From Pop Whalen Ice and Arts Center, Wolfeboro, NH – Wednesday night, February 5, 2020

In one of the more odd hockey games you might ever see, Goffstown traveled to Kingswood to play an always tough opponent on the road. Goffstown dominated the execution of scoring chances for the first 29:55 of the game, taking a 5-0 lead. Then, Kingswood scored 5 goals over a span of 7 minutes and 34.3 seconds to make this a 5-5 game with half a period to play. The Grizzlies managed get their switch flipped back on and won it, 6-5 with Grady Chretien’s fourth goal of the night at 12:31 of the third period.

(Sage Photo)

The trip out to Pop Whalen is usually at night, in the winter, with snow and ice all around, and still feels like a journey to the end of the world in some ways. The ride out there on Wednesday night was no different. Even so, I like going to this rink exactly because of where it is. It’s a very cold rink, with good ice, it has a little concession area to get hot coffee among other things, and some obnoxiously loud speakers, but the music selection is usually awesome even if you can’t hear yourself think.

This night was a special night for a different reason, or maybe not so different, but rather under mentioned. Hockey, the game, the schedule, the event, was a form of healing for some on Wednesday night. See, the night before, the President of our board for the Friends of Goffstown Hockey, Renee Gamache, lost her father to illness that had persisted for some time. This man who was no longer suffering was Colby Gamache’s (Captain of the Grizzlies) grandfather. Due to the immediate redirection of plans in a family’s lives when something like this happens, I ended up giving Renee a ride to and from the game. And I know that on the evening following her father’s death, this game on the schedule, and the sport of hockey that has been an enormous part of her family’s lives for more than a decade, was also a chance to get a quick escape back to normalcy for a few hours. So it was.

(Sage Photo)

The Grizzlies came out pretty quickly and they needed to because Kingswood always has forwards with great speed, overall team physicality, and a group that never quits. When I thought back on this game after the fact, it occurred to me that even though the score was one-sided for more than half of the game, Goffstown had been executing better on their chances than Kingswood. That’s not to say that Kingswood didn’t have chances, they had plenty, and sooner or later things would likely even out. And boy did they ever, and in a hurry.

Goffstown had a breakdown defensively and Nick Potenza ripped a shot that got under the arm of Jake Webber in net for the Grizzlies, but went wide of the post. Colby Clegg was behind the net and tried to quickly tuck the puck inside the post and behind Webber but the puck skidded parallel to the goal line and out the other side. The puck was now loose and came to Grady Chretien who made a one-touch pass to Jackson Burke with some speed into the neutral zone. On the rush Burke was caught by Bailey Savage for the Knights, who broke up Burke’s backhand attempt. Burke hustled and stayed with the play to drop a beautiful pass back to the slot where Chretien’s hustle up ice as the Grizzlies were changing lines, was rewarded when he put the puck into the back of the net at 1:54 of the first period. For the next ten minutes both teams had shots and near misses on offense. Especially when Goffstown had a pair of power plays which included a 5-on-3 opportunity for 0:44. Webber also robber Clegg with a glove save on a break away after he peat Eric Purcell to the outside. The goalies, Webber and Oleg Sheahan were tested early and often.

(Sage Photo)

Then at 11:30 of the period, Eric DesRuisseaux hit Xavier Bibaud with a ‘D to D’ pass to move the puck quickly out of their own end. Bibaud passed the puck to Chretien who skated up the right wing, made a quick move, and fired a shot that Sheahan got a glove on but couldn’t keep out of the net. Goffstown led 2-0 despite chances being even throughout. The period would end with the same 2-0 score and Goffstown leading 17-12 in shots on goal.

