Written by Happy New Year!!! Welcome to the year, 2022. Here in hockey land we only know one way to start a new year, and that is to spend some time at a local ice rink. Today it was the great old barn in Concord, NH for a game between the 2010 Flames and the Concord Capitals.
We arrived to a packed house in Concord, literally. The ice was full of public skaters and the stands full of their friends and families. The concession stand was fulfilling orders and the ice was covered with people. There was quite a layer of white snow covering the ice surface from all the traffic on the ice. Put all of that together and it was an awesome atmosphere in which to start a brand new year. Our team parents visited with one another as the skaters glided into 2022. Snacks, drinks, conversation, and laughter were the ingredients to the pre-game wait for the afternoon game. The Zamboni driver, recognizing the ice status, put 20-plus minutes into resurfacing the ice to get the sheet ready for a hockey game. Well done. I love that attention to detail and to the integrity of the game.
The 2010 Flames came out with decent energy but they were not quite dialed in. They were wide right, wide left, too high, too low, in most of their scoring attempts during the opening period. Travis Ingalls played well in the opening period for the Flames while the offense was working out the kinks. The Capitals scored to take a 1-0 lead when they won an offensive zone face-off and slipped a quick wrist shot past Ingalls. The Flames trailed 1-0 after one.
The Flames opened up a huge shooting lane for this power play goal scored by the Capitals. (Photo by LiveBarn)
The Capitals scored the next two goals as well, to take a 3-0 lead in the middle period. Then the Flames were able to get more of their chances to the net, and that success also put a little pep in their step. Then the Flames broke the ice with a goal on a really nice play. Brayden Gillies helped keep the play alive at center ice when Logan McCain tipped a pass forward to Cam Desruisseaux. Cam attacked the offensive zone with Gavin Petrie on his right wing. Desruisseaux slid the puck to Petrie at the right moment and Gavin fired a shot inside the post to get the Flames on the board. Minutes later, Logan McCain held the left point and stole the Capitals’ clearing attempt before firing a shot from the left wing boards. McCain’s shot found had good pace and found an opening through the five-hole for another Flames goal. On the next shift, Gillies won a puck along the left wing boards and slid it to Andy Soucy who cut to the middle. Teddy Beal was right next to Soucy and when the puck slid ahead of Soucy toward Beal’s forehand, Teddy ripped a shot just inside the near post to tie the game at, 3-3. The second period ended with the score tied, 3-3.
The Flames took a penalty early in the third period, and the Capitals cashed in quickly. When the home team won the offensive zone face-off back to one of the big boys, the Flames D parted like the Red Sea. This strategy left Will to fend for himself. Will got a glove on the shot, but the puck found the net, and the Capitals led again, 4-3. Shortly after this goal, the Flames answered with a goal of their own. The Flames had swarmed the offensive end for a moment when Cam Desruisseaux tipped a shot from Caleb Powers into the net to tie the game at, 4-4. Two shifts later, Finley Dunn took a carom off of Garrett Warren from her own defensive end and rushed the length of the ice with the puck. She flipped a backhand shot at the net which skipped off of the goalie’s pads and came back to Dunn who had circled toward the net. Dunn took her own rebound and slipped the puck into the net, giving the Flames a 5-4 lead in the game.
The Flames followed that goal with another shift that led to a point blank chance but the shot was turned away. Then things got a bit feisty. After some physicality around the net, the officials had called matching penalties. When one of the players penalized was skating off he got a stick in between the legs of a Flames player. The stick was in a rather uncomfortable place from the looks of things and the player took exception to the whole ordeal and flipped the stick out of harm’s way, which resulted in a retaliation type penalty against the Flames. So the Capitals went on the power play. The Flames killed the penalty and kept applying pressure. Finally, the Capitals pulled their goalie for the extra attacker, but they never actually put a 6th skater on the ice. The Flames held on to win in a comeback fashion, 5-4.
Enjoy the pictures. Click on them to open them up and zoom in.
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- The symmetry of design always intrigues me at Everett Arena.
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- Flames and Capitals line up after an intense and exciting game up in Concord.
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- Flames at the bench via the team drone.
Enjoy the pictures. Click on them to open them up and zoom in.
Team scoring: New Year’s Day at Douglas N. Everett Arena in Concord.
Capitals: 1-2-1 = 4
Flames: 0-3-2 = 5
Flames scoring: Petrie from Desruisseaux and McCain, McCain unassisted, Beal from Soucy and Gillies, Desruisseaux from Powers, Dunn from Warren.
Travis Ingalls (1 goal allowed) led things off and left the game a little earlier that he would have liked after a hard shot to the mask in the second period. Travis made some big saves while he was in the game. Will Rosenbeck (3 goals allowed) played the second portion of the game and made some big saves for the Flames, allowing the team to come back and have a chance to win.