Endgame

     There are days when things go well, and days when everything seems to go sideways – today for the Hanover Marauders it went nearly vertical as they ended the season with a 7-0 loss to the Pinkerton Astros in the NHIAA Division 1 prelims.  Not much to say really, except that we will miss our seniors and to thank them for their commitment to Hanover Hockey.  I am sure the coaching staff is already getting ready for next year and don’t surprised if the you see coaches Dodds, Cashman, or Alex at a Bantam game this spring with their clipboards out.

     So again seniors – what a run and thanks.  For the underclassman, good luck in your fall hockey team tryouts and make sure you dust off of the skates sometime between now and August.  And for those parents whose life ambition was to write a hockey blog about NH high school hockey, tryouts are open for that position as well.

     See you on the baseball/lacrosse/soccer field…

Senior Night

Forget Jersey Day.  Forget the Holiday tournament.  Forget even the state semifinals.  By far and away the best night in high school hockey is senior night.  One part celebratory, the other part a little sad, it is the night the commitment, sacrifice, and love for hockey is celebrated by those players who gave four years to Hanover High School.  And it is also a tremendous honor to the families of the players whose own sacrifice and love of hockey – not even mentioning the miles on the car, the early sneaking out from work to catch that 5:30 game in Manchester, the overwhelming bag stench living in the mudroom – that made this night possible. 

So tonight at Campion eight warriors for Hanover were honored.  And it doesn’t matter how many years you’ve played on the team, what line you are on, or even how the team is doing this year – this is a night to honor commitment and sacrifice.  Because as fans we see the games but that is only a fraction of what these boys put into bringing so much joy into our lives.  So tonight we thank Carter Auch, Will Brannon, Brendan Brighman, Toño Correa, Patrick Daley, Will Fichman, Archer Judd, Rowan Wilson, and Cam Woods. What an incredibly talented and deep group – and such a pleasure to watch play.

And speaking of playing, there was a game tonight.  And not only a game, but a very important one at that.  Because the Bishop Brady Green Giants were in town, and for any of you who remember last year in which the Giants almost derailed Hanover right before the playoffs, this team posed a significant trap-game challenge.  Because in the hullaballoo of senior night, 9-8 Hanover was at real risk of being distracted in this one. And sitting in 8^th place (owning the tiebreaker with Pinkerton), this win was crucial for the Marauders to possibly nail down the 7^th spot with some shuffling above them after tonight’s NHIAA games.  Pregame trying to figure the seeding possibilities if Hanover lost left us fans with some of the same feelings we get when trying to help the boys with their pre-calculous homework – confused, frightened and generally feeling like the Boomers we pretend we aren’t. So overall better if they just won this one.

So in front of a boisterous Campion Arena came the Hanover seniors and their teammates.  And rumor has it that some of the Brady parent fans were a bit salty as they inappropriately plopped themselves down in the Hanover student section and apparently were distracted by the Fathead cutouts being waved by the Marauder faithful.  One point on this before you complain to the AD - Boomer don’t sit in the student section with your 8 year old on senior night at the visitors rink.

And so on that note the game began and the saltiness seemed to carry over on the ice as despite absolutely destroying the Giants in all facets of the game, Hanover could not punch it in.  Shot after shot was saved and you really had to hand it to the team defense and goalie play of Brady which kept them in this one. But eventually you knew it was coming and as the clock teetered down to the two minute mark, Hanover went on the man-up and it was Mr. Clutch Jack Stadheim top shelf on a cross ice pass from Spencer Lawe from the right slot to put Hanover up 1-0 heading into the intermission.

And into the second it went with Hanover again dominating play but again, unable to knock those Giants off of their beanstalk.  Flying in all facets, they even went on a man-up…but unfortunately gave up a breakaway short-handed to knot it up 1-1.  But it was senior night, and this is the night you ride your seniors, and Carter Auch made sure it was going to end well for Hanover taking a pass from Archer Judd in close and hammering it to go 2-1 heading into the third.

So into the third we had Hanover clinging to the one goal lead.  And again it was a senior, this time Rowan Wilson on the prettiest score of the night, undressing about four Brady defenders through the neutral zone before tickling the twine on a wrist rope to make it 3-1.  And then the floodgates opened and you had Casey Graham high wrister at 120 mph, then Auch stuffing it again close and finally big red Curtis Rice finishing off the Giants with a roar to close it out 6-1. Ben Plottner was steady and strong, facing 8 shots compared to the 52 that Hanover put in on the night.

So with the win, Hanover maintains their spot at 10-8 in the standings with Pinkerton.  As of this writing we await the result of the 10-7 Windham vs Salem game.  If Windham loses that one, we have a three way tie at 7^th and because of the head-to-head Hanover would clinch the home ice 7^th spot and have a prelim home game on Wednesday. With a Windham win, well let’s just say you will need more than an A in Honors Methods class to figure the Hanover playoff picture at that point.

So we wait and we get on the backs of our senior class for the playoff run.  Should be an awesome week of playoff hockey. Thank you seniors and their families!