The first goal of the second period went to Goffstown on a play where the puck moved from one end of the rink to other, and back, in a matter of seconds. It was a tremendous goal. Nick Potenza lifted a high arching clearing attempt that bounced at center ice and was close to being icing. However, with Cam Devito and Will Danais’ great speed resulting in a chase of the puck with Isaac McGregor, icing was waived off as Isaac barely won the race to the puck. He then turned his own net with the puck and never slowed down. McGregor continued his rush all the way up the ice and beat the defense back to their own end. McGregor got a great look and shot at Sheahan who barely made the point blank save but Jackson Burke beat Bailey Savage to inside position and slid the rebound inside the near side post for a 3-0 lead at 1:27 of the period.

(Sage Photo)

At about 9 minutes into the period, Sheahan made a great glove save on a well disguised shot from Eric DesRuisseaux through a screen. Then after killing a penalty, the Grizzlies got a face off win from Colby Gamache back to Bibaud at the left point. Bibaud flipped the puck into the corner where Drew O’Brien took the pass and reversed direction up the half wall under heavy pressure from Nick Potenza. O’Brien reached past Potenza and tapped a pass to the high slot where Chretien was curling and Grady ripped a one-timer slap shot that ramped up off of Jack Thompson’s stick and over the glove of Sheahan for his 6th hat trick of the season.

Goffstown got their third power play opportunity of the night and this time they cashed in. After some back and forth passing between DesRuisseaux and Gamache, Colby fired a cross ice pass to Jackson Burke who settled the puck and ripped a wrist shot past Sheahan on a fantastic shot to the far side top corner at 12:45 to give the Grizzlies a 5-0 lead. I am pretty sure that no one in the building expected the visitors to be up 5-0 and closing out the second period. The Grizzlies were getting the goals but both teams were getting the chances. In a sign of things to come, Colby Gamache turned the puck over in front of his own net. Gamache was bringing the puck out of his own end with no real pressure from the Knights and he tried an aerial pass to Jack Wilkinson cutting through center ice but the puck hit Logan McEvoy in the hand and bounced back to Gamache. As Colby swatted at the bouncing puck Nick Potenza was now in the hunt and he tipped the puck past Gamache giving him a free path to the net. Potenza walked in alone and beat Webber with his shot with only 0:04.3 left in the period. Goffstown had 20 shots on goal to 10 for the Knights, and led 5-1, but this one was far from over.

(Sage Photo)

Potenza picked up right where he left off to start the final period. Goffstown won the opening face off and worked the puck right into the offensive end. O’Brien dumped the puck through the left wing corner and around the boards, where Jack Thompson easily grabbed the puck and fired a quick pass to Potenza between the circles and skating to exit the zone. Potenza made a nifty move to move the puck from back to front between his legs and he was off. Colby Wright had covered the right point and was against the boards as the speedy forward took off. Wright couldn’t catch him. Potenza raced to the left wing face off dot and ripped a shot off of the inside of the far post and into the net at 0:15 of the period. Then at 4:21 Potenza took the puck from his own goal line and weaved his was through the Goffstown team and the length of the ice before wiring a shot inside the far post top corner where grandma hid the goin’ out on Friday night jewelry. At 5:53 in the third, Drew O’Brien dropped a pass to the left point that Eric DesRuisseaux boxed around and the speedy Colby Clegg was off to the races on yet another Kingswood breakaway. Clegg got to the net with speed, made a move and scored on the backhand, their 3rd unassisted goal on the night to make it a 5-4 game.

Finally the other shoe dropped, at 7:30 of the period, the Knights tied the game at 5-5. Cody Emerson flipped an aerial clearing pass to center ice that hit off of Nick Potenza and onto the stick of Logan McEvoy at the offensive blue line while Potenza knocked Xavier Bibaud down. That left McEvoy a free lane to the net. Logan got the shot off before Isaac McGregor could rotate over and take the body, and the puck was in the net. The game was now tied, and Jake Webber was pulled from the net with James Amorelli taking over. In all honesty, all 5 Knights goals had come on either clear breakaways or break-ins for the last portion of the play.

