Hockey: Goffstown 5 vs. Dover 3

From Thomas F. Sullivan Arena, St. Anselm College, Goffstown, NH – January 10, 2020

For the third time this week Goffstown played an afternoon home game after school. Undefeated Dover (5-0) came knocking on Friday afternoon to take on the Grizzlies who were coming off of a tough 4-3 loss to Keene on Wednesday.

(Jen Webber Photography)

The Grizzlies were happy to have Isaac McGregor back in the lineup for the first time since December 16. Unfortunately, McGregor took a holding penalty on his first shift, at 1:08, but his teammates killed the penalty without issue. Colby Wright was back in the lineup as well, after missing Wednesday’s game against. Keene. Both teams tested each other all period but nobody could get on the scoreboard. Dover did get the better of the chances and many more shots on goal, 12-5. Goffstown fumbled the puck quite a bit in their own end and looked disjointed once they had possession of the puck in attempts to break out of their end. Dover took full advantage, buzzing, and cycling, and throwing everything in the direction of the net. James Amorelli made 12 saves and kept Goffstown in the game at times when the break out, was breaking down more than breaking out. There were, in my opinion, way too many passes that were either negative (going back to where they came from) or not productive, but more of “I don’t want it, you take it” type of plays. The Grizzlies did get a handful of shots on goal, but it seemed like they possessed the puck in the offensive zone for a total of about 30 seconds. The period ended with the score 0-0.

(Jen Webber Photography)

Dover picked up where they left off with lots of shots on goal to start the second period. Amorelli made more saves and then Dover was called for a hooking penalty. At 2:51 of the period, Grady Chretien scored a power play goal that was set up by Colby Gamache and Theo Milianes. The Grizzlies were on the board first, and it was on their first shot of the period. It was a great shot actually as Chretien made a great move to elude a defender and pinged the top corner with his shot from the slot. Goffstown took a 2-0 lead 75 seconds later when Chretien scored on one of the best backhand shots you will ever see. I marked it as an ‘insane shot’ in my notepad. James Amorelli and Colby Gamache swept the puck away from the Goffstown goal mouth. The puck came off of Gamache’s skates right to Drew O’Brien who turned the play into instant offense. O’Brien made a brilliant bank pass off of the side wall at center ice to Chretien flying through the neutral zone. Chretien did the rest with his tremendous shot. The goal was an even strength goal at 4:06 from Drew O’Brien and Colby Gamache. Dover continued to cause either confusion or apprehension, or both, in Goffstown’s defensive end which led to 15 shots on goal and probably 15-20 more shots that were wide, blocked, or never made it through to Amorelli. At 6:13 of the period, Dover got on the board when Wyatt Allaire scored from Jacob Lapierre and Josh Gagne. Dover kept getting shots on goal. James Amorelli made a beautiful left pad save at 7:54 on a shot that came out of a screen. Jack Wilkinson took a minor penalty at 11:06 to put Dover on the power play for the second time in the game. Goffstown killed off this penalty as well. After two periods, the Grizzlies led 2-1 on the board despite being outshot 27-11 through 30 minutes of play.

(Jen Webber Photography)

Against Keene the other night, Grady Chretien scored hit 50th career goal, only the 4th Grizzlies player to reach this milestone. On Friday afternoon, Chretien got a healthy start on his next 50 goals. First, Colby Gamache scored his 40th career goal on a nifty backhand shot himself. The goal came 51 seconds into the period and was assisted by Jack Wilkinson. Dover wasn’t about to back down though. At 3:46 the slippery Asa Forbes scored from Ollie Stevens to pull the Green Wave back to within a goal of the lead. Chretien struck for his third goal of the night on another perfect shot to give the Grizzlies a 4-2 lead. Jackson Burke and Xavier Bibaud were given the assists on the goal. Bibaud made a pass out of his own corner up the half wall to Jackson Burke. Burke hit Chretien with a perfect pass coming out of their own end. Chretien took the puck the rest of the way and scored the goal. Dover again, said not so fast, and scored just 28 seconds later. Doug Gnall scored from Stevens and Forbes, making it 4-3 with more than half a period to play. Both teams had chances to score down the stretch including an unbelievable chance for the Green Wave at 10:05 of the period. James Amorelli made two sensational saves to keep Goffstown in the lead. Dover took a high sticking penalty at 11:17 but killed the penalty. Just after the penalty ended, the Grizzlies iced the puck and Dover took their timeout at 13:35. Dover pulled Devon Lapierre from their net for the extra attacker with the offensive zone face-off opportunity. Goffstown cleared the zone a few times before Grady Chretien was able to secure a loose puck in the neutral zone. Chretien made no mistake once he quickly crossed the blue line and pierced the center of the net with a shot before anyone from Dover could rotate back to defend the empty net. It was an unassisted goal, Chretien’s fourth of the night. The game would end with the Grizzlies winning it, 5-3 even though Dover had 35 shots on goal to Goffstown’s 17 shots on Lapierre.

(Jen Webber Photography)

The loss sends the Dover Green Wave to 5-1 on the season while Goffstown bounces back from their loss on Wednesday and improves to 6-2 on the season. The Grizzlies play again at noon tomorrow against Somersworth-Coe-Brown at Sullivan Arena.

NHIAA Hockey:

(Jen Webber Photography)

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