See you at the rink…

 

Jersey Day

Coming into tonight’s game between 12-3-1 Bedford and the 9-7 Hanover Marauders, everyone knew this would be a good one.  Bedford has historically (well in the last decade) been the class of the NHIAA, and although a little down this year, the sight of those black uniforms can be as intimidating as a meeting with coach Dodds explaining why you were cutting social studies class.  But the two teams have always been similar – classy on the ice and off, incredible coaching, skilled players.  Throw in the fact that Bedford has won three out of the last four state titles, and you get a little jealous of them – plus they even have a Trader Joes now.

But Hanover has been peaking of late with strong performances against Exeter and especially Trinity in their last two.  And the two sides had already done battle once before this year with the Bulldogs taking a Christmas tournament scorcher 2-1 only 8 weeks ago. So it was anyone’s guess how this one would play out.  But one thing was for certain – Hanover had to win the special teams match-ups and stay out of the sin bin, an especially hard task as their recent strong play has been inversely related to their plummeting in the standings for the team Lady Byng.

So before a good Campion crowd for a Wednesday, especially all of those girlfriends wearing their boys’ jerseys which I am sure did not help to maintain the testosterone level within the normal range, Hanover went toe-to-toe all evening long with the Bulldogs.  And with Ben Plottner standing on his head and keeping this one close, Hanover staked a 1-0 lead when Augie Oberting fired one in from the point and was tipped downward by a screening Rowan Wilson just 4:02 in.  But as has been so often this season, Hanover could not capitalize on multiple good opportunities and this would be the last goal of the night for the locals.  And it was the four penalties that hurt hem so badly on the other side, with Bedford knotting up the score 50 seconds into the second and then going ahead in the third on the man-up at 5:57.  A empty netter at the end sealed the deal with a 3-1 victory of the visitors.

With the loss, Hanover drops to 9-8 on the season with Brady on Saturday night for a senior night send-off – then its playoff time starting next week.  I suggest having the moms wear the jerseys from now on – nothing that curbs a teenage boys testosterone more than that.

See you at the Rink…

   

Trifecta

      After tonight’s NHIAA MMA rumble between the Hanover Marauders and the Trinity Pioneers a few truths have now come into complete clarity.  For one, these two teams absolutely despise each other and it is fortunate that the Saint Anselm Sullivan Arena benches are on the opposite sides of the ice.  Second, truth one is exaggerated when one team beats the other three times and is responsible for 60% of said team’s total season losses.  Third, while one team believes in the whole Book, another puts all of their faith into the third Gospel guy who never disappoints.  And fourth, the whole of NHIAA Division 1 had better pay attention, because Dick Dodds and his staff have Hanover absolutely on overdrive heading into the final week of the season.

     Into cavernous Sullivan Arena, with its multicolored college banners reminding the Saint Anselm students of all the places they didn’t get into college before enrolling, the Marauders and Pioneers squared off for the third time this season.  And as he always is, there was Luke Ives between the pipes for the Marauders, who has killed more Pioneers than a Sierra Nevada winter.  Then the puck dropped and for the first 15 minutes, this one looked like Ives and Marauders were going to get slapped right back up I-89.  The Pioneers were devastating, and at one point they remained in the Hanover defensive zone for nearly four minutes hammering Ives and the beleaguered defense.  They even had a goal disallowed for a high sticking call deep into the first.  But Hanover held, and as the choppiness escalated, they walked into first intermission on the man-up.

      And the second did not diasspoint.  With at times making the Ali vs Frazier series seem like a pillow fight, the teams got progressively more and more physical…and paid the price in penalty time.  However, just a few minutes in, Jack Stadheim drove the corner and won the puck back to Patrick Daly whose cross-ice pass to linemate Spencer Lawes set up a perfect rope from deep and it was the sophomore stud putting Hanover up 1-0.  Now the lead nearly evaporated 30 second later with a pissed Trinity team hitting Ives’s post, but Carter Auch, with his first score of the year, took a pass from Augie Oberting soon thereafter and rifled it in from close to put Hanover up 2-0 just 2:38 in.  As it got more and more physical, Ives got better and better, and made a specialty on the night of getting checked into his net yet making goal line pad saves while being horizontal.  And just when that crucial third goal seemed to be destined for Trinity, Curtis Rice shut down those Trinity prayers and took an ill-fated outlet pass unassisted and stuffed home the breakaway to make it 3-0 Marauders heading in the third.

       And it sure was one heckuva third period between roughing penalties, acrobatics by Ives, Pioneer fans losing their composure, and what we are sure were escalating pleasantries exchanged between the boys on the ice.  And even when Trinity cut it to 3-1, there was no way Ives would relinquish the lead. Pulling the goalie with three minutes left, Trinity was able to punch one in at 14:58 to make it a one-goal game, but the horn sounded, with Hanover taking home the 3-2 victory.

      So with their best win of the season, Hanover climbs to 9-7 (11-8 overall) with a big one against Bedford in 48 hours and then senior night on Saturday.   Hanover now becomes the team that no one sitting above them in the standings wants to tangle with in the playoffs – lots of seniors on their farewell tour, the best coaching staff in the business (I mean forget about moving Curtis to forward – the real genius is using Frozen 2 for motivation – move over Scotty Bowman!) and completely peaking when it matters. Look out NHIAA, the Marauders are dealin now.

