Hockey: Goffstown 3 vs. Kingswood 2 (OT)

Here is a clip (Courtesy of GTV Sports) of the game-winning goal. Or what should have been the game-winning goal, but for reasons that have been bewildering, to say the least, another call this season that was blatantly missed. This was a beautiful play that culminated in Colin Burke slamming the puck into the open side of the net.
Anyways, when the game started, after a recording of one of my all-time favorite National Anthem performances (Wayne Messmer 1991 NHL All-Star Game at the old Chicago Stadium) while troops were over attending to Desert Storm, I was ready to go. It turns out that I wasn’t alone. Kingswood showed their team skating ability right from the start, as did the Grizzlies. The first period wasn’t much to watch as far as whistles, or scoring was concerned. Well, Joey Vetanze made a pair of brilliant saves in quick succession on Griffin Cook and Sebastian Beal respectively from right out front in the second half of the period. Actually, several of us thought that the game was marred with penalties early on but not a single one was called. As a matter of fact, the entire 15-minute period was played in just over 18 minutes of elapsed time which included all stoppages, faceoffs, line changes, etc. That’s actually hard to do, but nothing was being called and both teams went up and down the ice. Kingswood outshot the Grizzlies 7-6 in the period. At times it seemed as though there may have been more shots on goal per team than completed passes because not much seemed to click.

In the second period, it was quite different from the start. Eric DesRuisseaux playing on defense made a potentially dangerous turnover, but partner Colin Burke helped him out with a great poke check to break up the play just 59 seconds into the period. Then a slashing call and hooking call was whistled back-to-back on the Knights from Kingswood. Goffstown was unable to capitalize on either powerplay opportunity despite some really good chances. Sebastian Beal took a roughing penalty but the Grizzlies held. Then it was Vetanze again, this time robbing Griffin Cook on a point-blank redirection that appeared to hit the knob of the goalie’s stick and fall harmlessly away. Kyle LaSella, not to be outdone, made an absolutely sensational save on Sam Danais who had broken in behind the Goffstown defense. Danais, working from right to left, left a soft shot back to his right, where LaSella made a brilliant left toe save while moving to his right. Incredible save! Then finally, a goal. Grady Chretien picked the puck right off of Cole Emerson’s stick behind the net, turned the corner and fired a shot past Vetanze to give Goffstown a 1-0 lead. The score would hold to end the period and both teams had 9 shots on goal in the middle stanza.

Goffstown started the final period with a 1-0 lead and when Kingswood took a penalty at 1:12 it looked like the Grizzlies might be able to add to their lead. As it turned out, Sebastian Beal sent a pass behind Grady Chretien which led to Sam Danais using his speed to grab the puck and off to the races. Danais managed to outduel Chretien on a 1-on-1 break and slipped a backhand shot past Kyle LaSella to tie the game at 1:48. Despite the goal against Goffstown, the home town team turned up the pressure and dominated time of possession, shots, and scoring chances for most of the period. Joey Vetanze robbed Chretien more than once with outstanding saves for the senior goaltender, including an acrobatic glove save. Even though the Grizzlies were getting chance after chance, they were still quite careless with the puck. They threw pucks to open spaces and to places where the opponent was waiting to pilfer. Then after winning an offensive zone faceoff, the Knights turned a Goffstown shot into a goal in a matter of seconds. Colby Gamache won the faceoff right back to Griffin Cook. Cook fired but the shot was blocked by Kolbe Maganzini who then hooked, hacked, and held Sebastian Beal while the shot deflected to the corner. After a quick movement of the puck from Nick Potenza and Cody Emerson, Sam Danais had the puck on his stick at his own blue line. He made a quick, accurate pass to Colby Clegg flying through center ice. Brett Lassonde and Jacob Noonan reacted to the speedy Clegg and both converged on the forward. They managed to separate Clegg from the puck on a play that could easily have been called a tripping penalty on the Grizzlies. The puck ended up on the stick of onrushing Cody Emerson who deked, shot, and scored at 10:06 to give the Knights a 2-1 lead.

