Home Again, Home Again...

Senior captain Patrick Logan had two 

goals and an assist on the night, including

the game-winning goal at 3:05 of the first. 

After being shutout for the first time this season in league play in their Wednesday road match against the Pinkerton Astros, Hanover returned to the friendly confines of Campion Rink and dropped their own clean sheet on the visiting Little Green of Manchester Central. In front a packed crowd of raucous students, the Marauders outshot Central by a staggering 9-to-1 margin and came away with the 5-0 victory and another crucial two points in the final month's push toward playoff seeding.

Hanover seemed determined to set the tone and applied the pressure to the visitors from the opening faceoff. Central soon found themselves man-down when Will Hebert took a high-sticking penalty just 2:45 into the game. It took the Marauder powerplay just 20 seconds to take advantage. Set up confidently in the zone and moving the puck crisply among all five attackers, Jensen Dodge fed Patrick Logan at the central point. The senior defenseman walked in two steps before roofing a wrist shot that past Central goaltender Keenan Alnahas and into the top of the net. Fellow senior captain Jonny Goff also assisted on the goal.

Hanover special teams proved just as deadly on the flipside of the man-up/man-down equation. With senior Grant Morhun serving a rare penalty, the maroon-and-white's penalty kill proved as deadly as their powerplay. Beating a Central defenser on the right wing, David Lehmann walked into the Central slot and beat Alnahas with a low wrist shot. Assists went to freshman Owen Stadheim and Logan. Only the brilliant play of Alnahas kept the game within reach for the Little Green, as Hanover outshot the visitors 19-2 on the period, but headed into the locker room for the first intermission with only the 2-0 lead that belied their complete domination of the period.

Looking to shake their second period blues reputation, Hanover picked up right where they left off in the middle frame and completely outplayed the Little Green from puck drop to final horn. Owning an unbelievable 20-0 advantage in shots in the period, Alnahas's play was the only thing keeping the game from becoming a rout. Despite the relentless pressure, Hanover could only find the back of the Central net once in the period, with Logan picking up his second goal of the game at 10:41. With the Marauders set-up in the Central zone, senior Will Smith fed his defensive partner across the point. The latter circled low on the wing before unleashing a shot from the faceoff circle that beat Alnahas to the glove side for the 3-0 lead that would remain for the duration of the period.

Sophomore Charlie Plottner scored his

first career goal midway through the third.

Having outshot the visitors 39-2 in the first two-thirds of the game, despite owning only a 3-0 lead, Hanover coach Dick Dodds lengthened the bench in the third period. This strategy paid off when recent JV-call-up Cam Woods fed freshman Rowan Wilson, who set-up sophomore Charile Plottner's first varsity goal at 8:34 of the period.

The third period would prove to be more balanced in play than the first two, but Hanover still owned a 9-2 advantage in shots. With just under five minutes remaining, Smith capped the lead with a slap shot blast from the left point that beat Alnahas high, with assists going to Lehmann and Elias Zinmann. Hanover would pick up a penalty at 13:30 of the period giving Central one last chance to break the shutout, but once again the penalty kill unit kept the visitors on their heels and the hosts coasted to the finish line with the 5-0 lead intact.

With the win, the Marauders improve to 11-5 on the season, 8-4 in NHIAA Division I. Manchester Central drops to 5-8 with the loss. With the shutout, senior goaltender Gabe Loud moves to fifth all-time on the Hanover shutout list. Next up for the Marauders is a Super Bowl Sunday matinee against Exeter at Dartmouth's Thompson Arena. Game time is 3:30.