TAKING IT TO THE BLUE DEVILS

The all-of-a-sudden not so young anymore Hanover Marauders boy’s hockey team put on an exhibition of crisp, penalty-free hockey in beating last year’s Division 1 semifinalist Salem 6-2 on Saturday in their home opener at Campion Rink.

Led by a punishing power play, which went 3-for-3 on the afternoon (running their season total to 5-for-7) and a staunch defense that limited the impact of Blue Devil senior star Matty Pappalardo to one goal, Hanover won its second game to open the season.

Owen Stadheim

The line of Owen Stadheim, Elias Zinman and David Lehmann exploded for four goals with the shifty sophomore Stadheim netting two, and Zinman and Lehmann scoring one apiece.  More impressively, the Marauders stayed out of the penalty box, allowing them to continuously press the Salem defense and Blue Devil freshman goalie Brady Roux.  The Marauders held a 36-21 advantage in shots.

Hanover senior goalie Harris LaRock followed up his spectacular opening night against Londonderry with another very strong performance, making 19 saves.  Defenders Braxton McNulty, Duncan Bailey and Sam Seelig were critical to protecting the Hanover zone all afternoon.

Zinman opened the scoring at 2:46 on the man up after a Blue Devil hook.  Stadheim directed a nice feed to McNulty at the point whose shot was deflected by Zinman parked in the high slot – 1-0 Hanover.  At 9:41, however, Pappalardo broke loose from the right circle beating Harris stick side to knot the score at 1-1.

However, the Marauders struck back on a pretty sequence – Zinman to Lehman to Stadheim whose redirection to the right side of the net put the Marauders up 2-1 to end the first period.

Elias Zinman

As they did against Londonderry three days earlier, Hanover came out flying in the second period and dominated play with rush after rush into the Blue Devil zone.  Junior Hans Williams started the second period scoring barrage with a near-end-to-end run with a beautiful stick side finish to beat Roux at 1:44.  Hanover struck again two minutes later on the power play when Matty Gardner stuck in his own rebound with the assists going to Zinman and sophomore Sy Oberting.  Stadheim then completed the second period scoring with the prettiest goal of the night, dancing around 3 Blue Devil defenders before beating Roux from the circle on a Gardner assist to make it 5-1.

Expecting a physical third period, Hanover continued to play very intelligent hockey as they kept the Blue Devils pinned in their zone for much of the final frame and avoided the box and most importantly, injury.  Lehmann notched his second point of the night at 9:50, roofing an Oberting pass from the slot to make it 6-1. While Salem was able to close the gap to 6-2 on a Ryan Martin goal at the 12:36 mark, the result was never in doubt.

With the win, Hanover goes to 2-0-0 on the season and takes the season series from the Blue Devils. They Marauders will hit the road this Thursday for a date with Nashua South-Pelham, who are 1-1 on the season with a win against Bishop Brady and a loss to Dover.