Sunday Shotfest

Sophomore defenseman Duncan Bailey scored his first 

career  goal in the third period to ice the victory. 

After dropping 48 shots on Manchester Central the night before, the Hanover Marauders continued the barrage the next day against Exeter, throwing 44 at the Blue Hawks before coming away with the 5-1 victory. As in the previous night's game, it was only solid goaltending on the part of the visitors – in this case, sophomore goaltender Alex Warr – that kept the game from being a blowout early.

Playing in the spacious Thompson Arena at Dartmouth College as a Sunday Special, Hanover burst out of the gate and put two quick shots on Warr on the first shift. Warr saved that pair of shots, as well as 15 others throughout the period to stymie the Hanover attack. At the other end of the ice, Hanover's Luke Ratliff was equal to the challenge, turning away 12 Exeter shots on the period. Neither team could break through, and the teams headed into the locker room tied at 0-0 after one.

Earlier in the season, the second period was Hanover's achilles heel, but lately it has been the strongest period for the Marauders. The trend continued today when the hosts broke the scoring ice just 47 seconds into the period. After thwarting an Exeter attack, Hanover defenseman Patrick Logan gathered the puck in his own zone and fired a long lead pass to forward Jake Acker. Acker dished to Jonathan Goff, who walked in on Warr and beat the sophomore net minder with a wrist shot.

The 1-0 lead would hold up until 5:32 when Logan doubled it with a blistering low slap shot goal from top of the right face off circle off a feed from Goff. Three minutes later, defenseman Will Smith threaded the hockey equivalent of a touchdown pass, as he found Jensen Dodge all alone at the Exeter blue line and hit him with a crisp lead pass from the side of his own net. Dodge broke in alone on Warr; while the Blue Hawk goalie denied Dodge's first shot, he left the rebound right out in front and Dodge followed his shot and banged in the rebound.

Despite mustering only five previous shots in the period, Exeter converted with just three minutes remaining to cut the lead to 3-1. After Logan took Exeter's Ben Baldarsaro hard into the boards behind the Hanover net, the puck squirted loose to Garrett Fisher, who fed immediately to an unmarked Rob Andreasse, who was streaking in from the left circle. Andreasse banged home the pass for Exeter's only score of the period and the game.

Hanover came into the final period with the same energy they displayed in the second, and took just 43 seconds to regain the three-goal lead. On the opening shift, Goff fed Acker at the left circle and the team leader in goals unleashed a blistering low wrist shot that beat Warr to the stick side.

The remainder of the period was the most even stretch of the night, with both teams trading blows and both goaltenders pushing them aside. Warr robbed freshman Owen Stadheim with a flashy glove save on a low shot from the young center that almost netted him his second goal of the campaign. With just under two minutes remaining in the context, sophomore defenseman Duncan Bailey scored his first career goal with a long wrist shot from the left point that found the top corner of the Blue Hawks' goal. Jake Acker picked up the assist for his third point of the night.

With the victory, Hanover improves to 12-5 overall,  9-4 in NHIAA Division I. Exeter drops to 3-8. Ratliff made 24 saves for the win. Hanover will hit the road again on Wednesday, taking on second-place Concord. Game time is 5:30 at Everett Arena.