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…