Written by It was a lovely afternoon for a ride. So, separately, although united, a caravan of folks made their way to Woodstock, VT for an afternoon hockey game on a sunny afternoon in December. The 2010 Flames had a date with the Hanover Wild on the ice sheet at Union Arena.
Before I get to the action, I have to mention the rink itself. The facility is the first “Net-Zero” indoor ice rink in the United States. Click on that link you just read through to read more about it. Not only is that cool, literally, the rink is pretty neat. When I walked through the doors into the arena where the ice sheet, bleachers, and benches are, I felt like I was walking into a much older arena. That’s a good thing. The rink has some old school character even though the building is only 18 years old. The game was a good one too.
Looking from the far end of the ice back toward the entrance. Union Arena. Woodstock, VT.
Another panorama of the rink at Union Arena. This one I took from the bleachers not long after walking into this wonderful space.
For the second weekend in a row, the 2010 Flames played a Granite State League (GSL) game against a NH based team in the state of Vermont. To get to Woodstock, our loosely organized caravan passed over the bridge and through the woods, which included a glimpse of the deepest gorge in Vermont, Quechee Gorge, at 165 feet deep. By the way, I wanted to know so I looked it up…Quechee, comes from the Natick Indian tribe’s river name, Ottauquechee, meaning swift mountain stream.
Looking north from the Quechee Gorge Bridge.
Looking south from the Quechee Gorge Bridge. The river is the Ottauquechee River which ultimately flows over a dam, around some islands, and under a highway, for about 5.5 miles before dumping into the Connecticut River.
Oh yes, the hockey game. The Hanover Wild jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening period. The Wild scored an even strength goal and a power play goal, with each coming from wide open players directly in front of the net. The Flames had some good chances in the opening period, but most of their shots were either blocked or errant.
Photos from the first period. Click on photos to enlarge and have a look around.
In the second period, things changed dramatically. The 2010 Flames woke up, which helped, and many more of their chances ended up with shots on goal. The visitors had started to move their feet much better, and they moved the puck even better than their own feet.The Flames netted four goals in the middle period, one of which was on the power play. They led 4-2 after two periods of play.
The only goal that ended up on the scoreboard in the final period was a goal that was waved off emphatically by an official on the ice. After waving off the goal, and without detracting from the game by use of replay, the goal was allowed and the Wild had cut the lead to 4-3. Ultimately, the Wild pulled their goaltender and even before that had started playing with a sense of urgency. The Flames were able to hold off the Hanover charge over that last four-plus minutes and get out of the Green Mountain State with a 4-3 win. Yes, there were some very tense moments in this one.
Photos from the rest of the game up in Woodstock, VT.
I am sorry for not including captions, but frankly, I ran out of time. Although the photos are named to give a clue as to what I was capturing, or thinking, which doesn’t always mean the same thing.
Sunday evening, the Flames returned to home ice to take on the Back Bay Indians at West Side Arena. The Indians scored just seconds into the game on a breakaway goal that literally made the Flames look like they were standing still. This game was not aesthetically pleasing to the casual hockey fan. It was kind of like looking into the woods and imagining you’ve spotted a beautiful deer only to realize that it was really an old stump lit by the setting sun, and one brown oak leaf swaying in the breeze. Maybe it wasn’t like that at all actually, but both coaches had their hands on their heads at times. Either way, a winner was ultimately decided on the scoreboard.
The Flames answered the Back Bay goal with a sweet goal on a nice pass play from Jacob Casimiro to Andy Soucy over to Teddy Beal who scored the goal about a minute after the Flames fell behind. Then Brayden Gillies pounced on a rebound from a Jordan Hawkes shot for the go-ahead goal. Hawkes had broken up a play a center ice before skating the right wing for his shot on goal. The Flames led 2-1 at the end of the first period.
The second period started with the Flames taking a tripping penalty. The Indians used the extra skater, quickly scoring on the power play to tie game, 2-2. Neither team could really get any momentum or sustained pressure for the remainder of the period. The period would end with the score still tied.
The third period had about as much symmetry and rhythm as the sound of me trying to run up a flight of freshly polished hardwood stairs in a pair of new wool socks. This is when I could hear both coaches verbalizing what many were thinking. I did also see coaches with their hands in the air and on their own heads. Then after the Indians called a timeout with 1:46 left in the game, some semblance of hockey resumed. The Flames scored with 1:01 left when Logan McCain made a pass up to Jacob Casimiro who raced to the slot for a shot on goal. Gavin Petrie crashed the net from the left and Cam Desruisseaux from the right, with Cam slamming home the rebound for the go-ahead goal. Then, about 30 seconds later the Flames battled for possession of the puck in the offensive end when Teddy Beal sent a pass to the left point. Finley Dunn took Beal’s pass and lifted a high wrist shot toward the net. The Back Bay goalie stood tall to make sure that the top half of the net was covered. Just then one of the defenseman swatted the puck down with their glove to nullify the scoring chance but the puck deflected right through the five-hole and into the goal. The Flames had managed two goals in the final 61 seconds to take the 4-2 decision.
I worked in the scorer’s booth for the night game and did not take any pictures of the game.
Blue sky. Rising moon. The red, white, and blue.
Here are my brief box score summaries of the games from the weekend:
Team Scoring: Sunday afternoon at Union Arena.
Wild: 2-0-1 = 3
Flames: 0-4-0 = 4
Flames scoring: Desruisseaux from Dunn. Gillies from McCain. Panitz from Soucy. Soucy from Beal and Casimiro.
Travis Ingalls (2 goals allowed) and Will Rosenbeck (1 goal allowed) combined to play very well in big moments and preserve another victory for the Flames.
Team scoring: Sunday evening at West Side Arena.
Back Bay 1-1-0 = 2
Flames 2-0-2 = 4
Flames scoring: Beal from Soucy and Casimiro. Gillies from Hawkes. Desruisseaux from Casimiro and McCain. Dunn from Beal.
Ingalls (2 goals allowed) and Rosenbeck (0 goals allowed) combined for another win for the Flames.