Written by Press Release: January 6, 2014
January 4: Kearsarge 4 vs. Oyster River 0
Saturday saw the Kearsarge Bantams play two games, one at home, and then later on the road at Plymouth. The first game was at Proctor Academy where Kearsarge hosted Oyster River.
The temperatures inside the rink were just as cold as the single-digit temps outside, or so it seemed. Either way, the Bantams from Kearsarge appeared warm, loose, and ready to play. The opening period saw the home team jump to a 2-0 lead, which, as it turned out, was more than enough for a victory.
First, Max Phillips scored a power play goal from right out in front of the net on a centering pass from Nick Ducharme. The second assist went to Alfie Rylander who made a good decision at the left point, turning down a shot and sliding a pass to the faceoff circle where Ducharme was open. The power play opportunity had arisen from a penalty drawn by Kirsten Westerberg when she made a move with the puck at the offensive blue line. 76 seconds later, Kearsarge led 1-0.
Kevin Kiernan rushed the puck the length of the ice from his defensive position and scored an even strength goal to give the home team a 2-0 lead just two minutes later. Kiernan’s dash up ice also proved to be some foreshadowing for the game later in the evening.
Nobody scored in the second period, although Sebastian Beal, Matt Jarvis, Ashley Thompson, and goaltender Corey Henault did a great job helping to kill three penalties in the period. Rylander helped so much that he broke up a play and broke in alone, scoring a short-handed goal early in the third period to give Kearsarge a 3-0 lead.
With a few minutes left to play, Noah Newton redirected a pass into the net; finishing a tremendous passing play and punctuating a two minute shift that saw Kearsarge control the puck in the offensive end the entire time. Rylander made the pass out front after Nicole Kimtis had wrapped the puck around the end boards. It was a great shift, a pretty goal, and fitting end to the pass attack in the offensive end. Final: Kearsarge 4 — Oyster River 0.
January 4: Kearsarge 5 @ Plymouth 3 (Plymouth State University)
The nightcap played on the Plymouth State University campus turned out a little bit more like I expected. The visitors from Kearsarge started slowly and looked like they had played earlier in the day and they looked like they were coming off of a longer than normal school vacation. They were slow to awake but still faster than the slowest Zamboni circuit I’ve ever seen. The game was supposed to start early, but actually started late after the Zamboni was on the ice for 14 minutes. Even so, Kearsarge managed to be tied at one goal apiece after the opening period.
As we saw earlier in the day, Kevin Kiernan made a mad dash up the ice and scored on a breakaway to bring Kearsarge even at 1-1. Even as memorable was the fact that Kiernan gloved down a high shot while defending in front of his own goalie, swatting the puck to the right wing boards, then followed his play by freeing the puck past the point man to begin his rush. The goal counted with just 0:39 left in the first period.
Awake, and starting to skate more and more, Kearsarge scored twice in the middle stanza and entered the third period with a 3-2 lead. Matt Jarvis scored both second period goals. The first came as he blocked a shot from the point in his own end. The puck caromed off of his shin pads out to center ice and the race was on. Jarvis won the race, cut back to the middle of the ice and skated in alone to score the goal. His second goal, 35 seconds later, came after a pass from Marissa Pickman and a nice curl off of the left wing boards while cycling the puck. Circling to the slot area and ripping a wrister, his shot found nothing but twine.
Kevin Kiernan’s brother Colin played well in the nightcap and scored the game-winning goal early in the third period. After a great shift in the offensive zone, Jarvis, and Nicole Kimtis got the puck to Colin Kiernan who buried the shot for the goal. Shortly thereafter Plymouth was awarded a penalty shot and scored on the attempt. Plymouth’s goal cut the Kearsarge lead to 4-3 with less than three minutes left to play.
With 0:21 left in the game, Kearsarge got their fifth goal and the insurance goal they sought. Matt Jarvis was credited with the goal, his third of the game. Noah Newton, Colin Kiernan, and Matt Jarvis all had shot attempts on the net before Jarvis pushed it across the goal line. This final goal was the culmination of one of many dominating offensive zone shifts that Kearsarge commanded throughout the second half of the game. Final score: Kearsarge 5 — Plymouth 3.
