PERIOD OF THE YEAR

      The Hanover Marauders traveled to cavernous Sullivan Arena on the campus of Saint Anselm College for a Saturday afternoon game against the Trinity Pioneers who came into the game with a 3-2 NHIAA record with losses only to Concord and Bishop Guertin.  The Marauders were looking to dust off the rust after a one week exam hiatus for midterms.  The game would be the first of three on the weekend, with Hanover facing tilts at home on Sunday against Bedford and back on the road to the Queen City against Manchester Memorial on Monday.  This would be the first in a home-and-home for the two teams with the Pioneers scheduled to visit the Upper Valley on January 27^th.

Cameron Woods - game winner

      With senior goalie Harris LaRock between the pipes, the Marauders came out like they were still taking their chemistry midterm – overcalculating, somewhat confused and trying to remember all of the basic elements.  Even when they had the early advantage with a power play opportunity at 3:56 they were only able to muster one shot on goal.  However, the line of Toño Correa, Rowan Wilson and Cameron Woods had a dominant shift midway through the first with Woods getting the best early opportunity that was stoned by Pioneer goalie Ethan Messner on a rebound in close.  Hanover continued to have the best of play until their momentum was interrupted by a trip to the sin bin at 13:08.  Almost singlehandedly however in the early part of the penalty kill Owen Stadheim kept Trinity pinned in their zone with rush after rush on the forecheck.  On what was about the third rush for Stadheim on the shorthand, he was taken down by an elbow and for the remainder of the period it was a 4-4 with neither team able to capitalize.  The period ended with an 8 shots for each team.

Matty Gardner tied it up

      The second period was one of those periods where you recognize the value of a very hot goalie.  Despite being absolutely pummeled with shot after shot after shot throughout the period, Messner was electric.  The Marauders had 2 and half power play chances over the course of the period (having started on the man-up) and could not convert despite multiple good chances.  They completely dominated the period but Messner was up to every challenge.  The Marauders hurt themselves too with an uncharacteristic three penalties in the period.  Just as Hanover was putting the pressure on for another thrust with 10 second left, a turnover at the blue line followed by apathetic backchecking let Pioneer junior James Kosiarski come down on breakaway and beat LaRock as time expired.  Despite possessing the shot advantage 26-13 after two periods (18-5 in the second period alone) Hanover went into the final frame trailing for only the second time this season.

      The Marauders came out in the third playing like a team down and had several knocks on the door, the best of which was a David Lehmann breakaway shorthanded at four minutes in that was shut down by Messner.  Two man-ups and what seemed like multiple opportunities later, Hanover found themselves still at 1-0 down deep into the third.  Playing with calm desperation, they continued to press and work the puck around the umbrella.  With just over 2 minutes left at 2:15, Sy Oberting took an Elias Zinman pass from the right corner and unleashed a bomb from the blue line that was directed past Messner by Matty Gardner on the screen and now it was all tied up at 1-1.  With the Lehmann-Stadheim- Zinmann and Williams-Plottner-Goff lines running on fumes, in came the high-energy Wilson-Woods-Correa line – great decision.  With 44 seconds left, another Oberting blast found the screening Woods deep in front of Messner who was beat stick side - Woods would not be denied a second time.  Game winner for the sophomore and a Donner-esque heartbreak for the Pioneers.

     On the night Hanover outshot Trinity 36-15 – with only 7 shots for the Pioneers after the first period.

      Tomorrow morning Hanover will host Bedford in a make-up game from a 12/23 snow out.  A rare Thompson Arena battle will have two of the top teams in Division I squaring off at 10:30 in their second meeting of the season.  Bedford took the championship of the Manchester Holiday tournament in a close 4-2 victory against the Marauders in late December.  Here’s hoping that the Patriots don’t go to overtime tonight so the boys can get some sleep heading into the morning.