Trifecta

      After tonight’s NHIAA MMA rumble between the Hanover Marauders and the Trinity Pioneers a few truths have now come into complete clarity.  For one, these two teams absolutely despise each other and it is fortunate that the Saint Anselm Sullivan Arena benches are on the opposite sides of the ice.  Second, truth one is exaggerated when one team beats the other three times and is responsible for 60% of said team’s total season losses.  Third, while one team believes in the whole Book, another puts all of their faith into the third Gospel guy who never disappoints.  And fourth, the whole of NHIAA Division 1 had better pay attention, because Dick Dodds and his staff have Hanover absolutely on overdrive heading into the final week of the season.

     Into cavernous Sullivan Arena, with its multicolored college banners reminding the Saint Anselm students of all the places they didn’t get into college before enrolling, the Marauders and Pioneers squared off for the third time this season.  And as he always is, there was Luke Ives between the pipes for the Marauders, who has killed more Pioneers than a Sierra Nevada winter.  Then the puck dropped and for the first 15 minutes, this one looked like Ives and Marauders were going to get slapped right back up I-89.  The Pioneers were devastating, and at one point they remained in the Hanover defensive zone for nearly four minutes hammering Ives and the beleaguered defense.  They even had a goal disallowed for a high sticking call deep into the first.  But Hanover held, and as the choppiness escalated, they walked into first intermission on the man-up.

      And the second did not diasspoint.  With at times making the Ali vs Frazier series seem like a pillow fight, the teams got progressively more and more physical…and paid the price in penalty time.  However, just a few minutes in, Jack Stadheim drove the corner and won the puck back to Patrick Daly whose cross-ice pass to linemate Spencer Lawes set up a perfect rope from deep and it was the sophomore stud putting Hanover up 1-0.  Now the lead nearly evaporated 30 second later with a pissed Trinity team hitting Ives’s post, but Carter Auch, with his first score of the year, took a pass from Augie Oberting soon thereafter and rifled it in from close to put Hanover up 2-0 just 2:38 in.  As it got more and more physical, Ives got better and better, and made a specialty on the night of getting checked into his net yet making goal line pad saves while being horizontal.  And just when that crucial third goal seemed to be destined for Trinity, Curtis Rice shut down those Trinity prayers and took an ill-fated outlet pass unassisted and stuffed home the breakaway to make it 3-0 Marauders heading in the third.

       And it sure was one heckuva third period between roughing penalties, acrobatics by Ives, Pioneer fans losing their composure, and what we are sure were escalating pleasantries exchanged between the boys on the ice.  And even when Trinity cut it to 3-1, there was no way Ives would relinquish the lead. Pulling the goalie with three minutes left, Trinity was able to punch one in at 14:58 to make it a one-goal game, but the horn sounded, with Hanover taking home the 3-2 victory.

      So with their best win of the season, Hanover climbs to 9-7 (11-8 overall) with a big one against Bedford in 48 hours and then senior night on Saturday.   Hanover now becomes the team that no one sitting above them in the standings wants to tangle with in the playoffs – lots of seniors on their farewell tour, the best coaching staff in the business (I mean forget about moving Curtis to forward – the real genius is using Frozen 2 for motivation – move over Scotty Bowman!) and completely peaking when it matters. Look out NHIAA, the Marauders are dealin now.

       See you at the rink…