Heart Pounding Win

      Having never been allowed to coach above the Travel Mite level by the HHA board, I can’t say for sure what drives high level hockey coaches the most crazy.  I imagine a turnover when skating the puck out of the defensive zone instead of passing to the forwards is pretty annoying.  I always wonder what goes through the coach’s mind when he is trying to make a point during a break in play and can’t hear himself think over the crappy AC/DC from 1974 (keep it coming by the way Sean - especially It’s a Long Way to the Top if you Want to Rock & Roll – best hockey song ever – bagpipes bringing Malcom and Angus back to their Scottish roots) – probably pretty annoying.  I won’t even get into hockey parents questioning their little Johnny’s playing time.  But I imagine if there is one thing that is universal amongst all high level hockey coaches, it is the dumb penalty, the game-changing dumb penalty, that has them reaching for their in-game nitro.  And in today’s game between the 4^th place Hanover Marauders and the 5^th place trinity Pioneers, coaches Dodds and Connell probably used their Nitro so much that they’ll be booking an appointment with their cardiologist tomorrow.

      Because tonight was a big game – a really big game.  It was a rubber match between two teams that had split already this year – Hanover winning 7-1 in the Christmas tournament and Trinity paying back the favor 5-2 a week ago in their barn.  It was a game that had many implications – seeding implications, respect implications, rivalry implications.  So, as the Pioneers made their trek up 1-89 for a mid-week tilt in front of a small but vocal Campion rink crowd, everyone knew that it was either going to be the Marauders avenging an ugly Sullivan rink disaster from last week, or Trinity making a huge statement knocking off the defending state champions.

     It was Hanover that came out ripping on Pioneer goalie Ryan Brewitt who stoned the hungry locals on every attempt.  And just when it seemed like Hanover would be finding the twine at any moment, a five minute major boarding penalty – a killer in high school hockey because a goal does not wipe out the penalty – put Hanover on the man down.  Now a boarding penalty is not a bad penalty per se, but doesn’t actually make you the guest of honor at the next penalty kill unit dinner party.  But one thing Hanover is really good at doing is killing penalties, and with the forwards buzzing around like Cape Cod marsh flies on a summer night and the defense holding steady, Hanover killed off the Pioneer charge until his team caused coach Connell to reach for the first Nitro of the night.  Because in succession, on the man-up, Trinity committed two hooking penalties to go from a 5-4 for five minutes to a 3-4 and then a 4-4.  Ouch.  And with that, all of the momentum shifted back to Hanover and on the power play it was Duncan Bailey, from Spencer Lawe, firing in from the point with Charlie Plottner deflecting at 14:01 to put Hanover up 1-0 heading into the first intermission.

      And it didn’t stop there because almost as soon as they came out for the second, Hanover went up 2-0 with Pat Daley finding Cam Woods on a deflection just 57 seconds in.  Now came time for the all important third goal and as Ben Plottner (16 saves) preserved the net for the locals, older brother Charlie found Matty Gardner at the point whose wrister at 5:40 in made it 3-0.  A big old sigh of relief, not even when Trinity finally beat Plottner to make it 3-1 at 9:12.  The locals continued to pepper Brewitt, who even took one off of the mask from Joey Goff point blank (dam you Jacques Plante!) until Brendan Brigham took it upon himself on a goal of the year candidate score to seemingly send Trinity to purgatory.  On a full out fore-check, Brigham stripped the puck down low and through a sheer force of will we haven’t seen since a lacrosse face-off, he dusted three Pioneers and stuffed it into the back of the net to make it 4-1 heading into the third.

      But Trinity came out embarrassed, and perhaps feeling guilty about sending their coach to have a heart cath tomorrow, almost immediately they took advantage a neutral zone turnover and a trip to make it 4-3 not even four minutes into the third.  And now with the Pioneers salivating and tasting blood like it was dinnertime at the Donner’s house (I just can’t stop making that joke), Hanover found themselves suddenly on the defensive.  But just like in the first period, it was a killer Trinity penalty that doomed them, because putting Hanover on the man-up deep in the third had Casey Graham finding the net in a scrum on an assist from Sy Oberting to make it 5-3 at 11:48.  An empty netter by Graham completed the scoring at 14:11 and Hanover had their 6-3 win.

