GHS Hockey: Goffstown 4 vs. Windham 3 (OT)

Sullivan Arena, St. Anselm College, Goffstown, NH.

Saturday, February 25, 2017.

Goffstown v. Windham, 11:30am. Senior Day.

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The 2016-2017 Goffstown Grizzlies Varsity Hockey team. Regular season record of 12-6, earning the #4 seed in the tournament. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2017.

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GHS Hockey: Goffstown 2 vs. Windham 1 (OT)

Wednesday, March 2, 2016. 730pm @ Sullivan Arena, St. Anselm College, Goffstown, NH – Goffstown vs. Windham.

It’s Thursday morning, March 3rd, 2016, and I am not certain that I have yet caught my breath from last night’s spectacle that unfolded on a sheet of ice not too far from here. What a game! If I called it a wild affair it wouldn’t begin to do it justice. You would have needed to have been there and have seen all of it with your own eyes; the things that were, the things that were not, and the things that should have been. I will do what I can to describe, in summary, the night, the game, that was.

Lajeunesse gets behind the defense, he’s in alone! He Shoots! He SCORES!!!! HE SCORES!!!! Lajeunesse goal is celebrated with his linemates. (c) 1inawesomewonder. (Photo by Charron)

Let’s get right to the meat of this matter. The Goffstown Grizzlies played their last regular season game on their home ice last night. They played a very good, Windham Jaguars, team who entered the game with a record of 10-5-1, including a January 20th, 3-2 win, over the Grizzlies. In this one though, the home team prevailed, winning an absolute thriller, 2-1, in overtime!

As one might hear when listening to the echoes that carom among the walls, while wandering the cavernous spaces of the lower levels in a facility the size of Sullivan Arena, words take on a meaning, or carry a weight that measures differently as time goes on. I heard in the echoes, words that suggested the Grizzlies may have caught “lightning in a bottle” when they pulled off their upset victory at Dover a few weeks back. To me, that echo I heard, I took as somewhat of an underhanded, soft toss, dig, at the Grizzlies hockey team and their staff. Roughly three hours after the echo resonated with me, I may have suggested, aloud, that the same “lightning in a bottle” comment be recycled and used again as if it were a form of fuel that lit the Grizzlies fire last night.

I am pretty sure the Grizzlies had no knowledge of these echoed words, they just came out ready to play. In their first meeting, Goffstown fell behind 2-0 in the first period, then came back to tie the game in the 3rd period, before losing in the final minutes. Last night, the Grizzlies struck first. Noah Charron scored an even strength goal that was set up by Sam Greenwood and Colin Burke. In hindsight, the goal was obviously huge, but the period was far more crazy than an early goal by Charron giving the Grizzlies the lead.

Noah Charron digs in for a faceoff against Windham. (c) 1inawesomewonder. (Photo by Charron)

When the first period was done, the Grizzlies still led 1-0, but there had also been 26 minutes in penalties called on the two teams. Mike Tardif of Windham, who had trouble staying in control of his elbows and out of the penalty box in the first meeting, ran into more trouble last night. Much more trouble. Tardif, on one play, was called for a cross check (which was pretty obvious, if not a roughing call), unsportsmanlike conduct, and a 10-minute misconduct penalty. He would spend an entire period in the penalty box. Windham’s bench showed equal control of their personnel and emotions by being called for their own unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, minutes later. In the end, Goffstown had a couple of 5-on-3 chances in between the three penalties they took in the period, but could not score on any of them. After one period, Goffstown had 8 shots on goal to just 3 shots for Windham.

In the second period, Windham stepped up their game. They forced the action, skated hard, moved the puck, and had the Grizzlies on the ropes. Goffstown took five minor penalties in the period, leading to almost 5 straight minutes of being down two skaters.

Sebastian Beal, always willing to create that ‘net-front’ presence. (c) 1inawesomewonder. (Photo by Charron)

Before all the penalties started to pile up, Windham tied the score at 1 apiece on an even strength goal of their own. Daniel Donovan scored on a nice play set up by Chad Desautels. The period would end up with the score remaining at 1-1. Windham would get 15 shots on goal in the period, fueled largely by their multiple 5-on-3 opportunities. Although, toward the end of the period, Goffstown did get a 5-on-4 power play that led to several shots on goal, but no goals. The Grizzlies would end up with 9 shots on goal in the period after being stymied for most of the 15 minutes.

Colin Holt appears ready for anything in net. He was. (c) 1inawesomewonder. (Photo by Charron)

After Mr. Tardif had spent most of the second period in the penalty box, he was on the ice quite a bit in the final period. I mean, when he wasn’t back in the penalty box, for charging (a play that one official said after the game, “he should have been run from the game” on) and then an interference call that was more of a blatant boarding call. I am not sure if Tardif knew the game was played with a puck, as he had no intent in using one. Either way, neither team could beat the other’s goaltender in the final period. Goffstown had chances, several chances. The home team would get 11 shots on goal to just 4 for Windham in the period. Christian Bassi was stellar in net for Windham and Colin Holt made a couple of ridiculous saves, with a little help from the crossbar, in net for the Grizzlies. The game, which was pretty well-played despite all of the penalties, would go to overtime to be decided.