       See you at the rink…

Almost

      In the month since we last saw the Exeter Blue Hawks put a licking on the Hanover Marauders 7-1 at Campion, the teams seem to have gone in different directions.  While Exeter had vaulted to the upper echelon of the NHIAA standings with an 11-2-2 record, Hanover had come down to earth a bit and sat in seventh place at 8-6 coming in to today’s contest.  But the Marauders had demonstrated that they have the grit to beat anyone – as victories over Trinity, Pinkerton and a close game with Bedford could attest.   So with the melodies of Frozen 2 ringing in their ears, the one question on everyone’s mind was whether Hanover could take that game from January 8th and just let it go in this one and put a pounding on the Blue Hawks.

      So the puck dropped just before the 3:00 pm at the site of the infamous danglergate incident and off we went to start the last week of the 2019-20 regular season. And from the beginning this was a different Hanover team. Shortened bench, more get-up in the skate, really putting the Blue Hawks on their heels. You had the captain narrowly avoiding assault charges as he laid out two Exeter defenders on the fore check, Brendan Brigham almost notching one from the point and Ben Plottner stoning all of the few opportunities he faced.  So with the period ending at 0-0 tie with no penalties, Hanover having blanked the potent senior-laden first line of the Blue Hawks, there was sense of good things coming for the locals as they stepped back on the cavernous Supreme rink. Hanover even outshot the Blue Hawks 8-5.

      And into the second it went with a fired-up Hanover team giving the Blue Hawks every bit as much as they took.  A dubious interference call on Exeter had the Marauders on the man-up midway through the period and then on a boarding penalty that in any venue other than a hockey arena would be a case of felonious assault against a minor, Hanover went up on the 5-3.  However, they could not put it home (and narrowly avoided giving up a shorthanded breakaway goal thanks to Plottner) and it was the Blue Hawks who got on the board first just before the second period intermission to make it 1-0.

      Back and forth they went in the third before Cam Woods drove deep into the far corner and passed back to a waiting Jack Stadheim whose rifle ricocheted off of the Exeter net minder to a waiting Curtis Rice who finished it calmly to tie it at 1-1.  And it stayed that way…for about 30 seconds…as an odd-man rush beat Plottner to make it 2-1.  And they battled and battled - the Exeter speed vs the Hanover grinders – and with Hanover pulling for the extra man late, Exeter iced with an empty-netter 3-1. Shots on goal 20-17 Exeter - yeah it was that close.

     So what do you take from this one?  Well Hanover was close and proved they can compete with anyone on their away ice.  They will need that grit as they continue the gauntlet against Trinity and then Bedford next week.  Sitting at 8-7, it will be huge to have the chance to host a home playoff game – a chance that probably comes with winning two out of the last three.  Maybe all it will take is some more team bonding to get us there – Toy Story 4 boys?

     See you at the rink…

Penalty Killed

Tonight's rematch with the Concord Crimson Tide was supposed to be a grudge match between two perennial NHIAA powers.  With the Marauders sitting in seventh place with an 8-5 record, the expectation was that there would be a much better game with the 1st place Tide having overpowered Hanover 7-0 one week ago.


So with a full house at Campion, unusual for a Wednesday afternoon, the Marauders came out with a clear game plan - be aggressive, be disruptive and don't allow the talented Tide to have a clear lane to the net. 


Well the local boys were aggressive, and they were disruptive, but unfortunately they were also penalized.  With the Marauders giving up six penalties on the night, Concord converted on five of them and went on to a 6-1 win that was closer than the final score. The lone bright spots were the play of netminder Ben Plottner and the second period scrum goal by Brendan Brigham assisted by Rowan Wilson and Patrick Daley.


With the victory, Concord remains atop the NHIAA standings with Hanover maintaining a hold on seventh.  The gauntlet continues for Hanover on Saturday at Exeter, then its Trinity, Bedford and Bishop Brady for a senior night ending next week. And I hear that the boys are going to see Frozen 2 tomorrow afternoon - sounds like a brilliant way to get the testosterone back within the normal range to avoid future six-penalty nights.


See you at the rink...

Campion Win

Driving in to today’s NHIAA Division I hockey clash between the Hanover Marauders and Manchester Memorial Crusaders, one could tell change was afoot in the Upper Valley.  Whether it was the Prius with a Trump 2020 sticker and Vermont plates parked in front of Dan and Whit’s, the Dartmouth student who crossed East Wheelock in the crosswalk off of their phone and gave a polite wave of thanks as they hustled to not tie up traffic, or a movie that actually looked worth watching advertised on the Hopkins Center marquee, something seemed a little different.  And walking into Campion confirmed all of the suspicions as the Marauders had gone goofy foot and were on the visitor’s bench for the start of this critical game. 