      So now Hanover finds itself at 9-2 in NHIAA play (10-4 overall) with a few key games coming up – including a late Saturday night game a tough Salem team (just breathing the air coming north from Methuen makes you mean) that may have some of our boys spitting their own chiclets by night’s end.  By the way boys, there are discounts on swivels at Home Depot this week and directions are included on how to attach to your head.  Then it is Concord next Wednesday – no intro needed.  See you at the rink.

Bounce Back

      Sporting by far and away the best hockey hair in all of NHIAA Division 1 (sorry Bedford – the peroxide is just too easy to do on a whim whereas the legendary Lancer locks take months of careful grooming), Londonderry came to town for a Saturday afternoon rematch of last year’s state quarterfinal.  After a closer-than expected 3-2 victory, the Marauders improved to 8-2 in league play (9-4 overall) and solidified their hold on fourth place as the rubber match awaits with Trinity on Wednesday.

      With three players out for the locals and some line-up changes perhaps reflecting a carry over from their game earlier this week, the Marauders came out a little tentative against the pressing Lancers early.  But it was the visitors’ exuberance that had them in the hole early as Casey Graham’s debut on the power play resulted in a 1-0 lead after his wrister from the near circle found the five hole on assists from Cameron Woods and Patrick Daley at 7:33 in.  Almost immediately thereafter the Lancers were whistled for a five minute major boarding penalty which had Woods finding the twine in close on a feed from Curtis Rice and Daley at 8:37 to make it 2-0 just one minute into the man-up. But an immediate time out settled the Lancers, and seemed to have the opposite effect on the Marauders, because from that point on it was the local boys who owned the sin bin, beginning with a retaliation interference that negated their advantage through the end of the period.  Hanover almost went up 3-0 on Joey Goff’s backhander off of the post, but settled for a 2-0 score as the horn sounded.

      Owning a two goal advantage into the second, it was the Marauders who were on the kill for most of the period, including a five minute stretch for a boarding major which limited their offensive chances throughout the frame.  The steady play of goalie Luke Ives kept Hanover even for the period, but a late penalty had them heading into third again on the man down.  Just 32 seconds in, it was the Lancers getting that all important third goal to make it 2-1 and suddenly what seemed like a sure thing win in the first five minutes became a bit tenuous.  But it was Rowan Wilsons dagger om the man-up soon thereafter on assists from Hans Willaims and Joey Goff which had that line getting the game winner.  The Lancers made it close at 8:12 beating Ives high to make it 3-2, but the smothering Hanover defense never let them get close and Dick Dodds’s boys finished it off firing rockets at Londonderry’s empty net.

      So here we go – a suddenly big three game stretch starting on Wednesday with Trinity, Concord and Salem in succession.  Now the NHIAA season is more than half over, and positional jockeying will be the order of the day moving forward.  Rest up Marauders, heal up fast, and on behalf of all of the Hanover moms, we hope that the Londonderry hair did not inspire you.  See you at the rink.

Ouch

      Watching late night TV following Hanover’s 5-2 loss to the Trinity Pioneers in Division 1 NHIAA play tonight, there was a financial services company advertising their latest way of ripping off the American consumer and after promoting a no-risk annual 15% return mutual fund, they quietly hedged at the end of the commercial by stating “Past performance is not indicative of future returns.”

      What a prophetic statement, especially considering the Marauders game earlier this evening.  This was a game that everyone expected Hanover to win, especially given the 7-1 drubbing they had laid on the Pioneers in the final game of the Holiday tournament three weeks earlier.  But, this is why they play the game because Trinity put the hurt on Hanover from the opening puck drop to drop the locals into fourth place in NHIAA play.

