Hockey: Merrimack 4 at Goffstown 5

Last night on the hilltop, as some say, the Grizzlies hosted their final regular season hockey game of the 2017-18 season. It was also Senior Night, a chance to recognize Goffstown’s 5 seniors on this year’s varsity squad. The opponent was Merrimack, a team that these senior’s had never beaten (0-4) coming into their final regular season home game.

The Grizzlies played well enough to beat a very competitive Merrimack Tomahawks squad. Goffstown scored 5 times and peppered 38 shots at Greg Amato in Merrimack’s net. Goffstown allowed only 16 shots to reach Madeline Sage in net for the Grizzlies. I would like to say that Goffstown played swarming team defense to limit the number of shots on goal, and while that’s partly true, their best defense was often spending time forcing Amato to make save after save. The Tomahawks were very quick in transition from defense to offense and Goffstown wasn’t always ready to defend against their breakout (a problem that showed up against Alvirne and Kingswood). I found it ironic, but mostly telling about how deep and good Goffstown can be, that on senior night, the Grizzlies got five goals, one from a junior, three from sophomores, and one from the freshmen.

Nobody I talked to upstairs could remember the last time Goffstown beat Merrimack in hockey. I know for certain that this senior class hadn’t beaten them yet. And when the Tomahawks scored just 37 seconds into the game, on a long shot from center ice, that got through Sage in net, those questionable thoughts started forming a dark cloud in the corner of my brain. Last year, when Goffstown went to Merrimack on their senior night and scored a single goal on 40 shots, while allowing 4 goals on 11 shots again, ya, I thought of that. Anyways, Max Lajeunesse centered a pass in the offensive end, but it went through the slot right to Hunter Burke. Burke took the errant pass from his own end, through center ice, and scored on a long shot from outside the blue line, an assist was given to Regan Sedlar. But, Goffstown responded by just getting down to work, shift after shift, work. Five minutes in, Griffin Cook and Sebastian Beal worked a beautiful 2-on-1 all the way up ice, passing back and forth to each other, before Greg Amato made a great save to keep Goffstown off of the board.

Less than two minutes later with the MGM line working the puck through the zone, Max Lajeuness was wide open in the slot but fanned on a one-time attempt set up by great passing. Then at 7:39 the Grizzlies broke through when Sebastian Beal fed a pass, that somehow eluded two Merrimack defenders, to Noah Charron out front. Charron got a backhand shot off, that hit Amato in the shoulder and bounced in the crease. Griffin Cook pounced on the rebound and put it in the net before Amato could scramble from whence he came. Cook, from Beal and Charron.

A minute or so later, Merrimack answered to take a 2-1 lead. Zach Stimeling took a bouncing puck from Jacob Noonan against the end boards and threw a bounce pass toward the front of the net. Dominic Corozza took the pass at the side of the net before Maddie Sage could cover it, and drifted to the crease to bury the puck into the wide open net. There were no Goffstown defensemen anywhere near the front of the net on the play. Merrimack won an offensive zone faceoff and got a quick shot through to Madeline Sage who made a stick save. Brett Lassonde cleared the rebound to the right-wing half wall, where Max Lajeunesse flipped the puck up the wall and out of the zone. In the meantime, Colby Gamache galloped through center ice to snag the loose puck along the right wing boards.

Gamache kept his speed, angled toward the faceoff dot, and let a wrist shot go from the edge of the low circle (tough angle) before Merrimack’s defenseman Joe Pillsbury could catch him. The shot beat Amato between his rib cage and the post, just under his glove, and found the strings to tie the game at 2-2. The score would hold for period one, and Goffstown outshot their opponent 11-7.

There was only one goal in the middle period, and if you didn’t get back to your seat in time, or blinked, you missed it. Evan McCuaig let a long shot fly that caught Amato moving left to right and somehow kicked off of the inside of his right pad and into the net. Merrimack won the opening faceoff to start the period. The puck went back to the right defenseman, Greg Bourque who made a ‘D to D’ pass over to Regan Sedlar. As Sedlar approached his own blue line to backhand the puck out of the zone he got leveled by Sebastian Beal on a shoulder to shoulder hit. McCuaig was right there right behind his winger and chipped the puck towards the opposite corner. Amato came out to play the puck and misplayed it into his own net. It was McCuaig’s second goal of the season and gave the Grizzlies a 3-2 lead just 0:08 into the period. A couple of minutes later the CBC line stormed the offensive zone for what seemed like a long time but did everything but score. Sebastian Beal sent a shot wide of the net after a brilliant set up by Noah Charron and Griffin Cook. On the same possession some 20 seconds later Griffin Cook was robbed by superhuman save from Amato.

The Grizzlies would get two power play chances in the second half of the period but aside from a lot of shots, could not beat Amato. After two periods, Goffstown led 3-2, and had a huge 24-12 advantage in shots on goal.

Much of my being felt that despite the great play of the Grizzlies in the middle period, that this game was far from over, and that Merrimack would be heard from again. Well it didn’t take long, at 1:05 of the period Steve Licata scored from out high, unassisted, to tie the game at 3-3. Two and a half minutes later, Merrimack took a 4-3 lead at 3:57 when Zach Stimeling scored from Regan Sedlar. Sedlar took a slashing penalty at 4:21, his third minor of the night, and Goffstown went on the power play. This time the Grizzlies cashed in when a sophomore and a pair of freshmen made a great play to beat Amato. Grady Chretien circled out of the right wing circle and banked a pass back to Evan McCuaig at the right point. McCuaig stepped in and let a wrist shot go towards the net. Colby Gamache, in the slot, deflected the shot and the puck found the net behind Amato. Power play goal for the Grizzlies and the game was tied 8:49 to play.

Theo Milianes is a good hockey player, and I constantly find myself hoping he’ll apply himself more aggressively into the flow of any given game. That is not a knock, I just like his skill set and would like to see more of it. That said, few of us would pick him for the role he played last night, but what do we know. At 10:28 of the final period, Milianes rifled a beautiful shot into the net after being set up by Brett Branscum, and the Grizzlies were back on top, 5-4. Merrimack called their timeout after the goal. Their comeback bid was slowed some by taking another penalty and the Grizzlies were on the power play. Goffstown couldn’t score despite Colin Burke hitting the post with a shot at 12:38. At 13:50 the Tomahawks pulled Greg Amato from the net to get the extra skater on. With 9 second left in the game Colby Gamache took a roughing penalty, giving Merrimack a 6-on-4 advantage. Goffstown held off the Tomahawks, and held on for the win. Theo Milianes got the game-winner for the second game in a row. The Goffstown Grizzlies, their coaching staff, and the entire program earned their 14th win of the regular season.

It was the first time a Goffstown hockey team has won 14 regular season games in program history. Goffstown outshot Merrimack 38-16 but that was just a piece of the story. It’s also worth noting (I, think) that in a tie game on senior night, late in the third period, Goffstown rolled it’s third line. It’s a team sport, and season’s take contributions from every single member of a team no matter the size of the contribution, they all matter, they all add up.

Goffstown travels to #1 Keene (12-1-1) on Wednesday night at 6:10pm to play at Keene Ice. Based on my figuring, Dover and St. Thomas cannot both finish ahead of Goffstown, even if Goffstown lost to #1 Keene and #3 Windham this week, because they play each other tomorrow night. That means (to me) that Goffstown has clinched a top 4 seed in the tournament. Furthermore, the Grizzlies have never been seeded higher than #3 (2010 lost in Semi-Finals) in their history. This team has a chance to do so, but I think we’d all agree that a longer run in the post-season is more important than the seed we get.

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