Written by The mild temperatures last night made it feel like spring in New Hampshire. It felt to me like some sort of a fresh start, or at least a welcome transition. Then, some of the air was let out of that feeling when I realized that earlier games at Conway Arena in Nashua were running well behind. Eventually the rematch between Goffstown and Hollis-Brookline Derryfield School would get underway more than an hour after the scheduled start time.
After recognizing the senior players from Hollis-Brookline Derryfield School (HBDS Warriors), there were seven of them, in a pre-game ceremony, line-ups were announced and my favorite song (Star-Spangled Banner) was sung. Like a game starting on Mountain Time, the puck was finally dropped.
I don’t know how many people in the building were aware of the one thing that was on everyone’s mind in GTown Nation, but the Goffstown fans watching live over the internet didn’t have to wait long for the ‘one thing’ to play out. On his very first shift of the game, Grady Chretien won a defensive zone face-off innocently enough. “Innocently enough”, just the place where so many great moments are born. Eric DesRuisseaux took the puck and chipped it ahead, up the half wall where Luc Ouellette pushed the puck softly out of the zone and in to center ice. Chretien read the play, saw the opportunity and accelerated through his gears in a hurry, passing two defenders on their right to collect the puck over on his left. Grady took the puck at full speed and dashed up the left-wing side of the ice with Calvin Sage on his right.
Grady Chretien is greeted after scoring his 100th career goal by alternate captains, Eric DesRuisseaux and Calvin Sage. (Sage Photo)
Sage drew the defender to him leaving Chretien to fire at will against Rylan Morgan in net for the Warriors. Morgan is a really good goaltender but when an all-time record breaking goal scorer is at full throttle with time and space, sometimes even goaltenders must take a back seat. Chretien shook off the stick swinging contact to his legs of Jesse Gertz and ripped a shot to Morgan’s blocker side. The shot hit the inside of the far post and slid along the inside of the twine as if a milestone of this magnitude demanded a perfect shot to seal the deal. There it was, career goal #100 of Grady Chretien’s stellar career. Calvin Sage immediately jumped in the air with his arms raised. Eric DesRuisseaux crossed the offensive blue line, following the play, with his arms raised. Luc Ouellette went to the net to bother Mr. Morgan for retrieval of the puck used in the memorable goal. The Goffstown bench went crazy. As Head Coach Ben Slocum later said about Chretien, “His team first mentality is more than any coach could ask for. An example would be after he scored his 100th goal last night, he just came to the bench and prepared himself for the next shift. Just like it was another goal. He has gained the respect of all of his teammates through his work effort and leads by example. I think that his teammates were more excited for him to score the 100th than he was.”
Chretien lines up for a face-off on a memorable night Goffstown Hockey history. (Sage Photo)
On his first shift of the night, Chretien scored to give Goffstown a 1-0 lead at 1:33 of the period. DesRuisseaux and Ouellette got the assists on the goal. The Grizzlies would not relinquish the lead enroute to a 6-2 win while playing some of their most inspired hockey of this season along the way. HBDS players hit the post twice with shots at the net in the period and twice more in the third. Jake Webber played fantastic in net for Goffstown making 12 saves in the opening period. Goffstown led 1-0 after one period.
As play continued through the second period the intensity and physicality of play escalated. Goffstown elevated their own fire to compete and took a 2-0 lead at 5:26 of the period. On the play Chretien carried the puck behind the net and made a pass back to Brennan Pierce at the right point. Pierce fired a shot wide of the net that was directed toward teammate Luc Ouellette who was tied up with HBDS defender Luke Vella. The puck caromed off of Vella, or his stick, and past Morgan into the net. It was the first goal of Pierce’s young career. Chretien had the assist and checked with Ouellette about the deflection as Luc simply pointed his stick at Pierce, meaning it was Pierce’s goal. Chretien then went to the net to retrieve the puck for Pierce to keep. A little over a minute later, Jake Webber made a huge save on a shot from Jesse Gertz who was in on a 2-on-1 with Cole Giersch. The score remained 2-0. What really lit the Grizzlies fire was a play where Calvin Sage was cross-checked to the back of the head, and Colin MacDonald was whistled for interference. Nick DiMarzio responded to the injustice done to his teammate and took a matching roughing penalty. Over the next 5+ minutes the Grizzlies allowed one goal, but scored three goals themselves.
