Brian Stone Memorial Christmas Tournament: Goffstown 6 at Manchester Central/West 0

From J.F.K. Coliseum in Manchester, NH, December 28, 2018:

Goffstown played their third and final game of the round-robin section of the tournament on Friday afternoon, against Manchester Central/West. The Grizzlies were looking to go undefeated in their three tournament games for the first time in their history of playing in the Manchester Christmas Tournament (Brian C. Stone Memorial Christmas Tournament as of this year).

The Grizzlies slowly got their game cranked up as the first period wore on. Some shots started piling up, and then Grady Chretien broke through with a goal set up by Stephen Provencher and Theo Milianes at 9:27 to give the Grizzlies a 1-0 lead. Less than a minute later, Chretien scored again, on the power play this time, from Sebastian Beal. Then in the final minute of the period, Central/West goaltender, Donnie Collins was left exposed a couple of times and Goffstown didn’t miss their chance to score. Colby Gamache scored at the goal mouth after a nice passing combination from Beal and Griffin Cook, at 14:09 of the period. At 14:33, Beal found the back of the net after passes from Griffin Cook and Isaac McGregor to give the Grizzlies a 4-0 lead.

In the second period, Eric DesRuisseaux (goal) and Grady Chretien (assist) stormed the offensive zone after a Central/West turnover and combined to give Goffstown a 5-0 lead at 2:17 of the period. Then at 2:43 the Grizzlies tallied their final goal of the afternoon when Colby Gamache scored from Sebastian Beal and Griffin Cook. Goffstown led 6-0 after two periods and also controlled the shots on goal at a 24-10 clip.

In the third period, with running time, the game finished quickly. Freshman goaltender, James Amorelli, made 5 saves on 5 shots in each of the three periods to earn his first career shutout (15 saves). The Grizzlies spent most of the period setting up Devin Cote, Eric Purcell, Calvin Sage, and others to try and share the scoring wealth as well as build depth on the roster. Amorelli came up with a huge save when Central/West captain Photios Vougias broke in all alone after Sebastian Beal lined up Matt LaForge for a big hit at center ice, and missed on it, although several folks thought it was an elbowing call waiting to happen. Vougias walked in and Amorelli was able to make the save to protect the shutout. Then a little bit later with Colin Burke rushing the puck up ice on the left wing boards, Colby Gamache did his best Buddy the Elf impersonation on an escalator when he nearly did a split to stay onside as Donnie Collins ended up making a nice save to thwart the Grizzlies bid. Goffstown ended up with a 6-0 win for the second day in a row, and finished the round-robin at 3-0, advancing to their first ever Brian C. Stone Memorial Christmas Hockey Tournament championship game tomorrow at 1:30 pm against 3-time defending champions, the Bedford Bulldogs.