division I. Trinity drops to 2-8 overall, 1-6 in division action. The Marauders return to action on Monday with an early afternoon MLK-Day tilt against Manchester Memorial at 1:30 PM.

Third Period Rally Comes Up Short

Senior Captain Jonathan Goff scored on a third-

period penalty shot to pull Hanover within one.

On a late Tuesday-night game at Saint Anselm College, Hanover took on the defending state champion Bedford Bulldogs. Hanover had just faced Bedford eleven days prior in the championship game of the Manchester Christmas Tournament, with the Bulldogs taking home the crown on a 3-0 victory. Bedford entered the regular-season rematch with a 7-0-1 record and having outscored their opponents 43-7.  The Marauders looked to ground their high-flying offense and pick up two crucial points on the road. What initially looked like a potential laugher for Bedford turned into a nail-biter, but the visitors came up just short in a comeback bid and fell to the hosts 3-0.

Coming off a Saturday-night weather cancellation, followed by a practice-scheduling SNAFU, Hanover's rustiness showed in the initial moments of the first period. Bedford generated a dangerous three-on-one rush on the second shift of the game, but Bulldog forward Colin Voloshin shot just wide. The Marauders tightened up the defense, and applied their own pressure, and the first period was a back-and-forth battle of forechecking and goaltending until Bedford finally broke through at 11:58. After taking a pass from Zach Bayer in his own zone, senior forward Jacob Rioux put on an individual display, skating past two Hanover defenders to rush in alone and roof a shot past Marauders' goaltender Gambe Loud for the 1-0 lead.

Rioux would score again on a more controversial goal a minute-and-a-half later. With the Marauders serving a penalty, Bedford planted a man squarely in Loud's crease who appeared to be fully entangled with him when Rioux banged home his second tally of the period. Despite protests of what looked to be clear goaltender interference, the officials racked up the score and the Bulldogs entered the first intermission with a 2-0 lead.

The second period has been a bugaboo for Hanover much of the season, and this one started similarly. The Marauders seemed to come out on their heels, while Bedford came out like sharks smelling blood in the water. However, after the first few shaky shifts, the Marauder defense tightened, Loud made several key saves, and the forecheck forced Bedford back on their heels on several shifts. In particular, the line of Casey Starr, Rowan Wilson, and Grant Morhun – with Hans Williams taking several shifts as well – played some of the best hockey of the game, providing relentless pressure on Bedford's forwards and keeping the game within reach for the Marauders.

As Hanover pressed to halve the lead, the momentum swung squarely back to the Bulldogs as when defenseman John Flanagan crashed the net and banged-in the puck on a goal-mouth scramble at 10:06. Hanover would mount a counterattack in the final minutes, but the two teams went into the final intermission with the 3-0 lead for the home team.

In other recent games versus Bedford, the Marauders might have lost control of the game and Bedford's talented offense would have broken the game wide-open. There were moments tonight where it seemed the pattern might continue, but Hanover refused to quit on this cold, rainy Tuesday night, and came out and played their best hockey in the third period. 3:57 into the frame, defenseman Will Smith added to his team-leading goal total by wristing home a David Lehmann feed. Elias Zinman picked up the second assist. Just 90 seconds later, senior captain Jonny Goff streaked in alone on Bulldog goalie Erik Voloshin only to be hauled down from behind by a Bedford defender. The referees conferred for a moment before signaling the most exciting play in hockey… a penalty shot. Goff circled and broke in slowly on Voloshin, before turning on the jets at the last second, deking sideways, and sliding home the puck to pull Hanover within one.

With the momentum turning squarely to the visitors, Hanover continued the pressure on Voloshin and nearly had the equalizer at 12:06 when Goff again broke in behind the defense and this time whistled a shot off the crossbar. One minute later, Bedford's Jack McDonough was called for tripping, giving Hanover the power play for the final two minutes of the game. With 44 seconds left and a faceoff in the Bulldog zone, Hanover pulled Loud for the extra attacker. The Marauders mounted a few scoring opportunities in the final seconds, the best when senior defenseman Patrick Logan was left open at the point and fired a low, hard shot on net, but Voloshin made the save without a rebound to preserve the one-goal win.

With the loss, Hanover drops to 5-4, while Bedford improves to 8-0-1. Hanover returns home for a three-game home stand, and looks to get back into the win column with a rematch with the Trinity Pioneers on Saturday evening at 6:20.

A Classic American Muscle Car . . . on skates

The Dodge Viper pictured left uses a 10 cylinder engine to go 0 to 60 in a brisk 3.3 seconds.  The 2017 version Hanover Marauders took a little longer than that to get up to top speed on Weds night at Conway Arena but once they got rolling the statistics were just as impressive.  Hanover zoomed out of Nashua with a 10-1 victory over the Norhegan Saber-Titans.

Acker.  Goff.  Acker again.  Williams (1st career goal!). Logan.  Starr.  Zinman.  Acker 3rd time.  Lehman, and Lehman again.  The most explosive offensive output from a Marauder squad in several years.  Assists to Smith (3), Logan, Stadheim, Wilson (2 each), and single helpers by Morhun, Bailey, Starr, Goff and Dodge.  An astonishing 13 different names appear on the score sheet, a testament to the well balanced, relentless attack.

Only a brief first period lapse in puck management in the defensive zone, coupled with an aggressive Norhegan forecheck and a quick snipe past Loud's glove hand spoiled the clean sheet and what would have been an otherwise near perfect performance.

Hanover led 2-1 at the first intermission, after Captain Goff jammed home the puck with 24 seconds to play in the first.  The late goal must have energized the boys during the break, because they exploded with 6 goals in the second period to put the game well out of reach.

The comfortable lead allowed Coach Dodds and his staff to roll all the skaters and give some well earned rest to a few of the stalwarts who have been logging major minutes in recent games.  The third period came with running time, and 2 goals from David Lehman inserted in the middle of one of the newly configured lines.

Before long, Mr T was warming up the brand new "coach style" yellow bus and offering tours to curious onlookers.  The big diesel doesn't have quite the roar of the Viper V-10, but for the returning Marauders on a close to perfect road trip, it was just fine.