      There’s not too much to blog about this one, except to congratulate Trinity on a very strong performance.  Perhaps Hanover should have known things were not going to go well when during the first period power-play, on the only penalty called of the game, the normally sure fire Marauders were not able to muster a shot against the stout Pioneer penalty kill.  Other than that, this was a back and forth contest without any real drama until deep in the second when the Pioneers finally broke through on goalie Ben Plottner with five seconds left to make it 1-0 heading into the third. 

     While none of the Hanover partisans were privy to the discussion in the locker room between the second and third period, we took it as a good sign that none of the freshman came out crying.  However, despite putting extensive pressure on the Trinity D, Hanover could not break through and it was ping pong game of scoring as first Trinity, then Hanover (Cam Woods one-timer on a beautiful rush and behind-the net feed from Sy Obtering) then immediately Trinity, then Hanover (Duncan Bailey unassisted on a turnover from the high circle) and then unfortunately Trinity right back to make it 4-2 with 2:30 left.  Hanover pulled Plottner but an empty-netter doomed the locals to seal the defeat. 

      The great thing about sports is that even when you have a tough loss and face a little adversity (i.e. Pats/Dolphins “Miracle in Miami”) you can get back on the horse for immediate redemption (i.e.  Pats/Chiefs “Still Here”).  Now that doesn’t mean it comes easy – for example as the Hanover partisans left the rink the betting line on the over/under date on when pucks would be allowed back in practice was set at Valentine’s Day – but these are the challenges that make it fun.   So enjoy your Herbie’s boys and remember to answer, as Mike Eruzione taught you, “I play for the Hanover High School Marauders” when you are asked on Friday morning at practice.  Next up is Londonderry Saturday afternoon.  See you at the rink

Five in a Row

It’s funny what a couple hours in a hockey rink can do to change a mood or situation.  We’ve all been to the games where heading in you think you are going to get destroyed and…a few hours later you walk out feeling pretty good.  Unfortunately the converse is also true – Everett arena last February against Concord comes to mind.  However tonight’s game featured a team about whom it was hard to have a strong feeling either way heading in.  Sure the Windham Jaguars were making their NHIAA Division 1 debut after moving up from Division 2 last year.  Sure, they had only tied Exeter 3-3.  But they had also lost to Bedford by a only a 4-2 margin (sound familiar Marauders fans?) and had actually beat, yes beat, the evil empire BG Cardinals already in divisional play.

So into Campion Arena came the 5-3 Jaguars to face off against the 6-1 (7-3 overall) Hanover Marauders in a Saturday night tilt that was heavily overshadowed by the prospect of a heavy storm arriving any minute.  In fact the prospect of the storm dumping major snow had all involved wondering if the game would even happen  - 2 hours later I’m sure the Jaguars wish it hadn’t as Dick Dodds’s squad put on a controlled domination of the upstarts with a 4-0 win.

Opening up in the first, it was clear that Hanover had the upper hand and perhaps some 2 hour bus legs and playing the defending Division 1 state championships had something to do with it.  However, despite pounding away at the lobby side goal, the locals could not hit the twine until over 10 minutes had already gone by.  And like so many times before, and certainly as we would see in this game, it was the special teams that would make the difference. On the man-up at 10:33, it was Spencer Lawe finding the net on a high circle wrister on passes from Hans Williams and Charlie Plottner to make it 1-0.  And then the wheels fell off the proverbial bus for these Jaguars (Blake Bortles redux) and in lightning succession, Charlie Plottner picked off a pass at the blue line finding Sylas Oberting in front whose rebound was put back by Cam Woods to make it 2-0 at 13:14 and then on the man-up at 14:10 Matty Gardner’s wall pass from behind the net found Oberting on the high far circle and his one-timer made it 3-0 to end the first (sorry about the run-on sentence but I got excited about the offensive outburst and did not have time for proper grammar).

One half expected Windham to come out firing in the second, but much like the first period, Hanover just maintained control – killing penalties, creating neutral zone turnovers, and frustrating the Windham bench with a nice Division 1 welcome.  Brendan Brigham helped with that welcome when he got deep in the Jaguar zone and put an exclamation point on the 4-0 win with assists going to Toño Correa and Gardner at 9:54.  And with that, Division 2 looked like a lot more fun - maybe next time you come to the Upper Valley Jaguars give Lebanon High a try.

