Cool Hand Luke

      There have been some pretty great performances by people named Luke over the years – Skywalker in Episodes V and XIII, Perry as Dylan McKay, Duke when he boxed Catfish Lee to save Uncle Jesse and Daisy’s farm, Bryan any time he’s in Nashville, Cool Hand with Paul Newman in his second best ever movie role…you get the point.  But tonight at the Rinks of Exeter with the Hanover Marauders boys hockey team facing a pretty significant test against a very strong Exeter Blue Hawks team, another Luke was added to the list of great performances.

      Freshman goalie Luke Ives, called into emergency service just 2:29 into the first period when starting net minder Ben Plottner suffered an equipment malfunction, came in and absolutely dominated Exeter en route to a 14 save performance in Hanover’s 4-1 victory.  With the win, Hanover moved to 4-1 in NHIAA play (5-3 overall) and sent a message to the rest of the league that the Marauders TEAM is ready for the January/February grind.

      Veteran coach Dick Dodds put it simply after the game when he said “Today was the Luke Ives show. He was unflappable and cool as a cucumber.  He really had no chance to warm up and stood tall.  He played exceptionally well.” Dodds was especially complementary to Ives in citing his lack of rebounds that allowed the Hanover defense to keep the aggressive Exeter fore-check contained throughout the game.

      With Hanover seeming to have the fresher legs throughout the contest despite the two hour drive from the Upper Valley, the local boys started the scoring at 7:39 when Charlie Plottner put home a rebound off a Sylas Oberting blast (Cam Woods) past Exeter goalkeeper Jude Rogles. It stayed 1-0 until early in the second when Patrick Daley deflected in a Woods shot from the point on another feed from Oberting shorthnaded at 2:38 to put all of the momentum in Hanover's favor.  After a massive penalty kill from the Marauders who were guilty of an uncharacteristic 4 penalties on the night, Hans Williams made it 3-0 at 7:57 on assists from Rowan Wilson and Joey Goff.  Hanover finished its scoring with Goff tallying in close on a feed from Matty Gardner at 14:48.  It was only a strong individual effort from Exeter forward Brendan Doyle that beat Ives high late in the third to spoil the shutout.

     Four different goal scorers for Hanover, offensive back checkers working so hard that you would think the Selke was on the line, intimidating defense breaking up numerous chances in the neutral zone, everyone looking out for each other – a complete team win.  Jump on the bus, pass the Jaguar dealership across from the rink and ask yourself how that ended up there, get started on the hefty day-back-from-vacation homework deluge and start thinking about what could happen with this TEAM moving forward.

      Saturday the Marauders, who seemingly have been away from home about as long as Odysseus, continue their odyssey against Nashua North for the first of three successive weekend home games.  See you at the rink.