Hockey: Goffstown 8 at Alvirne-Milford 3

Goffstown had clinched their place in the playoff seeding earlier in the week and the outcome on Saturday had no effect on their tournament placement. Then they were playing on the road against a team they beat 6-1 earlier in the season. Furthermore, the home team was battling to finish the regular season as high as 6th or as low as 8th. So, it could have been a game to take lightly. Or maybe they could show up way too casual and go into action lacking the discipline that has set this group apart from their competition all season. Goffstown had other ideas though and broke a 2-2 tie late in the 2nd period, scoring six goals in just more than 9 minutes to win going away, 8-3.

A dear friend of Goffstown hockey, Al St. Louis sang the anthem as he does for many of the Alvirne-Milford Admiral home games, and his voice was a familiar sound for the Grizzlies. Goffstown improved to 14-6 over the last 4 years when Al sings the National Anthem before a Grizzlies hockey game.

The first period was a little bit odd for the visiting Grizzlies. They managed to control the play for the most part but that didn’t result in a lot of shots. Meanwhile, the Admirals were getting more shots and some good chances, just in far less elapsed time. Goffstown worked the puck and Alvirne-Milford counterpunched, looking for mistakes to capitalize upon.

Sebastian Beal for the Grizzlies battled for a loose puck in his offensive zone, won the puck, and let a wicked wrister go that beat Jackson Dowd in net for the Admirals, but the puck rattled off of the crossbar and over the net at 2:36. The Grizzlies killed off a powerplay when Isaac McGregor was whistled for a hooking call. Then Jacob Noonan made a seemingly innocent break out pass up the left wing boards to Colby Gamache. The pass, like a perfectly executed billiards assessment of speed and angles, found Gamache in stride speeding up the ice. Gamache finished the play with a beautiful goal to get the Grizzlies on the board at 11:45.

Less than a minute later, Levi Griffin made a gorgeous long-distance breakout pass like a perfectly thrown deep ball from a great quarterback and Zac Girouard was off to the races. James Amorelli came out to cut the angle on the breakaway attempt and receded perfectly, making a brilliant right toe save to keep the score at 1-0. And the period would end with the score 1-0, and Goffstown trailing in shots, 12-7.

The second period largely belonged to the Grizzlies but that’s not how the scoreboard felt about it. Alvirne-Milford scored first, at 4:10 on a shot that Amorelli probably wishes he had back. Damien Barahona scored from a nearly impossible angle, below the rightwing faceoff dot. The goal was assisted by Levi Griffin. The game was tied 1-1. The Admirals took a slashing penalty at 4:53 and by 5:10 of the period, the Grizzlies had the lead again. Sebastian Beal and Colin Burke worked the puck around the zone

like it belonged to them before the puck was on Colby Gamache’s stick, in tight. Gamache using his skilled hands lifted a backhand shot over the shoulder of Dowd in goal, landing up where momma hides the creamy peanut butter. At 6:02 Barahona got caught with his stick up around the throat of Griffin Cook and the Grizzlies went back on the powerplay. Grady Chretien pinged the crossbar with a shot but the Admirals held the score at 2-1. Then at 8:13 Alvirne-Milford tied the game at 2-2. Jacob Noonan turned the puck over and the speedy Isaac Rogers broke in all alone. Amorelli made a sensational save on Rogers but Bobby Pace was right there to clean up the mess and put the puck in the net. Game tied 2-2, with less than half a game left.

They say that triangles are the strongest shape structurally. And if a team of hockey players ever needed something strong to lean on, it might be something like Goffstown’s version of the CBC Line last year, and the CBC 2.0 Line this year. At 10:15 of the second period, Griffin Cook scored on a pass from Sebastian Beal who had taken a pass from Colby Gamache. Not only that, the passes pretty near formed a triangle of angled passes leading to Cook scoring from point-blank range. Then, not to be left out, Grady Chretien scored a simply gorgeous bar-down goal just 7 seconds later to give the Grizzlies a 4-2 lead. The Grizzlies won the faceoff, Eric DesRuisseaux pushed the puck ahead to Chretien and he did the rest. Goffstown’s DesRuisseaux was called for high-sticking moments later but the Grizzlies killed the penalty without further damage. At 14:48 of the period an ugly scene played out in front of the Alvirne-Milford bench. Penalties were called and a disqualification resulted. It was a brutal scene; one that I have seen too many of this season. And equally remarkable, if not truly sad, one of the only one of these irresponsible fits of brutality that I have seen called this season.

As a result of the penalties at the end of the 2nd period, the final period started with some 4-on-4 play for 1:48. Griffin Cook scored an unassisted goal at 1:35 to open up a 3-goal lead for the Grizzlies. Then Goffstown salted away the game with 3 powerplay goals in a span of 2:34. Colby Wright got his first career goal on a gorgeous feed from Grady Chretien, finding Wright on the doorstep for the tap in. Then Colin Burke snagged a goal that was set up by Chretien and Gamache. Goffstown’s final goal came after Isaac McGregor chipped the puck behind his own net, over to Jacob Noonan. Noonan turned up ice and made a beautiful outlet pass to Luke Ouellette up the left wing. Ouellette carried the puck into the neutral zone and let a shot go, collected his own rebound, and scored at 4:36. Zach Partridge took over in goal for Alvirne-Milford and made one save on the one shot he faced. Goffstown then took three penalties of their own which gave the momentum back to the Admirals but the spread was too wide. Levi Griffin scored a powerplay goal at 12:43 on a pass from Jake Natola. That was about it. Goffstown won it, 8-3, and led in shots 33-29.

If my abacus is correct and my Viking sunstone is accurate, Alvirne-Milford will play host to Oyster River on Wednesday, February 27th.

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NHIAA Hockey:
Updated Records:
Goffstown (14-3-1)
Alvirne-Milford (8-8-2)