Thankfully, there were no penalties called in the overtime session. The game-winning goal was scored just 1:22 into the 8-minute extra session. Both teams pressed but neither had registered a shot on goal. Then Max Lajeunesse picked a bouncing puck off of Windham defenseman, Teddy Plandes, just outside his defensive blue line. Lajeunesse carried some speed to get just enough separation behind the defense to get a golden scoring chance. On this night, the puck bounced the Grizzlies way, and Max scored the game-winner at 6:38 of overtime with a nice move and shot, to beat Bassi in net. The home crowd, the home team, and the home goalie erupted in a loud, raucous celebration of their victory. I felt bad for Plandes who lay on the ice, pounding his fist on the ice, while the Grizzlies celebrated nearby. In his defense, the puck was bouncing, and Max just made more contact with the puck, than Teddy did.

Max Lajeunesse with the game on his stick in OT. (c) 1inawesomewonder. (Photo by Charron)

The puck bounced toward the direction Max was headed. Momentum created as the aggressor, often times leads to the puck aligning itself with that force, and this play reinforced the unwritten hockey law.

Honestly, there were 18 minor penalties called in last night’s hockey game. There were probably that many that were not called as well. Seriously. Windham was whistled for 10 of them, Goffstown for 8 of them. Goffstown was 0-7 on the power play. Windham was 0-6 on the power play. Both teams had several minutes of 5-on-3 power play advantages. In my mind, if you threw out all of the penalties completely, this still would have been a thriller. Maybe the shots on goal would have been diminished some, but these two teams battled from start to finish. Neither force wanted to give into the other.

Looking at the standings this morning, things might have become a little more interesting with the Grizzlies win last night. One thing we know, Goffstown will play at home on Wednesday the 9th. They will be either the 8th seed, as they are this morning, or perhaps the 7th seed if Oyster River loses their final game, against Dover, tonight.

The Grizzlies gone wild! Celebrating an overtime win versus Windham. (c) 1inawesomewonder. (Photo by Charron)

Lebanon won last night, and only needs to beat either Winnacunnet or Hollis-Brookline-Derryfield in either of their final two games to overtake Kingswood in the standings and clinch a tournament berth themselves. If Oyster River loses tonight, they will finish 10-8, which ties Spaulding who finished at 10-8. Oyster River beat Spaulding twice so, if they lose tonight, they would be the 8th seed, and Spaulding the 9th seed. Then, if Lebanon wins both of their games, and ends up with 40 points, which would tie Oyster River and Spaulding, I believe Lebanon would stay as the 10th seed because they lost their games played against Oyster River and Spaulding. That might be confusing to some, which I understand because it’s somewhat confusing to me as well.

There will be more details certainly as this week closes the schedule for all Division II teams. As for now though, we are fairly certain that Goffstown will return to the ice on Wednesday night at 6pm, the 9th of March, on the home ice of Sullivan Arena.

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Summary:

Shots:

Windham: 3-15-4-0=22

Goffstown: 8-9-11-1=29

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Powerplays:

Windham: 0 for 6

Goffstown: 0 for 7

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Saves:

Windham: Christian Bassi 27 of 29

Goffstown: Colin Holt 21 of 22

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Goals:

Windham: 0-1-0-0=1

Goffstown: 1-0-0-1=2

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Scoring:

1st 5:53 G Noah Charron (15) from Sam Greenwood (13) and Colin Burke (3).

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2nd 6:35 W Daniel Donovan from Chad Desautels.

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3rd None

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OT 6:38 G Max Lajeunesse (5) unassisted.

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Disclaimer:

The thoughts and opinions expressed here are those of the individual contributors, mostly mine, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the schools, coaches, players, or characters listed in any of these blog posts. Or, maybe they do, but you would have to ask them directly. Maybe I am good at picking up on these things, and maybe I am not. I guess you can decide. Either way, “It’s a great day for hockey” ~ the late “Badger” Bob Johnson.

GHS Hockey: Goffstown 2 @ Windham 3

Wednesday, January 20, 2016. 540pm @ ICEnter, Salem, NH – Goffstown @ Windham.

I have to say that things didn’t look to good on paper coming into tonight’s road game for the Grizzlie Hockey team. I mean, Goffstown had just lost back-to-back games by the score of 2-1 in each. They were also headed to play the 6-2 Windham Jaguars. The Jaguars hadn’t allowed a single goal since before Christmas, and had won five straight games in that span. Then again, this is why they play the games.

As I get into the game itself, I will say that this Windham team is a good team. They appear to be well coached. They skate well as a team. They move the puck quickly, especially in the offensive end. They are small, but aggressive. They are chippy, and that fine line between aggression and chippy play (playing like there’s no puck on the ice, and just running people) really cost the Jaguars before this game was over.