With half a period to play in a brand new game, who knew what would happen next. Well who knew an icing would be pivotal? The Knights iced the puck with 3:32 to play. On the ensuing offensive zone face off, Gamache won the draw clean, right to Chretien. Grady stepped to toward the middle of the ice and let a wrist shot fly before anyone thought he would. The puck was labeled for the top corner, nearside post, and before Sheahan could get a glove to it, the puck was in the net at 11:31 of the period. That would prove to be the game-winning goal. It was also the fifth time this season that Chretien had scored 4 or more goals in a game. Not only that, the leading candidate for player of the year had already notched his 31st goal of the season to tie the all-time, single-season record for goals scored with Patrick Kelliher who did it in 2001. The Grizzlies would hold on an win the game 6-5. The Knights outshot Goffstown 15-12 in the final period, and both teams had a boat load of shots on goal at the end of this one. 49 shots for the Grizzlies and 37 for Kingswood. What a finish to a game that looked like a runaway with 16 minutes of game time left.

With the win, the Grizzlies extended their streak and program record to five consecutive seasons with 10 or more regular season wins. This was also regular season win #60 for Head Coach Ben Slocum (5th year) who pulled one win ahead of Paul Roy (6 years, 2010-2015).

Goffstown improved to 10-2 in the season standings which kept them in first place, just ahead of Keene, Oyster River, and Merrimack to round out the top 4 spots. The Grizzlies come back to home ice on Wednesday, February 12th, to play host to John Stark – Hopkinton. JSH are two-time defending champs in DIII Hockey, and don’t look now, but they are 9-3 so far this season. Wednesday night is the Grizzlies senior players Charity of Choice night to benefit the ALS Association of Northern New England. Here are the standings in D-II hockey through Monday night, February 10th.

NHIAA Hockey:

Updated records.

Goffstown (10-5-0) vs. Kingswood (4-5-0)

Pop Whalen Ice and Arts Center, Wolfeboro, NH

Wednesday, February 5, 2020. 7:22 PM Start:

Summary:

Goals:

Goffstown: 2-3-1 = 6

Kingswood: 0-1-4 = 5

Shots:

Goffstown: 17-20-12 = 49

Kingswood: 12-10-15 = 37

Scoring:

1st Goffstown at 1:54. Even. Grady Chretien (28) from Jackson Burke (8).

1st Goffstown at 11:30. PPG. Grady Chretien (29) from Eric DesRuisseaux (10) and Xavier Bibaud (9).

2nd Goffstown at 1:27. Even. Jackson Burke (6) from Isaac McGregor (1).

2nd Goffstown at 9:29. SHG. Grady Chretien (30) from Drew O’Brien (11) and Xavier Bibaud (10).

2nd Goffstown at 12:45. PPG. Jackson Burke (7) from Colby Gamache (21) and Eric DesRuisseaux (10).

2nd Kingswood at 14:55. Even. Nick Potenza unassisted.

3rd Kingswood at 0:15. Even. Nick Potenza from Jack Thompson.

3rd Kingswood at 4:24. Even. Nick Potenza unassisted.

3rd Kingswood at 5:53. Even. Colby Clegg unassisted.

3rd Kingswood at 7:30. Even. Logan McEvoy from Cody Emerson and Nick Potenza.

3rd Goffstown at 11:31. Even. Grady Chretien (31) from Colby Gamache (22).

Special Teams:

Goffstown Power Play: 1 for 3.

Kingswood Power Play: 0 for 1.

Saves:

Goffstown: Jake Webber 24 of 29. (37:23)

Goffstown: James Amorelli  8 of 8. (7:30)

Kingswood: Oleg Sheahan 43 of 49. (45:00)

Standings: Boys Ice Hockey Division II

NOTE: The following are not official NHIAA standings. They are only the accumulation of game results as reported by the athletic directors and coaches.

Click here to view the schedules for all of the teams below.

Sage Page

(Sage Photo)

~ Thank you Maureen, your photos are fantastic!

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The beginning of every article. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2017.