And you knew the wily Hanover coaching staff needed to do something, anything, because with a goal drought now spanning over two complete games, the locals were getting desperate.  Perhaps shooting for two periods at exercise bikes behind the glass rather than scowling hockey moms and dads living vicariously through their high school children would shake things up for the Marauders.  Throw in line changes that featured more of a twist than the former housekeeper returning to get something she forgot from the Park’s basement (see this year’s Best Picture winning film for esoteric reference) and we had hope for some goals this afternoon.

And as usual, Dick Dodds and his coaching staff pulled all of the right strings as the locals  came away with a 3-1 victory to run their record to 8-5 (10-6 overall) and keep pace with the rest of the upper tier of the division.  With Cool Hand Luke Ives between the pipes, the Marauders came out clearly with a chip on their respective shoulders and hammered Crusader netminder Mason Langevin from the opening horn.  But as has often been the case this season, the visitor’s post seemed to have a magnetic attraction to the puck with Hanover clanging two during the opening period. It was not until freshman Jack Stadheim took a puck deep in his own defensive zone and brought it up the far boards beating two defenders before slipping a cross-ice beauty to Curtis Rice waiting on the door step for the tap-in.  With Rice’s goal and the ensuing no holds barred celly at 14:26, the Hanover goal drought ended at nearly 105 minutes.

Into the second it went and almost immediately it seemed like this was going to be a rout when Spencer Lawe on the point found Brendan Brigham deep whose pass in the slot to John Hill (always seems to be in front of the net doesn’t he?) rifled in a shot on Langevin that rebounded back to him for a blast to make it 2-0 just 48 seconds in.  Now another change that clearly was evident tonight was this was much more of a physical game for the Marauders – almost like tonight they earned the right to wear those tims on their feet.  Lots of aggressive hits both on the fore-check and in the defensive zones.  However, while making for some entertaining spectating, the locals did get whistled for their sins, even going down on a 5-3 which left them vulnerable to a Crusader goal to make it 2-1 at 9:13.  But back and forth it went until it was Rice finding Cam Woods in deep whose outlet to Jack Gardner was sent in on a prayer from the blue line and at 11:46 it was 3-1.

The third was just what you would expect from two teams who clearly had forgotten the lessons of love and harmony from the day before.  Big hits, some injuries, likely some insights shared among the boys about their affection for their respective moms and when it was over, Luke Ives had another great game with 11 saves and the boys walked off with the victory outshooting the Crusaders by 48 shots. A crucial win and a gritty win. Some walking wounded too that we hope are going to be OK for the stretch drive.

So with the victory over the Crusaders, Hanover heads into a four game stretch of Concord, Exeter, Trinity and Bedford that will determine final seeding with the NHIAA playoff looming.  Let’s hope the extra time off on the school vacation week allows for some healing and can’t wait to see what changes are in the works for Concord on Wednesday.

See you at the rink…

 

Rolled Tide

Terrible job by Concord tonight.  Absolutely brutal.  All that hype and they completely fell flat.  Never seen such a disappointing performance by the Crimson Tide at Everett  You expect this sort of thing out of Bow, but not a program like Concord.



I mean seriously, how do you play Louis Prima's Brooklyn Boogie through the entirety of the second period intermission?  Usually love the music coming from the Tide, but tonight we got 1940s-era big band jazz for a high school hockey game.  I know having the new B. Good restaurant down the street makes you feel a bit high brow Concord, but please keep grandpa's clarinet away from the rink.



As for the game, well Concord did much better on that end - 7-0 win - and could have been more. 


With the loss, Hanover drops to 7-5 in league play and limps into Saturday's game against Memorial with no goals in the last 90 minutes of hockey.  Maybe we should borrow a page from the Tide and play something from Benny Goodman during the warm-up.



See you at the rink...

Speak of the Devil

There’s a few facts we now know to be true after tonight’s 6-0 loss to the Salem Blue Devils…1) the Salem Hew Hampshire Supercuts must have gone out of business around October 10^th 2) Lake Canobie must have had to scrap their no mustaches policy this year so they could get enough summer help 3) the now 7-4 Hanover Marauders must immediately switch all of their remaining Saturday night home games from Campion to any other rink in the state – Saturday night road trips to Notre Dame arena anyone?

A brutal loss, but let’s rewind and remember the Marauder stink that emanated from Tri-town last weekend and how the team rebounded so strongly this week against Trinity.  So a chance for redemption on Wednesday against the 1st place Concord Crimson Tide and we can now  look forward to the annual tradition of the Hanover captains parents picking up the pre-game bar tab at Buffalo Wild Wings for all Marauder families traveling to Everett (who says you can't start new traditions?)

See you at the rink…

Death Skate

Coming after what was their worst loss of the season just four days earlier with an uninspired, grit-less, fecal-show against Londonderry, the Hanover Marauders came into this afternoon’s game against Trinity facing a turning point.  With a gaudy 8-1-1 record and in second place in NHIAA Division 1, one would expect the Pioneers to be probably reminiscing about last March at Campion when they ended Hanover’s season with an upset victory in the state quarterfinals.  But little did the Pioneers know as they immigrated up 1-89 that Dick Dodd’s Marauders team – since that Londonderry loss – had not seen one puck in practice.  That compared to the Marauder coaching staff these past few days, Herb Brooks appeared sweeter then Catherine Farrell.  That Wayne Burwell had them all benching twice their weight and that the Hanover parents had fed their boys – even the vegans - nothing but bloody red meat with a side of mean for three straight nights. 

