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.