Written by St. Anselm College, Sullivan Arena, Goffstown, NH (12/9/15)-
Let me start by saying that I did not get a game sheet from the game last night so I may miss some details and certainly I will not have any of the players’ names from Trinity. Even without a game sheet it was pretty obvious that the Grizzlies had worked on passing the puck since their first scrimmage on Sunday. The Grizzlies came out skating and passing very well. Max Lajeunesse got the Grizzlies on the board first after a beautiful pass from Sam Greenwood. That was the only goal that Goffstown would get in the opening period as the last 6 minutes of the period belonged to Division I opponent, Trinity. The Pioneers would tie the game at one apiece and that’s how the period would end. Trinity held a 9-6 advantage in shots on goal in the opening period. Goffstown probably had another 8 shots that were just outside the 24 square foot target.
The second period picked up where the first period ended; with Trinity dominating play and puck possession. The Grizzlies did block an awful lot of Trinity shots though and goaltender Colin Holt held them at a single goal all the way through the period. As Goffstown finally started to get their forecheck going again, the tide started to turn. With an offensive zone faceoff the Grizzlies made their second goal look easy. Tyler Riendeau won the faceoff cleanly, back to Dylan Hyers at the left point. Hyers let a hard shot go and beat the Trinity goaltender high to the stick side. 2-1 Goffstown. Moments later, Ben Roy tapped a rebound home, resulting from another heavy shot by Hyers, into the back of the net, giving the visiting Grizzlies a 3-1 lead. Trinity changed goaltenders. With the Grizzlies now on a power play, they beat the new goaltender when Noah Charron ripped a shot into the strings to give Goffstown a rather sudden 4-1 lead. The period would finish with more dominance in play from Goffstown but the score stayed the same, at 4-1. GHS had 12 shots on goal in the period, to just 5 for the Pioneers.
The third period favored Trinity as they used some desperation and better skating to chip away at the 3-goal deficit. They managed to get just 5 shots on goal but two of them found the mark. The first Pioneer goal of the period came on a perfectly placed wrist shot that found twine just under the crossbar and just inside the near post. The final goal for Trinity came on a clear breakaway when a Goffstown defenseman pinched too aggressively and then fell down in attempting to get back. Trinity pulled their netminder with less than a minute to play but could not get another shot past Colin Holt. Shots were even at 5 apiece in the period. For the game, Goffstown held a slight edge in shots on goal at 23-19. Trinity’s goaltender’s saved 7 of 10, and 12 of 13 shots respectively. Holt made 16 saves on 19 shots for Goffstown.
Goffstown skated three lines consisting of: Tyler Riendeau, Sam Greenwood, and Max Lejeunesse: Sebastian Beal, Kainen Lassonde, and Noah Charron: Griffin Cook, Ben Roy, and Alex McCarthy; with Stephen Provencher mixing in shifts up front. On defense the Grizzlies used: Nick Nault and Colin Burke: Dylan Hyers and Jacob Noonan: Mike Fortin and Brett Lassonde. Colin Holt played all 45 minutes in net.
Goffstown will play their final pre-season scrimmage on Saturday morning (Dec. 12) at 11:00am against Division III opponent in John Stark Regional High School (Weare). The game will be at St. Anselm College, Sullivan Arena, Goffstown, NH.