Then at 11:35 or so of the period, Sebastian Beal and Colin Burke looked as though they had connected on a game-tying goal as the puck went to the goal line, or over it, or who knows. Based on the call that would come a few minutes later, it’s hard to say. Either way, the puck stayed in play, the play continued. With about 2:30 remaining, Brett Lassonde got caught flat-footed at center ice trying to play the puck out of the air. He missed. The puck landed and Cody Emerson, who was flying up the left wing, grabbed the puck and led the rush. He drew Jacob Noonan wide with his speed and dropped a beautiful aerial backhand pass to Cole Emerson right on the doorstep. Kyle LaSella held the nearside post and made a great left pad save to keep the Grizzlies within a goal. Even after the save, Goffstown turned the puck directly over to Kingswood twice in the following 20 seconds but staved off any further damage. At 13:19 Logan McEvoy slashed Griffin Cook’s stick right out of his hands and the call was too obvious not to be called. The Grizzlies went on the powerplay and pulled LaSella from the net, but first, they used their timeout. After half a minute, Colby Gamache won an offensive zone faceoff to Griffin Cook. Cook made a short pass back to Grady Chretien at the right point, who made a perfect east-west diagonal pass to Colin Burke. Burke, at the left-wing faceoff dot, ripped a wrist shot that banked off of the crossbar, hit the far post, and then the strings. It was the perfect bank shot, to tie the game at 2-2 with 1:11 to play. Powerplay goal, with the goalie pulled, yeah, it was pretty exciting. Kingswood called their timeout. LaSella returned to his place between the pipes, and there were 71 seconds left to decide the outcome in regulation.

Here again, played out something eerily similar to what had happened just a minute of game-time before. Gamache wins the faceoff to Griffin Cook, drops a pass to the point, and so on. This time the puck goes low to Burke on the left-wing dot, back to Cook at the left point, and over to Brett Lassonde on the right point. Lassonde skates into the right-wing circle and makes a perfect pass through traffic to Burke on the doorstep, and Burke made no mistake, burying the puck into the net with 6.something left on the clock. The referee, on the goal line, but close to the corner, skates toward the net, then blows his whistle and looks at #9 of Kingswood signaling a kicking motion before waving his arms to say no goal. So the goal was not a goal despite that Burke never kicked the puck. And overtime began. As it would turn out, Grady Chretien scored the sudden death, overtime, game-winning goal at 2:27 of the overtime to win it for the Grizzlies. Luke Chase got the lone assist on the play and the Goffstown bench swarmed Chretien on the ice in celebration. What a game! Kingswood executed their game plan nearly perfect. Goffstown’s top line was a -2 on the night, mustered a single assist, and still beat a good team.

In the game, the Grizzlies were not crisp with the puck at all. This, of course, is in part due to the Knights making it difficult to maneuver with ease. The Grizzlies also lost possession of the puck or had to completely reset their offense no less than four times in the game when passes were dropped to one point or the other, that had been vacated by Colin Burke. Burke took numerous walkabouts in the offensive end of the ice which led to some serious disruption, and a mild heart attack or two. However, it is equally, if not more important to note, that Burke has been immense over the last few games for the Grizzlies. In two of the last three games, Beal and Cook have combined for a total of one assist, yet the Grizzlies won both games. Colin Burke has been a huge reason why Goffstown has won those particular games, including 2 goals and 2 assists in the games mentioned. We all know that it will take the entire group contributing in order to finish strong and make any kind of a run in the tournament. As for now though, it was a great overtime win for Goffstown. Next, they get ready for Windham, now a Division I opponent.

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NHIAA Hockey:
Updated Records:
Goffstown (9-2-1)
Kingswood (5-6)
Sullivan Arena, Goffstown, NH
January 30, 2019. 7:30 PM Start:

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Summary:
Goals:
Goffstown: 0-1-1-1 = 3
Kingswood: 0-0-2-0 = 2

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Shots:
Goffstown: 06-09-19-03 = 37
Kingswood: 07-09-04-02 = 22

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Scoring:

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