Right Back Where We Started From

      Put the brakes on. Relax. Exhale. It’s just one game in the standings, the same as a win against Central or a loss to Bedford.  Just another mid-February game between two NHIAA teams, on a snowy Wednesday night at Everett.  Don’t get too high, don’t get too low, just another game…but didn’t it feel just a little bit good to watch the Hanover Marauders kick the crap out of Concord in their home barn tonight in a 4-0 stomping to solidify second place in Division 1 NHIAA play with four games to play? In the over 60 years (that is right sixty years) of high school coaching experience between coaches Dodds and Walsh, I can’t imagine they have seen this type of one-sided dominance too often between their two clubs.  Oh wait, there was last year’s 6-0 Concord stomping at Hanover.  Maybe a little payback in the air tonight?

     But as lopsided as the final tally ended up, this game was a lot closer than the box score.  Concord is a great team, picked as the preseason number 1 this year by HNIB.  So they must have been as surprised as anyone when the freight train Sy Oberting dialed up one of his blue line bombs just 56 seconds in, and with the coolness that only comes from a guy who can jet set to the West Coast and back over the weekend for a music audition, #20 Hans Williams beautifully deflected the shot past Crimson Tide goalie Parker Taylor to put the Marauders up 1-0.  With many of us still confusedly asking in the lobby as we shuffled in at 5:30 “They’re playing already?” it was freshman goalie Ben Plottner, not of the NH Avalanche, who dominated the rushing Tide forwards in close numerous times as the first period wound on.  A little bit of a friendly post kept Concord out of the scorer’s column, as did a smothering back check.  However, in what would doom them tonight, Concord get whistled for its second penalty of the period and on the man-up, Matty Gardner pirouetted around the near side circle a few times before finally realizing that the point of an offensive man-up is to score goals and with that, his unassisted snipe made it 2-0 at 14:33.

      Into the locker room they went and were it not for the incredible intermission music selection (always well done by the way Concord – keep giving us the Maxine Nightingale because we appreciate it very much) perhaps we could have heard some rumblings coming from the home locker room.  But in what is something rarely seen in a high level high school hockey game, the Crimson Tide had zero (yes zero) shots on Plottner in the second period – thank you to the smothering defense from Spencer Lawe, Curtis Rice, and Tom Lyons.  But the Marauders would not return the favor and with fury after flurry raining down on Taylor, it was Cameron Woods on the man-up in front scrum on an assist from Gardner and Casey Graham to make it 3-0 heading into the final intermission.  And doesn't it seem like Woods is always there to put these goals home - a sneaky, understated, lethal assassin in front of the net.

      The all-important three goal advantage, now all we wanted was the shutout and Plottner (18 saves) obliged by stopping several point blank attempts with fewer rebounds than Taylor Swift in a given year.  With Concord  finding themselves again in the sin bin it was big brother Charlie who stuffed in Hanover’s third power play goal of the night on an assist from Gardner at 10:26 to complete the scoring at 4-0 and in the process put cupid to shame with his pre-Valentine’s Day archer goal celebration.

      So with the win, Hanover climbs to 12-2 in league play (13-4 overall) and sits solidly in second place with tonight’s action still pending (like the Valley News the deadline for the blog site is now 10:30 pm).  But is doesn’t get any easier, with a senior night tilt against fifth place Exeter on Saturday and then, you guessed it, Concord at Thompson on Sunday.  So savor the win, don’t forget to kiss your mom tomorrow and wish her a Happy Valentine’s Day, and sorry guys, I got the last gas station rose bouquet from Dan and Whits on the way home – start coming up with the excuses now.  See you at the rink.