First though, the Windham Jaguars jumped out to a 2-0 lead over Goffstown in the first period. There were not a lot of shots in the period, in fact only 8 of them in total (Windham 5 and Goffstown 3), but Windham made theirs count. Windham scored on their second and fourth shots of the period. First, Bryce Blanchard scored on a rebound off of, Grizzlie goalie Colin Holt. The assist went to Jack Crowley. Almost immediately, actually just 17 seconds later, Goffstown had a golden chance to tie the game. Max Lajeunesse and Sam Greenwood worked a near perfect 2-on-1 break when they exchanged a few passes coming up the ice. The passes and speed led to Greenwood coming down the left wing and letting a shot go toward Jaguar goalie, Max Daly. Greenwood’s shot sailed high, over the net, from point blank range, but the Grizzlies showed they had some get up and go. Then the Jaguars closed out the period with a goal from Domenic Bruzzese, with the assist going to Blanchard. The Grizzlies trailed 2-0, the Jaguars were flying, with Blanchard and Mike Tardif running at every Grizzlie they could, puck, or no puck.

In the second period something started to change, but not in a way you might think. The Jaguars smelled blood. They pounded the offensive zone with speed, passing, and setting each other up for good looks at the net. Right off the bat, Sam Greenwood was called for elbowing. Just what the Grizzlies needed, trailing 2-0, and just 33 seconds into the period, shorthanded. Coming to the rescue just in time, kind of, the penalty kill for Goffstown. Mike Fortin, Max Lajeunesse, Nick Nault, Sebastian Beal, and Noah Charron all stood out in the killing of the penalty. Bryce Blanchard took an interference penalty when he hit a Grizzlie player along the boards while the puck was somewhere out by the center ice faceoff dot. Goffstown got nothing going on the power play and the Jaguars even started a beautiful 2-on-1 of their own, before Mike Fortin raced back to get a stick on the puck as it was shot towards the net and deflected it harmlessly away. At one point, the Jaguars took five, yes I counted them all, shots from point blank range at Colin Holt. Holt saved all five shots before finally being able to tie up the puck for a faceoff. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Noah Charron turned nothing into something and scored a goal for the Grizzlies with 3:32 to play in the second period. With about a minute left to play, a rather scary play unfolded when the Jaguars ripped a slapshot from the point and the puck rose quickly, striking teammate, Nolan Cunningham in the side of the helmet. Cunningham was shaken but skated off under his own power; he would return. After two periods, the Grizzlies trailed 2-1 on the scoreboard while the Jaguars held a 16-8 lead in shots on goal. Holt made 11 saves on 11 shots in the period and appeared to get better with the larger workload.

The third period started with three penalties being called in the first 2:13. Two of the penalties were on Windham, and Goffstown had a brief 5-on-3 power play before Nick Nault was whistled for cross checking. Shortly thereafter, the Jaguars got one player back, but Noah Charron struck again during the 4-on-4 play. Charron scored after being set up by Dylan Hyers. Score tied 2-2. The Grizzlies had some confidence, they were getting shots and really moving their feet for the first time in a while. Skating and creating caused the Jaguars to be somewhat exposed and more penalties were a direct result. Max Lajeunesse made a quick deke and move to the corner that resulted in Mike Tardif getting called for his second straight elbowing call, as he went in elbows-high again. Later it was Bryce Blanchard getting called for an obvious trip when a Grizzlie skater beat him to open space. Goffstown would not score again, but the age-old question of “which came first” begged to be asked. Did the penalties help the Grizzlies, or did the Grizzlies getting shots and moving their feet, create the penalties? Yes, and yes, certainly some of both. The Jaguars held strong and they capitalized on another Goffstown mistake. The Grizzlies had the puck at their offensive blue line, and instead of playing the puck cleanly or getting it deep into the zone, the “too many skaters in a tight area” resulted in the puck being taken by Brandon Madigan. Madigan, and then, Nolan Cunningham, quickly got the puck to Danny Donovan essentially creating a 2-on-nothing breakaway. Holt braced for the onslaught but Donovan was able to score the game-winning goal with 3:57 left to play, on only their second shot of the period. Moments later Goffstown made a nice defensive play in their own end to get the puck to Tyler Riendeau. Riendeau started up the left wing but then threw the puck to the neutral zone, right to a Windham defenseman. At the same time, the Grizzlies opted for a line change. This resulted in a very quick scoring chance for the Jaguars. Fortunately for the Grizzlies, Colin Holt was ready and made the save on a lightning quick one-timer from the slot. Goffstown did call a timeout and tried to get Holt to the bench for the extra attacker. However, the Grizzlies iced the puck twice in the last 52 seconds and couldn’t get any kind of attack going. The Windham Jaguars held on for the 3-2 win, their sixth straight win. Goffstown held a 12-5 shot advantage in the period, thanks to the power play and showing a little bit of grit and determination to be better as a team. For the game, the Jaguars outshot Goffstown 21-20.

The Grizzlies return to home ice at Sullivan Arena on Sunday afternoon to play the reigning Division III State Champions, and the now 7-2, Belmont-Gilford team. The game is slated to start at 3:30pm.