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.