And Now the Fun Really Starts

      Today’s afternoon tilt between the 10-2 (11-4 overall) Hanover Marauders and the one win Manchester Memorial Crusaders had the feeling of the calm before the storm.   While the Crusaders did own a recent 6-6 tie with Trinity under their belt, most everyone in Hanover nation expected a win today prior to embarking on the stretch run which will see them battle with playoff team after playoff team leading to the state tourney in early march.  And making yet another trip down to JFK arena on a cold, blustery February day, the marauders got a little more game than they bargained more with a 5-1 win.

      The goals came in equal bunches in this one, with two goals in the firs two periods and a closer in the third.  Sy Oberting, Charlie Plottner, Toño Correa, and Duncan Bailey twice found the twine, with assists going to Joey Goff x 3, Plottner, Correa x 2, Oberting and Will Laycock.  Ben Plottner had 10 saves for the locals.

      While admittedly not the best blog of the year, this was the type of game that really didn’t warrant too much attention.  Because starting Wednesday we see what Hanover has learned this year and what we can expect for the States.  In succession it goes – Concord, Exeter, Concord, Bedford, Bishop Brady.  All good.  All playoff teams.  All wanting to knock off the defending state champs.  Time to bring it Marauders – the best time of year is upon us.  See you at the rink.

And Now The Fun Starts

      Leaving the Upper Valley this evening for the long trek down to the Salem Ice Center, probably few of us were too excited. For one, we were playing a historically tough, well-coached Salem Blue Devils team that has given fits to the Marauders over the years in their barn.  Two, we had other things on our mind like collarbones, and Crimson Tides, and flu-like illnesses.  Then you get down past Manchester in the 1-93 construction zone and wonder why it has taken so long to make a road one lane wider (nice work NH DOT) and by the time you get to the Ice Center, not even the 5 for $15 buckets of beer on sale in the bar make you smile.

      And to top it off, in the first five minutes, you find your team down 1-0 and you wonder if the third loss in NHIAA play is looming.  And as the nervous pacing starts from us dads in the BMI >30 crowd, our boys wake up, put the pedal down, and run the Blue Devils out of their own rink with a complete 6-2 win to go to 10-2 (11-4 overall) in NHIAA play to move into a virtual second place tie with Pinkerton and Concord.

      Said coach Dick Dodds, “This was a complete game from start to finish.  Our depth is impressive.  We ran all four lines the whole game and all six D.”

      It was Toño Correa at 9:49 who tied it up, putting in a rebound in close off of a Sy Oberting shot from Joey Goff.  In addition, in what has become both a positive and negative for the Marauders this year, penalties put them on the kill, but the kill continued to be incredible.  And it was on the very end of a kill that Hans Williams found Will Laycock free in the neutral zone who took it in alone on Salem goalie Cam Smalley to make it 2-1 heading into the intermission.

      Up themselves on the power play coming out in the second, Casey Graham put the locals up 3-1 just 1:20 in on a one-timer on a lateral pass from Cam Woods.  20 seconds later, Goff, on a pass from Charlie Plottner, came streaking up the far side and on a snipe that would have broken the glass had the top left corner of the net not stopped it, made it 4-1.  And then Marauders did what truly separates them from many teams – they killed two 5 on 3s in the period, with goalie Ben Plottner (15 saves) preserving the lead with incredible kick save after incredible kick save.

      Into the third it went and Curtis Rice made it 5-1 when he picked off a pass in the neutral zone and beat Smalley with a long wrister just inside the blue line.  After another Salem score, Charlie Plottner finished the scoring at 3:35 with a cross that went off the back of Smalley and found the net on an assist from Williams.  In addition, just for kicks, Hanover killed off another 5 on 3 to finish the game.

      So now it gets interesting.  Hanover has six games to play in NHIAA competition and five of those six games are against teams in the top 8 in the league standings, including two with Concord and one with Bedford.  The first is Wednesday night, when Concord, who beat Pinkerton today, comes to town.  This ought to be a fun one as all of these top teams jockey for positon heading into early March.  Maybe time to ask Dabo for some advice on how to beat the Tide?  Oops, wrong sport.  See you at the rink.