So into that context the now 7-3 (9-4 overall) Marauders came out and put on an ass-whipping (sorry public school censors but your historical overreach does not extend to this blog) on Trinity that sent them back to the Queen City probably wondering how the heck this happened.  Because what we saw tonight shows what happens when you want it more, play more physical, play smarter, coach better – that talent alone doesn’t win hockey games.  Dick Dodd’s Marauders wanted it more tonight, and today they showed that they can beat anyone as they came away with the 3-1 victory.

There wasn’t too much to report in the first except that you could tell the boys had a chip on their shoulder – heck even the Hanover moms looked a little pissed (at least our family’s mom did).  High energy, aggressive fore-check, D holding and Trinity killer Luke Ives between the pipes.  But in the second the boys got it going early when Jack Stadheim kicked it out to Tom Lyons at the point who rifled in a wrister on senior Ryan Brewitt who like Rick-O-Shay kicked it back to a waiting John Hill poaching exactly where he should be in front and hammered it home at 1:22.  But almost immediately thereafter, in a new wrinkle in the hockey rules, Trinity’s Marc L’Herueux gang tackled Ives as he lay sprawled in the net on the goal line having made the save.  However, I guess there is a new position in hockey called fullback and with the goal-line push, Trinity was awarded a dubious goal to tie it at 1-1.  The rest of the period featured strong penalty kills by both teams, with Trinity really owning the better of play to finish the period knotted at 1.

Into the third they went and from the beginning, you could see that all of that controlled anger since the Saturday night massacre at Tri-town was starting to have its effects on the visitors.  Hanover was hitting harder, skating faster, trash-talking more – love this game.  But despite out shooting Trinity 10-2 on the period, Hanover could not finish it.  Both teams had great chances with the Pioneers rattling the post and Cam Woods’s sniping one that Brewitt’s quick glove hand stoned.  But it was deep in the third when the Pioneers committed the Cardinal sin – well maybe not the Cardinal sin but bad enough – and were rung up for the penalty while pressing in their own offensive zone.  Down the puck game to an offensive zone face-off for Hanover, and from there Stadheim collected it at the near left circle, walked it in a few steps and lightning fired it on net with a screening Curtis Rice and Woods in front.  Not sure if it was tipped or not but doesn’t matter – 2-1 Hanover with just over a minute left.  In desperation, Trinity then pulled their goalie and Rowan Wilson iced it with the empty-netter with 2 seconds left.

Ives was awesome and lived up to his Pioneer-killer reputation making 25 saves on the night.

So with the win, Hanover sets up a showdown with Trinity at their place in two and half weeks.  From now until then we get to rumble with Salem, Concord twice and Exeter amongst others.  Tonight we will allow one green bean on the dinner plate, then it’s back to the brown meals until Saturday.  And I have a feeling the boys don't see another puck in practice until Presidents Day.

See you at the rink…

Lanced

Coming in to tonight’s away game pitting the Hanover Marauders against the Londonderry Lancers, on paper this seemed like an easy one for Hanover.  6-2 league record, a win against Pinkerton who had knocked Concord from the unbeaten ranks, and a four game league winning streak going up against a 2-4-1 Lancer team.  However, those records are somewhat deceptive, as Hanover had squeaked by some lesser hyphenated teams while Londonderry owned a tie against Salem, and had really thus far played only the big boys on the NHIAA Division 1 circuit.  And when it was over, we once again learned that the old hockey mantra of “you can’t mail it in against anyone” is unimpeachable, as the Marauders sputtered to a 2-1 loss to fall to 6-3 in league play and 8-4 overall.

Certainly Hanover owned the better of play throughout this one, but again had trouble on the offensive end despite some line shuffling and parental prayers to the goal gods.  But clearly the Hanover boys and their parents have spent too much time over the years going to hockey games on Friday nights and Sunday mornings and not being where they should be, so all of those prayers to the goal gods were promptly ignored and Hanover found themselves knotted at 0-0 after the first.  We got a little love at the beginning of the second, when John Hill found Patrick Daly behind the net and his nifty pass found a wide open Jack Stadheim in the mid slot for a quick wrist shot score to make it 1-0.  But the gods are cruel, and soon thereafter an excruciating one minute span saw the Lancers stuff one in close, get a penalty on the play, and then score on the ensuing power play to completely upend the game sheet.  Despite heavy pressure throughout, including a 6-4 to end the game being on a man-up and pulling goalie Ben Plottner (who had another stellar performance in the loss) that’s how it ended.

And it doesn’t get any easier because once the dust settles and you’ve taken your third shower to finally clean off the Tri-Town arena stench, the boys face Trinity, Salem and Concord. So for those parents who still monitor their son’s google search history, in addition to “JLo” and “Shakira” on the list, be prepared to see search terms like “death skate”, “what is the world record for number of burpees in one hour”, “Miracle skating scene” and “hockey coach torture”. 

