Third Period Comeback Caps Senior Night Celebration

Junior David Lehmann scored both the tying and winning

goals on Senior Night to propel the Marauders to victory. 

On Senior Night at Campion Rink, a standing-room-only crowd saw the Hanover Marauders come back from a 1-0 third period deficit to defeat the Concord Crimson Tide 3-1. It was the third time the bitter rivals have squared off this season, with the two teams splitting one-goal victories in the previous two contests. The Marauders took the rubber game to keep their home-ice playoff hopes alive. Despite Concord leading for the majority of the game, Hanover outshot the Tide 28-15 on the evening and it was the stellar play of Crimson goaltender Spencer Burgess that nearly stole the victory for the visitors.

Riding the wave of their offensive explosion against Manchester Memorial on Saturday combined with the energy of the packed Senior-Night student section, the Marauders took it to the Tide from the opening faceoff. Hanover dominated the early action, forcing Burgess to make several strong saves to keep the Marauders off the board. Hanover outshot Concord in the early stages of the period, but couldn't break the ice with the game's first goal.

The Crimson Tide regrouped and stormed back in the latter third of the first period to regain a slight lead in shots. With just under three minutes remaining, an aggressive pinch in the Concord zone led to an odd-man rush for the Tide. Defenseman Dan Lebell pushed the puck up the left wing before passing to forward Ethan Donlon. Donlon fired the puck on senior goaltender Gabe Loud, who made the initial save, but Concord forward Cam LaRiviere was left unmarked in the slot and banged home the rebound for the 1-0 Concord lead at 12:35. The Crimson Tide outshot the Marauders 6-4 in the period and headed into the first intermission with the one-goal lead intact.

The second period saw nearly total dominance by the Marauders, who came out of the locker room seemingly determined not to let the visitors spoil their Senior Night. Several end-to-end rushes by defensemen Patrick Logan, TJ Beaver, and Will Smith nearly resulted in goals. Logan came within a late Burgess flashing glove save of tying the game on coast-to-coast carry in the middle of the period. Freshmen phenom Rowan Wilson nearly collected his second goal in as many games when he seemingly tied the game when he fought off two Tide defenders before unleashing a snap shot that seemed to hit the back of the net and bounce out, but the referees thought otherwise. Despite the Marauders doubling-up the Tide in shots on goal with a 14-7 advantage, Burgess was the man of the hour and kept the visitors clinging to their one-goal advantage as the second period drew to a close.

With more Hanover pressure and dominance of puck possession in the third period, but more Burgess saves, it looked as if the evening might end in frustration and disappointment for the Marauders and glory for Burgess in stealing a win on the road. However, the all-underclassmen line of junior David Lehmann, sophomore Elias Zinman, and freshman Owen Stadheim would steal the spotlight on Senior Night and snatch the game from the jaws of defeat. Five minutes into the final frame, Zinman began a breakout play that saw Stadheim break into the Crimson zone before passing the Lehmann who slammed the puck home for the equalizer at 5:31.

Freshman Owen Stadheim set-up both the tying and winning
goals before icing the game with an empty-net insurance goal.

Just three minutes later, it was deja vu for the Marauders as Lehmann struck again on another assist from Stadheim to take the lead. The Crimson Tide play a controversial and frustrating brand of hockey in keeping one forward out of their defensive zone and constantly floating high in hopes of gaining a breakaway. Hanover gave Concord a bitter taste of its own medicine when Stadheim gained control of the puck in his own zone and threaded a perfect lead pass to Lehmann who broke for daylight and went in alone on Burgess. Despite the junior netminder making the initial save, Lehmann pounced on his own rebound and banged it into the twine for the go-ahead goal at 8:36 and the eruption of the jubilant student section.

Despite the slim one-goal lead and Concord's ability to strike at any moment, as they evidenced in their last-minute tying goal in the two teams' previous meeting, the Marauders seemed to have the game in hand with the go-ahead goal, as the hosts were dominating puck possession and shots on goal throughout the period. However, this momentum seemed to be halted when Hanover drew a controversial and puzzling bench minor penalty for too many men on the ice at 11:13 allowing the potent Crimson Tide power play to go to work in the hopes of tying the game. However, the Marauder penalty-kill unit all but shut down the Crimson man-up attack, with Smith, Stadheim, and Logan making several key length-of-the-ice clears to force the Tide to regroup and eating up valuable minutes. In their one dangerous chance on net, Loud made the crucial save and pounced on the rebound to neutralize the threat.

One minute after killing off the penalty, the Marauders again found themselves fending off a man-up Tide when Concord coach Dunc Walsh summoned Burgess to the bench for an extra attacker. However, Logan picked up the puck in his own zone and sprung Stadheim who carried the puck up the left wing and into the Concord zone, fending off two Tide defenders before finding the back of the empty net for the insurance goal that sealed the 3-1 victory for the Marauders.

Loud made 14 saves for the win. Burgess had 25 saves on the losing end. With the win, Hanover improves to 14-6 overall, 11-5 in NHIAA Division I. Concord drops to 15-5 overall, 14-3 in Division I. The Marauders return to Campion on Friday for their final regular-season home game of the season as they host Bishop Brady in a reschedule of last Wednesday's snow-out. Game time is 3:00 PM.