So into the third it went and with lots of playing time going around, the Jaguars came close several times only to be stoned by Ben Plottner whose 19 saves preserved the shutout.  And just like Pat Sajak with his contestants on Wheel of Fortune, Oberting offered a nice parting gift deep in the third with his defensive zone check that could be heard even over the sound of the Windham bus driver warming up the bus outside.

With the win, Hanover moves to 7-1 in NHIAA play and is locked into a second place tie with Concord and Pinkerton with an away rematch against Trinity coming up on Wednesday.  Enjoy the snow Marauders, and before you go skiing tomorrow, make sure there is nothing in your contracts preventing you from doing so.  See you at the rink.

BTW: I watched the entire game on Livebarn and the feed is absolutely fantastic from Campion.  Plus you can watch archived game footage – so sign up!

Astros Take Down

There are times you wonder if it worth it…4:30 alarm wake-ups three days per week, getting home from what seems like the 110th road game in a row down in Manchester at 11:30 pm on a school night, being told over and over that you can’t hang with the big boys down South, that you have freshman goalies, that big bad Pinkerton is coming with their PA mafia flag and clown hair.  On a night when at least half of your team is inflicted with a flu like illness and finals start in 36 hours.

And then the game starts and you say to yourself – yup going to be a tough one as these Astros are about as tough as their MLB AL West compatriots (not the circa 2012 version mind you but the more recent Jose Altuve version) with the hits they are laying out in the first two minutes.  But then your captain #20 comes flying in behind the net on a forecheck and gets absolutely walloped and it’s right then, right there that you have a choice.  You stay down or you will yourself up and get back on the backcheck.  And maybe it’s Duncan Bailey out of the corner of his eye seeing Hans shake off that hit and with a captain’s leadership start the backcheck and says to himself, no more, not here, not on Saturday night, not in my house.   Boom!  And with that absolute crushing check, it was as if #10 took the lead and said to the visitors  “Welcome to Hanover, NH Astros and thanks for coming. Now you’re about to see why we are defending state champions and why you’re about to be knocked out of first place.”

So into a packed Campion arena came the league leading Pinkerton Astros with their gaudy 7-0 record taking on the corn fed Hanover hicks who came in at 5-1 (6-3 overall) in NHIAA play.  Once those first two minutes had ended and Hanover had decided to meet aggression with even more aggression of their own, it was Dick Dodds’s Marauders who were able to survive the slugfest with the 3-2 victory.  This was not a pretty win, but boy was it sweet.

In the first period, back and forth it went, with each team surviving man-ups and each team’s goalie, senior Dakota Robinson for Pinkerton and Marauder freshman (yes, hard to believe he is only a freshman) Ben Plottner, standing on their heads to keep it knotted at 0-0 going to deep into the stanza.  But first lines are first lines for a reason and in a bang-bang sequence, it was Cameron Woods finding an onrushing Pat Daley whose in close banger rebounded off of Robinson to a charging Charlie Plottner who calmly buried it stick side to make it 1-0 at 10:13.  Hanover almost made it 2-0 after freshman Spencer Lawe was tripped breaking in on goal and the subsequent Marauder power play had more chances than a game of Monopoly.  But Robinson was a rock and as the period wound down to 0, Hanover was whistled for a too many men penalty that would leave them starting the second on the man-down.

So maybe this was in coach Dodds’s playbook because on the kill, just 25 seconds into the second, it was Daley forechecking like Patrice Bergeron and causing an Astro defensive zone turnover that lead to a nifty pass to Woods in the high slot whose one timer made it 2-0.  Between the huge hits being laid out by both sides, it was the aggressive Hanover offensive forecheckers that kept the Astros busy as they tried to bore down on Plottner and his virus-laded defenders.  Eventually it was Pinkerton senior John Last at 13:56 who scored the game’s all important third goal to cut it to 2-1 going into the final frame.