See you at the rink…

Big OT Win

Facing the interminable bus ride to Salem against a good Windham Panthers squad that was sitting at 6-4 in NHIAA Division Play, Dick Dodds’s Hanover Marauders got another critical close win to run their winning streak to four with a 2-1 OT thriller.  Playing on the cavernous Olympic rink with plenty of room to operate, this was yet another classic 2019-20 Hanover team win – get on Ben or Luke’s back, hope your defense holds, and just when the nitro is about to run out, get an angina-curing late or OT goal for the win.  Yup, these wins aren’t pretty, but when you are fighting for that home playoff berth come March, you’ll take substance over style any day. 

In fact, with the exception of the Manchester Central West game (which really should just be tossed), each of Hanover’s five other NHIAA wins have been low scoring affairs decided by one goal.  And this one held true to form, as although Windham’s bench was short, they went toe-to-toe with Hanover and nearly stole it.

And it didn’t take long for Hanover to put themselves in the hole, as less than five minutes in Ben Plottner found himself facing down the Panther attacker on his own and just like that 1-0 Windham.  And although Hanover attacked consistently throughout the period, they could not tie it up and into the first intermission they went facing the 1-0 deficit.

Now to be honest, I did not see the game live, and the VOD livebarn feed erased a good portion of the game film, so I can’t completely summarize it.  Add to the fact that my go to source for game information is a monosyllabic teenage boy, and it makes it difficult to give you my best Dan Jenkins-esque reporting.

However, what I can report on is the two Hanover goals – both beautiful in their own unique way.  The first came right at the beginning of the second period with Hanover on the power-play.  This goal is exactly what you want in a power play situation – excellent puck movement, quick release, and a clean finish.  It started with Tom Lyons on the point finding Casey Graham on the near left boards.  He fired in a pass to the screening Jack Gardner in front who one-timed it to captain Toño Correa coming down the near slot.  Correa deaked to the left around the defender and then fired in on the Windham goalie.  The velocity of the shot rebounded to a waiting Gardner at the edge of the crease who punched it home and with that it went to 1-1.

The overtime winner was certainly not as pretty, but in a way it was more fun because this was an effort goal.  It started with Patrick Daly spinning around the far boards from behind the net and eventually launching the pill to Curtis Rice who found Jack Stadheim along the near corner.  The reason this was such a great goal was obviously its importance, but also the fact that with that puck brought in close by Stadheim, all your first-line forwards went flying to the net.  So as the puck rattled around in front, you had Cam Woods, Daly and Stadheim all hammering and it was Stadheim the freshman poking it in for the game winner. 


Final 2-1 and with it, Hanover (6-2 in NHIAA play and 8-3 overall) finds itself in sole possession of fourth place in Division 1 with Londonderry up this Saturday.  So again, not pretty, but not everyone can marry the prom queen – except for Sean Plottner.

See you at the rink…

We'll take it

Coming in to tonight’s unusual Monday evening tilt at Campion against the Nashua South-Pelham Panthers, the Hanover Marauders were riding high with a two game winning streak after a signature come-from-behind win against Pinkerton two days prior.  They were playing on paper an overmatched hyphen, in front of the home crowd, with Carter Auch recovered from his injury and back on the ice. But hockey, probably more than any other sport, is a game in which you can’t mail it in, and tonight Hanover got lucky with a 2-1 come-from behind after a sloppy, penalty-filled performance in the ultimate trap-game situation.

With sophomore Luke Ives in the net and running four lines to start, it became clear from the beginning that this was going to be a tough one for Dick Dodd’s Marauders.  It was Ives who kept them from falling behind early, as the Panthers seemed to own the better of play in the first.  In fact, the best Hanover chance came just as time expired to end the period, with Hanover banging one off of the post as the horn sounded.

However, any momentum that the Marauders had going into the second was nullified almost instantly when Chris Skelley walked one in on a lax Hanover D less than  a minute in to go ahead 1-0.  Despite several good in-close attempts by Hanover, it was goalie Nate Serrentino who kept the locals off of the board.  And uncharacteristically, Hanover was whistled for two more penalties in the period to go along with one in the first.  However, in the category of “it doesn’t matter how it goes in as long as it does” senior Brendan Brigham loosed up the bean enough in the front to find Cam Woods whose shot deflected off of Serrentino into the air and then fell backwards off the goalie’s back into the net to tie it at 1-1 11:48 in.

In the third, Nashua kept coming, and two penalties by Hanover – including a five minute major with 6:34 left – helped to keep the score tied at 1-1.  Fortunately for Hanover, a bench minor kept the 5-4 Nashua advantage at just over two minutes.   And as the clock ticked town under five minutes, Jack Stadheim won the offensive zone face-off back to Tom Lyons.  Lyons’s wrister was deflected downwards by a screening Pat Daley for the game winner – 2-1.  With Ives clamping down ,including a monster scrum as time ran out, Hanover went on to win its third in a row to go to 5-2 in NHIAA division 1 play and 7-3 on the season.