After some back and forth play Grady Chretien gathered a loose puck at center ice, and broke into the offensive zone and through the defense. Chretien went right and flipped a backhand pass back to Luc Ouellette on his left who ripped a shot up and over Morgan to give the Grizzlies a 3-0 lead, 9:28 into the middle period. Then a little later, while everyone was distracted by Conor Sanborn cross-checking and roughing up Calvin Sage, Colby Wright made a brilliant two-line pass to Jackson Burke who skated in all alone. Rylan Morgan made a huge save on Burke’s shot to give his Warriors a thread of a chance to make a comeback. The Warriors seemed to take the cue from their goaltender and scored their first goal of the night when a puck finally bounced their way. Grady Chretien turned and fired a clearing attempt that hit teammate Corbin Huntley and bounced right to Cole Giersch in the slot and he fired a shot behind Webber in net. It was 3-1 with 2:58 left in the second. The Grizzlies continued to attack and poured on the intensity to close the period. At 14:11 of the period, Grady Chretien scored on a rebound to give the Grizzlies a 4-1 lead. Setting up the play, Brennan Pierce stepped in to keep the puck in the offensive zone and took a hit for his trouble. Chretien followed and grabbed the puck, moving to the middle of the ice and sliding the puck to Luc Ouellette on his left. Ouellette shot at point blank range and Morgan made a nice save, but the puck trickled to the end of his pad, and Chretien put the rebound in the net. Just about half a minute later the Grizzlies scored again. Brandon Bograd had just made a great puck deflection of a shot that was saved by Morgan. Then a Warrior clearing attempt was kept in the zone at the left point by Eric DesRuisseaux who wound up and pounded a slap shot toward the net. This time Bograd made an incredible puck deflection while being hit from behind in the slot. Bograd redirected DesRuisseaux’s shot and the puck found the back of the net at 14:44 of the second and the Grizzlies had a 5-1 lead. Goffstown carried the play all period and outshot the Warriors 15-8.
In the final period it was apparent pretty quickly that the Grizzlies had let their foot off of the gas pedal. At the same time, Hollis-Brookline Derryfield School picked up their play and started firing everything they could at the net. The Warriors rang two shots off of the post before scoring a goal at 1:58 of the period. Jesse Gertz won an offensive zone face-off and Cole Giersch took the puck behind the net, emerging on the other side to score a wrap around goal for HBDS. It was 5-2 with 13:02 left to play. The Warriors kept pounding shots toward the net, to the tune of 20 shots in the period overall. At one point Jacob Roy made a sweet lead pass to Quinn Silvio who was flying through center ice. Roy raised his arm in celebration as Silvio skated in all alone, but Jake Webber cut the angle and got a piece of the puck, sending it over the glass and out of play. Three minutes later, Chretien made a dash up the ice for the ages. In their own defensive end, Nick Caldwell and Andrew Skora worked to keep the puck along the boards where Grady Chretien picked up the puck behind his own goal line. Chretien proceeded to skate the puck out of the defensive end, through two slash/hooking attempts and then turned on the jets. As Chretien approached the offensive zone he skated through another slash and caused two defenders to take each other out while Grady avoided the stick thrown at him and cut to the net. As he got to the net and flipped a backhand shot up under the crossbar for his third goal of the night, the fifth of five Warrior defenders tried to stop the Chretien rush. What a rush it was.
Goffstown won the game 6-2, despite being outshot 40-29 on the night. Jake Webber was outstanding in net for the Grizzlies, making 38 saves in the win. Goffstown played with some fire and some pride it seemed, and at times they looked like the collection of talent and depth that they are. On a night when a graduating senior, soon to be legend, passed the 100 career goal mark, three other Grizzlies either scored their first career goals, or notched their first career point. That is not a bad night.
On Saturday night the Grizzlies play a home game at JFK Coliseum in Manchester against Manchester Central-West at 8pm. It will be Senior Night for the Grizzlies, a chance to recognize their senior players before their playing careers come to a close.
Please also check out this article that posted today in Hockey Night In Boston News. Great job Kevin Doyle, thank you!
100 points is amazing, but 100 goals is unheard of! (Sage Photo)
Hockey players make hockey a great sport. Hockey families make hockey the most grounded group of athletes in all of team sports. (Sage Photo)
Updated records.
Goffstown (4-7-0) vs. Hollis-Brookline Derryfield (1-1-1)
Conway Arena, Nashua, NH
Wednesday, February 24, 2021. 8:45 PM Start (One hour late)
Summary:
Goals:
Goffstown: 1-4-1 = 6
Hollis-Brookline Derryfield: 0-1-1 = 2
Shots:
Goffstown: 07-15-07 = 29
Hollis-Brookline Derryfield: 12-08-20 = 40
Scoring:
1st Goffstown at 1:33. Even. Grady Chretien (21, career goal #100) from Luc Ouellette (11) and Eric DesRuisseaux (4).
2nd Goffstown at 5:26. Even. Brennan Pierce (1, first career goal) from Grady Chretien (7).
2nd Goffstown at 9:28. Even. Luc Ouellette (4) from Grady Chretien (8).
2nd Hollis-Brookline Derryfield at 12:02. Even. Cole Giersch unassisted.
2nd Goffstown at 14:11. Even. Grady Chretien (22) from Luc Ouellette (12) and Brennan Pierce (2).
2nd Goffstown at 14:44. Even. Brandon Bograd (1, first career goal) from Eric DesRuisseaux (5).
3rd Hollis-Brookline Derryfield at 1:58. Even. Cole Giersch from Jesse Gertz.
3rd Goffstown at 12:43. Even. Grady Chretien (23) from Andrew Skora (5) and Nick Caldwell (1, first career point).
Special Teams:
Goffstown Power Play: 0 for 2.
Hollis-Brookline Derryfield Power Play: 0 for 1.
Saves:
The beginning of every article. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2017.
The thoughts and opinions expressed here are those of the individual contributors, mostly mine, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the schools, coaches, players, or characters listed in any of these blog posts. Or, maybe they do, but you would have to ask them directly.
Either way, “It’s a great day for hockey” ~ the late “Badger” Bob Johnson.