So here we are again in the third up a goal.  The defense is exhausted, injuries are starting to pile up, the social studies midterm is on Monday, the Chiefs are beating the Colts, Pine Park is going to close for a year, Jim Kenyon still has a job throwing anything associated with Hanover/Norwich/Lyme/Dartmouth College/DHMC under the bus – life is bad.  We needed a goal and we needed a little puck luck.  At 6:43 we got it as the Astros were whistled for a high stick.  In came the power play unit and with Daley finding Matty Gardner on the reverse umbrella behind the net, it was his shot  that rebounded off of Robinson to Sy Oberting whose dagger into the net caused the most pain to the PA Mafia since Vito Corleone collapsed in his garden.

But it wasn’t over yet because you don’t get to be in first place in NHIAA Division 1 with a 3-1 win over Concord under your belt by folding.  A blazing Astros rush down the near side cut the lead to 3-2 with five minutes left and from then on in Pinkerton just brought it.  But for the last five minutes it was the Ben Plottner show, who proved that stick-optional goaltending is not so hard and with the number of his awesome kick saves without the benefit of a hockey stick you would have thought he was a wussy soccer player and not a hockey stud.  Carrying his upper classman teammates down the stretch, Plottner’s 21 saves sealed the win.

With the final horn, Hanover had survived.  A little dinged up and sucking down the Tamiflu like Gatorade on the drive home, but they had just knocked off the last untied, undefeated team in Division 1.  Seems like a long time ago that game in Tyngsboro, huh Marauder fans?

With the win, Hanover and Pinkerton join Concord in second place with 1 loss records, trailing only Bedford which owns an early season tie with Londonderry as their only hiccup.  Next up is 5-2-1 Windham, a very strong team making their Division 1 debut, on Saturday afternoon at Campion.  Good luck on the finals Marauders – remember there is no penalty for guessing and choose C if you don’t know the answer as we need all of you academically eligible for the playoffs.  See you at the rink.

Dynamite Win

A dank January afternoon during back-from-vacation week.  Playing right after a rare defeat for the Girls Marauders team.  World Juniors final still hours away (BTW make sure you leave your broken sticks at home next year team Canada – HAHAHAHAHAHA enjoy the couch). Facing a 2-4 Nashua North team after playing a relentless four game stretch of top Division 1 squads in the last two weeks.  The Hanover Marauders were at risk for sleepwalking into today’s afternoon tilt before a large partisan Campion crowd.

And making things even worse, Hanover (with two talented freshman net minders of their own) ran into a hot goalie in the form of Titan freshman goalie Jack Casey who put on a virtuoso performance in the face a hefty three-period Hanover assault.  When it was over however, Hanover had a 5-0 win to make it 5-1 in NHIAA play (6-3 overall) on the 2018-19 campaign.

It was junior Rowan Wilson who had the best early chance when a point blank mid slot wrister sailed high at 1:10. Right on its heels, Sy Oberting was stoned at 2:42 after a quick rush from the left side.  Archer Judd, playing in his first varsity game as a JV call-up, came close several times on wrap arounds early on.  Finally, Hans Williams seemingly put the locals up first at 5:14 but had his in close corn hit called back on a very appropriate goalie interference call.  It was really the Jack Casey goalie show until Will Laycock’s hard saucer from the right circle on a pass from Oberting at 11:26 made it 1-0.  Amherst?  Williams? Talk to the hand – this goal was stellar.  Going into the intermission up 1-0 the question was how long could Casey hold out against the hungry Marauders bearing down on him at every shift.

Into the second it went with Hanover goalie Ben Plottner making two big saves, one on a Titan player’s dangler, to maintain the one goal advantage.  When Nashua was whistled for a defensive glove cover-up resulting in a penalty shot, Matty Gardner proved the maxim “even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes” and put Hanover up 2-0.  With his ankles sore from Gardner’s shootout deke, Casey became a bit more vulnerable and it was Laycock scoring the second goal of his varsity career in close on helpers from Brendan Brigham and Sam Seelig soon thereafter at 11:01 to put the Marauders up 3-0 going into the third.

