Senior Night

Forget Jersey Day.  Forget the Holiday tournament.  Forget even the state semifinals.  By far and away the best night in high school hockey is senior night.  One part celebratory, the other part a little sad, it is the night the commitment, sacrifice, and love for hockey is celebrated by those players who gave four years to Hanover High School.  And it is also a tremendous honor to the families of the players whose own sacrifice and love of hockey – not even mentioning the miles on the car, the early sneaking out from work to catch that 5:30 game in Manchester, the overwhelming bag stench living in the mudroom – that made this night possible. 

So tonight at Campion eight warriors for Hanover were honored.  And it doesn’t matter how many years you’ve played on the team, what line you are on, or even how the team is doing this year – this is a night to honor commitment and sacrifice.  Because as fans we see the games but that is only a fraction of what these boys put into bringing so much joy into our lives.  So tonight we thank Carter Auch, Will Brannon, Brendan Brighman, Toño Correa, Patrick Daley, Will Fichman, Archer Judd, Rowan Wilson, and Cam Woods. What an incredibly talented and deep group – and such a pleasure to watch play.

And speaking of playing, there was a game tonight.  And not only a game, but a very important one at that.  Because the Bishop Brady Green Giants were in town, and for any of you who remember last year in which the Giants almost derailed Hanover right before the playoffs, this team posed a significant trap-game challenge.  Because in the hullaballoo of senior night, 9-8 Hanover was at real risk of being distracted in this one. And sitting in 8^th place (owning the tiebreaker with Pinkerton), this win was crucial for the Marauders to possibly nail down the 7^th spot with some shuffling above them after tonight’s NHIAA games.  Pregame trying to figure the seeding possibilities if Hanover lost left us fans with some of the same feelings we get when trying to help the boys with their pre-calculous homework – confused, frightened and generally feeling like the Boomers we pretend we aren’t. So overall better if they just won this one.

So in front of a boisterous Campion Arena came the Hanover seniors and their teammates.  And rumor has it that some of the Brady parent fans were a bit salty as they inappropriately plopped themselves down in the Hanover student section and apparently were distracted by the Fathead cutouts being waved by the Marauder faithful.  One point on this before you complain to the AD - Boomer don’t sit in the student section with your 8 year old on senior night at the visitors rink.

And so on that note the game began and the saltiness seemed to carry over on the ice as despite absolutely destroying the Giants in all facets of the game, Hanover could not punch it in.  Shot after shot was saved and you really had to hand it to the team defense and goalie play of Brady which kept them in this one. But eventually you knew it was coming and as the clock teetered down to the two minute mark, Hanover went on the man-up and it was Mr. Clutch Jack Stadheim top shelf on a cross ice pass from Spencer Lawe from the right slot to put Hanover up 1-0 heading into the intermission.

And into the second it went with Hanover again dominating play but again, unable to knock those Giants off of their beanstalk.  Flying in all facets, they even went on a man-up…but unfortunately gave up a breakaway short-handed to knot it up 1-1.  But it was senior night, and this is the night you ride your seniors, and Carter Auch made sure it was going to end well for Hanover taking a pass from Archer Judd in close and hammering it to go 2-1 heading into the third.

So into the third we had Hanover clinging to the one goal lead.  And again it was a senior, this time Rowan Wilson on the prettiest score of the night, undressing about four Brady defenders through the neutral zone before tickling the twine on a wrist rope to make it 3-1.  And then the floodgates opened and you had Casey Graham high wrister at 120 mph, then Auch stuffing it again close and finally big red Curtis Rice finishing off the Giants with a roar to close it out 6-1. Ben Plottner was steady and strong, facing 8 shots compared to the 52 that Hanover put in on the night.

So with the win, Hanover maintains their spot at 10-8 in the standings with Pinkerton.  As of this writing we await the result of the 10-7 Windham vs Salem game.  If Windham loses that one, we have a three way tie at 7^th and because of the head-to-head Hanover would clinch the home ice 7^th spot and have a prelim home game on Wednesday. With a Windham win, well let’s just say you will need more than an A in Honors Methods class to figure the Hanover playoff picture at that point.

So we wait and we get on the backs of our senior class for the playoff run.  Should be an awesome week of playoff hockey. Thank you seniors and their families!

See you at the rink…