So, an ugly win…but any win is a positive.  And as the Marauders look forward to back-to-back trips down the 1-93 corridor to Windham and Londonderry upcoming this week, they have the chance to continue their climb up the standings, hoping for that important home playoff game come March.  Then it’s Trinity, Salem, and Concord in that order – it’s going to be fun.

See you at the rink…

Signature Win

Maybe it was the built up energy after a long midterm exam period and nearly a week between games.  Perhaps it was playing their seventh game away from the friendly Campion confines.  Could have been the price gouging at the door with a $6 admission fee for a Saturday morning high school hockey game (BTW if the bathrooms weren’t so conveniently located for the spectators I might have balked at paying that much).  Might have been the delay in the long promised Hanover Hockey shwag from Jeff Graham (delivered today just in time – thanks Jeff!).  Whatever the reason, the Hanover Marauders came out firing today and with that effort earned a signature 3-2 win over the home Pinketron Astros to move to 4-2 in Division I NHIAA play and 6-3 on the season.

This was a critical game to win too because with the exception of the victory against Trinity, Dick Dodds’s Marauders had not had that signature win to move them forward in the standings.  Pinkerton was sitting just behind Hanover at 3-3 so these are the ones you must have come March at tournament time. So as we dodged the shoppers heading to Bass Pro Shops down the street, put on our sunglasses to dim down the white-out which is the walls at the Ice Den, and made sure we solemnly genuflected to the hung banners of the NH Avalanche who are rumored starting this year to be hanging up new individual banners in the Den commemorating each time one of their players reaches puberty, we settled in for a the game.  With one last look around to make sure there were no center ice cameras for the Astros to steal our signs, the puck dropped on a great high school hockey game just before noon.

And so Hanover got exactly what it needed when a forechecking Rowan Wilson dislodged the puck in the offensive third and squirted it out at the point to Curtis Rice pinching.  Big red hammered it home past Astros senior goaltender Matt Gilliland and at 1:59 we had the lead 1-0.  But it was not to last as Astro Brett Levesque pirouetted through three Hanover players before beating Ben Plottner high to make it 1-1.  The rest of the period was an intense back-and-forth but neither team really threatened and with Plottner holding tall stopping 12 shots, the period ended in a draw.

The second opened with Hanover applying most of the pressure, including a post for Augie Oberting.  But it was the Astros who struck first at 6:25 deep when Jake Masterson beat Plottner to make it 2-1.  Little did we know then that Plottner and his defense would clamp it down for the rest of the game.  Now facing a deficit, in a hostile arena against a good team, we got a little lucky when the first penalty call of the game went our way and on the man-up at 9:10 a Casey Graham shot into the scrum in front was retrieved by Jack Gardner finding your captain Toño Correa in close to knot it up at 2-2. And that is how it would end going into the third.

From the start, the third was clearly owned by Hanover, as first Jack Stadheim, Patrick Daley and Nashua South hero Cam Woods (crossbar) were stoned by Gilliland.  As the clock tipped down to the five minute mark it was the crafty Stadheim drawing a five minute major for boarding and putting Hanover on the power play for the remainder.  It was just a matter of time now but – ugh, unfortunate stick penalty 35 seconds in put the teams back at even strength for two minutes.  But how often does it happen – a little payback – as Stadheim came roaring down the slot and found sophomore John Hill on the wing at 12:22 for the game winner up high and just out of reach of the outstretched Gilleland.   Nice celly Mr. Hill BTW. With Plottner clamping down on the way to his 22nd save in the final minutes, the horn sounded to earn the win.  And as the deserved celebration around Plottner played out on the ice, rumor has it a NH Avalanche squirt player recently had his voice change, and thus we can look forward to another banner coming to the Ice Den soon.

Next up the hyphenated Nashua South-Pelhams come to town for a Monday evening game at Campion for chance to move to 5-2 in NHIAA.  However, we learned from last game Marauders that you never underestimate the hyphen.

See you at the rink…

 

 

OT Thriller

Hanover needed this one over the Nashua North-Souhegan Saber Tigers today…

The Saturday afternoon before midterms, against a team whom on paper seemed overmatched (although they did own a victory over Bow), with the lines a little shuffled and the offense ready to explode having scored only one goal in the last 90 minutes of hockey.  A team still trying to find its identity and the catalyst that would hopefully propel them to the upper echelon of the NHIAA Division I standings coming in at 2-2 and in the middle of the pack.

And in a dominating fashion they got after it, and perhaps the hard Friday skate from coach Dodds and his staff lit that fire.  And they hammered and hammered the home team with 90% of play in the offensive zone. But all that effort was negated by one of the truest dogmas in hockey – it is really hard to beat a hot goalie.  And boy was Nashua goalie Eren Labonte hot tonight.

Because he got pummeled by the Marauders from the opening face-off.  With swarms of Marauders like hornets, the puck was constantly coming in on Labonte.  As the bean was moved from forward to forward and D to D, Labonte stood tall and did not break.  And every once in a while a Saber Tiger would break out, but Hanover net minder Ben Plottner was up to the task, especially on a point blank rope at 11:45.  Despite maintaining offensive zone pressure throughout the period, the shot totals were only 8-6 in Hanover’s favor, and the period ended in a 0-0 draw. 

