Coming into Saturday’s final game of Round Robin action in
the Brian C. Stone Christmas Hockey tournament, Dick Dodds’s Hanover Marauders
sat at 1-1 in pool play with two close games against two very good opponents –
a 2-1 loss to Bedford and a 4-3 win with Trinity. Both of these teams are firmly in the hunt
for the NHIAA Division I state championship, so the result for the Marauders
can only be seen as very, very encouraging and no matter what the result, a
very successful Christmas tournament.
So into the fray they went for the early game this afternoon
facing a Goffstown Grizzlies team that is leading NHIAA Division 2 with a gaudy
4-0 record, although had come up short in their first two games of the
tournament. As the puck was about to
drop, most of the Hanover partisans spent the time trying to figure out the
chance of moving on to Sunday, and the tiebreakers involved there-in. Head-to-head, most wins, fewest goals
allowed, quickest goal scored, coin toss, prettiest uniforms, nicest bus
driver, loudest fans, ugliest facial hair – so we will at least have the
advantage on the last four.
A Spencer Lawe blast from the point on a rebound to John
Hill screening at 5:01 opened the scoring to make it 1-0 on Goffstown netminder
Madeline Sage. Ben Plottner in net faced a surprising number of good Grizzlies
attempts and a cross-check put the locals down midway through the first. However
it was Cam Woods on an aggressive forecheck behind the net finding Patrick
Daley in front at 8:33 to make it 2-0. Second assist to Jack Gardner. Then at
12:46 Augie Oberting picked up an errant puck in the neutral zone for a
five-hole against Sage to make it 3-0, assists from Gardner and Nick Lee. Rolling all four lines Hanover outshot the
Grizzlies 12-7…and we started really paying attention to the tiebreakers.
The second period opened with Hanover scoring quickly as
Daley got his second on a nifty cross into the slot from Woods and Spencer Lawe
at 30 seconds. However, it was Goffstown
on a dipsy-doo right off of the faceoff by Jack Wilkinson that cut the lead to
4-1 at 6:47. And it was really the Grizzlies who owned the better of play for
several minutes mid period as Hanover appeared to take the pedal off of the
gas, including a crossbar late that almost cut the lead to two goals. But it
was Casey Graham bailing out the locals on a rebound to make it 5-1 at 14:11
off assists from Gardner and Lawe.
Period shot total Hanover 15 and Goffstown 3.
With the Concord Crimson team gazing downward like choirboys
from the West End stands, the third period opened with the first Hanover man-up
of the game. Despite some shaky offensive zone, play Woods scooped up an errant
puck in his defensive end and roofed it on Sage at 3:16 to make it 6-1. Assistant to Daley and Jack Stadheim. Almost immediately thereafter Rowan Wilson
got on the board with a gloveside wrister assisted by Lee and the clock
starting running with the six goal lead. With a crossbar as their best chance
with five minutes left, Goffstown didn’t threaten again. Final Saves 13 for Plottner and 36 for Sage.
So with the 7-1 win, the Marauders go to 4-1 on the season
(2-0 in NHIAA Division 1 play). We await
the results of the 4:00 pm Trinity/Bedford game to determine if we get to make
the Queen City four-peat, or instead get to breathe some clean air tomorrow and
stay in the Upper Valley. If nothing
else, the annual Bishop Guertin grudge match awaits on Saturday afternoon at
Campion. Vegas odds has the over-under
at 6 on both the number of recruited Mass players on the BG roster this year
and the number of times the net will mysteriously come off its stanchions when
the Marauders are about to score.
See you at the rink…
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