500!!!

500th Win!!!

       In game that in the future will be remembered more for the coaching milestone achieved rather than the actual play on the ice, the Hanover Marauders upended the Trinity Pioneers to move to 10-1 in NHIAA Division 1 (13-2 overall).  A very fitting 5-0 score to give Hanover coach Dick Dodds his 500^th career coaching win in his 36th year behind the bench has the Marauders now ready to square off for Division 1 bragging rights against 9-0 Pinkerton in three days time.

      But first the milestone.  Over the course of 36 years, 500 wins translates into almost 14 wins per season.  A remarkable record of consistency for a small school that has always “played up” against the more populous schools that make up Division 1.  Since 1982-3 when Dodds took over as coach, Hanover has captured 5 state championships and been to the finals 4 more times – 9 finals trips in 36 years.  The one constant in this tradition of excellence has been coach Dodds whose devotion to the Hanover traditional values of hard work, scholarship and integrity continues with this year’s Marauder group.  In a fine example of the humility inherent to the program, it was only after the milestone was announced over the Campion PA system that most in the crowd knew the importance of the occasion.

      Back to game.  This was the second meeting between the two schools with the first being a 2-1 nail biter that came down to the last two minutes in which Hanover eked out a victory at Saint Anselms back on January 13th.  The difference in that game was clearly Trinity net minder Ethan Messner who frustrated the locals throughout the game and nearly escaped with a signature victory.   Since that loss the Pioneers have been on a bit of a rough streak, as their 3-5 record has them in the midst of a four game losing streak after a 3-1 start.

Owen Stadheim lit it up with two goals

      With the Hanover partisans in the crowd hoping to avoid a repeat performance and get up on the Pioneers early, it looked like another close one was in the cards as neither team could establish control for the first ten minutes.  In fact, the best chance was probably for Trinity when a Hanover neutral zone lapse led to a breakaway which was stoned by Harris LaRock at 9:40.  As the time ticked closer to a 0-0 first period draw and Hanover looked like it would need to find its typical second period magic to pull this one out, all of sudden the game became the Owen Stadheim show.  On one of the best goals of the year coming unassisted at 10:27, Stadheim gained control of the puck along the far boards in the defensive zone.  With lightning quickness he skated the puck through 2 defenders in the neutral zone and then beat the defender wide coming into the offensive zone.  With David Lehmann flying through the slot, Stadheim came up on Messner in an impossible angle on the stick side, and with his eyes faking the pass to Lehmann in the slot, ripped a top shelf wrister into a microscopic opening that left the Hanover fans shaking their heads and saying “Seth who?”  Almost two minutes later, Stadheim did it again, with virtually the same shot at the same angle on a pass from Toño Correa that sent the home team up 2-0 going into the locker room.  The young Hanover Wild fans were heard to ask that if Stadheim scored again and they threw their hats on the ice, would Hanover get a penalty? 

Another shutout for the Rock

      The first half of the second was a lot like the first half of the first – lots of back and forth without either team able to capitalize.  It was not until Hanover’s special teams had their first chance with a hooking penalty at 9:21 that they got back on the board.  In the span of eight seconds on the man-up, Stadheim’s win off of the face-off back to Sy Oberting at the blue line was lateraled to Matty Gardner whose diagonal backdoor pass to Lehmann had the senior captain finding the net past Messner to make it 3-0.  With the Pioneers struggling like they were stuck back in the winter of 1846-47 in the Sierra Nevada, at 14:28 Charlie Plottner had a nice deak close in on Messner on assists from Joey Goff and Braxton McNulty to make it 4-0 as the horn sounded.

      The third period was more of the same in terms of Hanover dominance, with Goff making it 5-0 on a feed from Rowan Wilson and McNulty off a Messner rebound at 3:01.  From them on, it was Hanover just trying to preserve the shutout, with LaRock as usual masterful en route to his fourth shut out of the year.  In case you are wondering, that is now over 120 minutes of hockey since LaRock gave up a goal and he has only given up one goal in the last 180 minutes. 

      With the win, Hanover solidified its hold on second place in Division 1 in a tie with Concord.  Schedule watchers (and if you are not a schedule watcher and would like to have a great distraction at work when you are supposed to be doing important things, here is the website http://www.nhiaa.org/sports/schedules/boys-ice-hockey/division-1/2017-2018) can see that Division 1 is shaping up to be a 5 team race, with several critical contests coming this week.  Number one on that list is the game against Pinkerton on Tuesday night at Campion.  Game time is 5:50 pm.