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…