The “blondy backhander” (thank you for the reference former captain McNulty) Williams lived up to his nickname with a goal-of-the-year candidate backhand roofer unassisted at 2:59.  Finally it was Oberting from the high slot off a face-off win from Gardner on the man-up to finish the scoring 5-0.  It was only through a sheer force of will that Casey was able to keep it at 5-0, most notably on an absolutely stunning glove save on Joey Goff high right deep in the third.

Plottner finished with 12 saves for the Marauders.  Said coach Dick Dodds afterwards “How about Will Laycock?  Hard worker, high energy, big motor, a ball of dynamite.”

Next up for the Marauders is the 6-0 Pinkerton Astros next Saturday at 5:30 at Campion.  The Astros own a 3-1 win over Concord already this year and have been somewhat overlooked in the scuttlebutt around the best NHIAA teams.  Unlike Team Canada whose performance in the world juniors was the worst performance by a Canadian since the last time Justin Bieber tried to sing, expect the Hanover boys to be prepared and bring it next Saturday night (you have to get the digs in where you can against Team Canada).  See you at the rink.

By the way for all of you mom's out there, don't worry.  It's amazing what a semester of college and a trip to the barbers can do for a Hanover hockey player's appearance - see below.

 

Cool Hand Luke

      There have been some pretty great performances by people named Luke over the years – Skywalker in Episodes V and XIII, Perry as Dylan McKay, Duke when he boxed Catfish Lee to save Uncle Jesse and Daisy’s farm, Bryan any time he’s in Nashville, Cool Hand with Paul Newman in his second best ever movie role…you get the point.  But tonight at the Rinks of Exeter with the Hanover Marauders boys hockey team facing a pretty significant test against a very strong Exeter Blue Hawks team, another Luke was added to the list of great performances.

      Freshman goalie Luke Ives, called into emergency service just 2:29 into the first period when starting net minder Ben Plottner suffered an equipment malfunction, came in and absolutely dominated Exeter en route to a 14 save performance in Hanover’s 4-1 victory.  With the win, Hanover moved to 4-1 in NHIAA play (5-3 overall) and sent a message to the rest of the league that the Marauders TEAM is ready for the January/February grind.

      Veteran coach Dick Dodds put it simply after the game when he said “Today was the Luke Ives show. He was unflappable and cool as a cucumber.  He really had no chance to warm up and stood tall.  He played exceptionally well.” Dodds was especially complementary to Ives in citing his lack of rebounds that allowed the Hanover defense to keep the aggressive Exeter fore-check contained throughout the game.

      With Hanover seeming to have the fresher legs throughout the contest despite the two hour drive from the Upper Valley, the local boys started the scoring at 7:39 when Charlie Plottner put home a rebound off a Sylas Oberting blast (Cam Woods) past Exeter goalkeeper Jude Rogles. It stayed 1-0 until early in the second when Patrick Daley deflected in a Woods shot from the point on another feed from Oberting shorthnaded at 2:38 to put all of the momentum in Hanover's favor.  After a massive penalty kill from the Marauders who were guilty of an uncharacteristic 4 penalties on the night, Hans Williams made it 3-0 at 7:57 on assists from Rowan Wilson and Joey Goff.  Hanover finished its scoring with Goff tallying in close on a feed from Matty Gardner at 14:48.  It was only a strong individual effort from Exeter forward Brendan Doyle that beat Ives high late in the third to spoil the shutout.

     Four different goal scorers for Hanover, offensive back checkers working so hard that you would think the Selke was on the line, intimidating defense breaking up numerous chances in the neutral zone, everyone looking out for each other – a complete team win.  Jump on the bus, pass the Jaguar dealership across from the rink and ask yourself how that ended up there, get started on the hefty day-back-from-vacation homework deluge and start thinking about what could happen with this TEAM moving forward.

      Saturday the Marauders, who seemingly have been away from home about as long as Odysseus, continue their odyssey against Nashua North for the first of three successive weekend home games.  See you at the rink.