January 5: Kearsarge 1 @ Twin Valley 2 (Kimball Union Academy)
Sunday morning rolled around and the Kearsarge Bantams found themselves starting their third game in just 24 hours. This time they were on the home ice of the Twin Valley Flyers at Kimball Union Academy.
The game started and it didn’t take long to notice that Twin Valley intended on playing physical. In the first couple of minutes I noticed at least four different players ignore the puck completely in order to focus on hitting a Kearsarge player. Interestingly enough it didn’t last very long as the visitors not only took the hits, but were more than willing to hit back. Anyways, just 45 seconds into the game a TV (Twin Valley) forward made a nice move and pulled off an excellent wrap-around move, getting the shot right on net. How the puck didn’t go in, I am still not sure but Corey Henault made the save.
Later in the first period TV scored their first goal on what was kind of an untimely line change after a real long shift. By my count, the forward line had been on the ice for almost three straight minutes. For most of the first period TV held a sizeable advantage in offensive zone possession and they showed a structured breakout, zone entry, and puck cycle in the offensive end. This contributed to some real long shifts by the visitors but also makes one wonder if the long shifts led to offensive possession. Insert your own chicken or the egg kind of debate.
After the teams exchanged minor penalties early in the second period, Twin Valley scored again. Their second goal was more or less the result of the same perfect storm scenario from earlier when lines changed after a long shift and an odd-man rush materialized from virtually nowhere. It was 2-0 in favor of the home team and although Kearsarge was getting chances here and there, their sustained pressure we saw on Saturday wasn’t the same on Sunday, yet. There are always two sides to these stories so credit needs to be given to Twin Valley too, as they were better structured in both ends than Saturday’s opponents. Kearsarge deserved some blame too where they just weren’t making any passes like they usually do. I made a note to myself in the 2nd period that simply reads, “NO HEADMAN”. If you are not familiar with the term ‘headman the puck’, www.lifetimehockey.com describes it this way: Headman the puck: When a player passes to a teammate that is ahead of them on the attack this is headmanning the puck. It also works if you are a woman player – we just don’t know what it is called! Without the lead passes to the open forward up the ice, TV’s defense easily retreated in time to defend Kearsarge’s offensive chances.
Then Matt Jarvis busted through a slew of TV defensive players and scored a breakaway goal to pull Kearsarge within one goal, 2-1. This was Jarvis’ 4th goal of the weekend, and probably his 8th or 9th breakaway, or near breakaway attempt in two days. Matt really was revved up especially for the second and third games of the weekend. This goal turned things some, as Kearsarge started getting more chances and maintained pressure for longer periods of time. After two periods Twin Valley led 2-1.
The brief intermission seemed to quell any momentum that may have been on the visitors’ side. Less than 30 seconds into the period a TV forward rang a hard shot off the crossbar, but it stayed out of the net. Then a minute later Henault made an unbelievable left pad save only to make an even better save moving to his right after the rebound. Between the crossbar and two stellar saves, Kearsarge survived the first two minutes of the period and battled the rest of the way. The visiting team got chances, lots of them, down the stretch, but could not get the puck across the goal line. Well, then Sebastian Beal flipped an innocent clearing attempt from his own blue line that somehow drifted left (towards the crease) and got past the TV goaltender. The puck went through the crease and the goalie, icing was waved off, but there were no referees immediately close by to see where the puck ended up. As several parents (from Twin Valley) verified after the game, the puck ended up in the net, just over the goal line. By the time the nearest official looked at the puck’s resting place, the puck had been nudged against the post on the crease side of the line. No goal; or at least not a goal that counted on the scoreboard. The Kearsarge crew fought for their chances right to the end although they ended up on the short side of the score. Final Score: Twin Valley 2 – Kearsarge 1.