However, it didn’t take long for the Lady Byng competition to end after a penalty free period from both sides, as Hanover found themselves on the man-down early.  They killed it, and continued to kill Labonte with shot after shot – in the period they would go on to outshoot the locals 17-1.  But as hard as they tried, they could not break through until the 11:17 mark when Jack Gardner picked off an errant Nashua pass at the blue line and found sophomore John Hill in the high near slot.  With a ten foot advance unchecked by Nashua goalward, Hill ripped a bar down glove high rocket making it 1-0 and finally making Labonte look human.

Into the third again on the man-down it went and, as everyone knows, in this game you need a little puck luck, as Nashua’s squeaker beat Plottner early in the period proved.  Knotted at 1-1 Hanover continued to pound on the beleaguered Saber Tigers (BTW – really?  Saber Tiger? At least not as lame as Raider Birds) but they would not yield and into overtime it went.  Now we were all a little nervous – tie? Loss?  But Matt Walsh wouldn’t have it as he stripped Nashua in the defensive zone and found defenseman Curtis Rice whose crafty cross-ice pass found a streaking Cam Woods on the right boards.  The human freight train then went right up on Labonte and with a Saber Tiger nipping at his heals, five-holed for the win at 3:30 into overtime.  Final 2-1.  Time to get the heck out of Nashua before it undergoes replay review which means no stopping at the new Chick-Fil-A.

So with the win, the Marauders find themselves at 3-2 in NHIAA Division 1 play and 5-3 overall.  Lots of movement all around in the standings with important games looming – one of the biggest coming up against Pinkteron this Saturday.

So study hard Marauders this week, pick C if you don’t know the answer, and remember the only thing worse than a final is a cumulative final. Good god I hope you don’t have any of those.

See you at the rink…

Hawkward

      In a rare Wednesday afternoon matinee at Campion, the Hanover Marauders saw a strong early effort against a loaded senior-heavy Exeter Blue Hawks team go for naught, as costly penalties left them staggering from a 7-1 onslaught to drop them to 2-2 in NHIAA play and 4-3 overall.

      With the Marauder-killer #20 Brendan Doyle living up to his well-deserved reputation, Exeter came in mean, fast and ready to dish out a little payback after being on the short-end of the scoreboard against Hanover the last few years.  Almost  immediately to start the game, it was sophomore Kam Hyles who put the visitors up 1-0 barely two minutes in.  But despite controlling the play for the most of the remainder of the first, the Blue Hawks could not break in on goalie Ben Plottner, and heading to the locker room, it appeared as though this was one was going to be tight.

      But Exeter made its opportunities on the man-up count, because taking advantage of an early Hanover penalty at 4:31, it was Doyle with the first of his hat trick to put the score at 2-0.  But almost immediately, Hanover came storming back, as Tom Lyons broke in from the high slot on goalie Jude Robles to end an over 60 minute scoreless streak for the locals – 2.1 at 4:58.  But Doyle is a plyer of the year candidate for good reason, and his snipe at 5:25 made it 3-1 and then two minutes later Ricky Davis made it 4-1.  A Dick Dodd’s time-out thereafter stemmed the bleeding, and the second period finished with the three goal deficit.

      There was some fight left in the locals to start the third, but a five minute major for boarding doomed them to the man-down and Exeter is too talented a team to give them that opportunity – quickly it was 5-1 and then 6-1 on the powerplay.  With the 7^th goal we went to running time at 8:35 and despite some great chances from Jack Stadheim off of the post and Archer Judd who came within an inch of squeaking one by Robles, Hanover went down.

      Fortunately, Hanover’s next games is against one of the hyphens, as they visit Nashua South-Southegan for a Saturday afternoon tilt.  Then it is midterm week (seniors it really doesn’t matter despite what the teachers say – everyone else buckle down) and a good Pinkerton team on the 18^th.

      See you at the rink…

     

Ouch

This was going to be the coming out party for the 2019-20 Hanover boys’ varsity.  First real home game, Saturday night, big crowd, recent Hanover hockey royalty back from college with names like McNulty, Bardown Bailey, Williams, and Plottner.  Against a team with a long history of causing heartache for Hanover, most notably the crushing home playoff defeat in 2017 over the favored locals.  Yes, this was going to be a big one for Hanover against the Bishop Guertin Cardinals.  We had the Hanover hicks references ready, the out-of-state recruiting jokes loaded, etc, etc.  Yup all ready to go…and then the first period happened.

And in going up 2-0 in the first, in the face of really very few Hanover chances, you knew after the first period that this was just not going to Dick Dodds’s Marauders night.  Throw in an ineffective power play, two key defensive players on the IR, and some ill-timed defensive zone miscues and the 4-0 eventual score could have been worse.

But in a long season, there are going to be games like this one.  And as they sit at 2-1 in NHIAA play (4-2 overall), Hanover has a lot to be excited about moving forward into the meat of the schedule.  Lessons learned, move on, ready for Exeter for a late afternoon tilt on Wednesday at Campion.

See you at the rink…