2018-19 Game On

      The last time the Hanover Maruaders boys hockey team was in Manchester’s JFK arena, their gritty defensive masterpiece over the BG Cardinals propelled them to the state finals last year and avenged the heartbreakingly unexpected home loss to the Cardinals in the 2017 state quarterfinals.  Of course, those Marauders went on to defeat Bedford in the finals to bring the state title to the Upper Valley for the first time since 2006.

      But just like Pat Doherty’s facial hair, some things from last year are best forgotten, and as the Marauders took the ice to open up the 2018-19 campaign, you can bet veteran coach Dick Dodds and his staff were 100% focused on returning this team back to the top of the NHIAA Division 1 mountaintop.  With a large cast of returners and several new faces, the puck dropped at 6:15 in the Queen City as the Hanover partisans settled in for the contest against Manchester Central to begin the quest for title #10.

      Exactly seven minutes and 39 seconds later, the Marauders had already matched their offensive output from the three games in the Keene Jamboree last weekend, with an early 5-0 advantage.  Seemingly scoring from all angles and at will, Hanover piled on goal after goal so that by the end of the period, they held an 8-1 lead.  At the end of two periods it was 12-1 and, with the freshman parent standing next to this blogger asking if this was how all of the competition was going to be this year (uh no), Hanover cruised to a 12-1 final victory.  Lots of playing time to go around for all of the Hanover lines, a determined Central team fighting on despite being outmanned, no injuries, and fan consternation that the JFK concession stand was not open were the takeaways from this night.

      Said Dodds after the game “It was a nice way to start the season.  A lot of different people on the scoresheet and everybody playing.  This was a good start.”  The only real suspense was if there would be enough pucks to complete the game, as the traditional first varsity goal pucks were taken out of game circulation for Carter Auch, Brendan Brigham, Spencer Lawe and Curtis Rice.  In fact there were so many first time scorers tonight that coaches Cashman and Alex Dodds were probably getting writers cramp as they labeled the pucks after the game. Ben Plottner and Luke Ives saw their first varsity action between the pipes and just about everyone picked up a nice point to start the season.

      With the win, the 1-0 Marauders will next face newly elevated Division 1 Bow this Saturday afternoon at Campion for their first home tilt of 2018-19.  Expect an open Campion concession stand, 80s heavy metal on the overhead speakers, and a strong Saturday afternoon crowd. Tonight was a strong start - but expect the mountain to get a lot steeper going forward.