Hockey: Goffstown Grizzlies Win 2 out of 3 to Start the New Year

Goffstown started the New Year with a pair of home games at Sullivan Arena. It is always good to be hosting games at one of the best facilities in the state. The Grizzlies have been tough to beat on their home ice over the years. On Monday night (1-3-22), the Grizzlies played host to the Manchester Kings. The Kings were not impressed by Goffstown’s home record in recent years.

Goffstown was more than gracious in the opening period, allowing the Kings free reign of the offensive zone to the tune of 21 shots on goal. Somehow, after the opening period onslaught, the Grizzlies only trailed the Kings, 2-1. Goffstown scored on the power play when Brennan Pierce took off on an individual rush after taking the Manchester clearing attempt at center ice and weaving his way in to the zone for a clean shot on goal. That was just about all of the offense that Goffstown could generate on the night. The Grizzlies were much more attentive to their defensive end as far as shots allowed were concerned, allowing only 14 shots over the final two periods. Unfortunately, Manchester was able to put 3 more goals on the board, including one on their power play.

The Grizzlies and Kings tangled the week before in the Brian C. Stone Memorial Christmas Tournament, and Goffstown lost that game, 6-2. Goffstown led that game, 2-1 after the first period. What I saw on video from the Christmas tournament, and again on Monday night was a Goffstown team that just allowed a very good skating team too much time and space to do whatever they wanted to do with the puck. Two games and the Grizzlies allowed 64 shots on goal while only creating 27 shots for themselves. Manchester got their first win of the regular season, 5-1 over the home team.

 

 

On Wednesday night (1-5-22) the Grizzlies played host to the Admirals from Alvirne-Milford. In the last two seasons, Goffstown had beaten the Admirals, 7-3, 8-3, and 8-1. Then again, these are new teams in a new year, and what has happened in the past is just something to talk about. Goffstown did a much better job of imposing their own will against Alvirne-Milford, spending time in the offensive zone while hitting double digits in shots on goal in each of the three periods. As a matter of fact, the Grizzlies were able to outshoot the Admirals by a 44-17 clip on the night. Perhaps the score could have been more one-sided based on the number of offensive opportunities that Goffstown had.

Luc Ouellette scored on a pass from Brennan Pierce to give Goffstown a 1–0 lead. After the Admirals had tied the score on a goal from Dylan Greenlaw early in the second period, the home team scored a pair of power play goals. Ouellette scored his second of the night on a nice move in the high slot and a quick shot that hit goaltender, Trent Scarbro, but got through to the net. Then, 95 seconds later, on another power play, Luc made a nice pass to Pierce, cross ice. Pierce patiently waited for a seam to open and fed a beautiful pass to Brandon Bograd in the slot. Bograd made no mistake and ripped the shot, bar-down for the Grizzlies goal. It was a beautiful play.

Alvirne-Milford scored late in the period, Braydon Atwood from Greenlaw, and the score was 3-2 after two. Goffstown scored their fourth and final goal of the game at 9:07 of the third, when Bograd won an offensive zone face-off back to Xavier Bibaud at the right point.

Bibaud let a quick, hard wrist shot fly through traffic that found the nylon strings at the back of the net. Jake Webber earned with win in net, saving 15 of 17 shots.

 

Saturday night (1-8-22), the Grizzlies rode out to The Rinks at Exeter for a tilt with Winnacunnet. The parking lot was full and overflowing. The concourse, and rinks were packed with people as Exeter was hosting Pinkerton on one rink, and Winnacunnet hosting Goffstown on the other. The Grizzlies played on what I call the West Rink as it’s on the western end of the building. It’s not the rink with the scoreboard hanging over center ice. It’s also not the rink with our American Flag displayed in it. This needs to be corrected. If we are playing our anthem in this rink, there should also be Old Glory in there for everyone to see, maybe now more than ever. Despite the anthem being played and everyone wondering where to look, multiple clock malfunctions, and puddles of water on the ice to start each period, a high school hockey game was eventually completed.

 

The opening period featured exactly zero goals, and one penalty, yet the period seemed to take an hour to play (it was more like 35 minutes). Goffstown played a soft defensive period, giving the Warriors room to break out of their own end and gain speed entering the offensive end. Winnacunnet had 10 shots on goal in the opening period, to Goffstown’s 9 shots. There was no score after one period with both goaltenders being busy but solid. In the second period, the Grizzlies were much more aggressive with their forecheck and physicality and that made a huge difference. Goffstown scored twice in the period while allowing only 5 shots on goaltender, Ethan Santoro. The Grizzlies got on the board when Luc Ouellette swiped the puck from his own end and raced up the left-wing with his brother, Max on his right.

Luc hit top speed and fired a low, hard shot that found the net for the unassisted goal. Late in the second period, L. Ouellette struck again. This time, Max Ouellette led the rush, passed up a shot to feed Brandon Bograd on his right. Bograd took a good shot but Owen Helton made the save. The save left a rebound though, and it came right to Luc Ouellette who was third man high on the play, and Luc pounded the puck into the net, giving Goffstown a 2-0 lead after two periods.

 

 

Goffstown’s difficulty clearing the puck from their own end continued to haunt them and led to both goals against in the third period. Winnacunnet scored first in the final period to cut into the lead, Santoro wasn’t able to hold onto a glove save, and the rebound fell in the crease where Noah Andronaco tapped it into the net. Goffstown answered less than a minute later, when Luc Ouellette capped off his first career hat trick.

The MLB Line of Max, Luc, Brandon were swarming the net with passes and shots. Max fed a puck from Gretzky’s Office out to Brandon in the slot for a point-blank shot that Helton stopped. The puck trickled off the goaltender and into the crease near the post where Luc punched it into the net, giving Goffstown a 3-1 lead with less than 5 minutes to play. The Warriors answered that goal quickly, just 21 seconds later. After a bounce, a kick, and a stick, the puck was in the back of the net. Cooper Kinnaly scored the goal with 4:16 remaining in the game. Goffstown had a chance to answer another goal quickly but Luc Ouellette’s slapshot in transition rang off of the crossbar and stayed out of the net and subsequent shot in close was saved by Helton. Winnacunnet took a penalty with 1:54 left in the game which helped the Grizzlies cause. Helton made a pair of excellent saves to give the Warriors a chance but they could not get anymore shots on Ethan Santoro in net for Goffstown. Helton was pulled from the net with 45 seconds left in the game but the Grizzlies kept the puck from any dangerous areas and they held on for the win. It was Santoro’s first career win in net for Goffstown. Goffstown had 29 shots on goal to Winnacunnet’s 21. Goffstown improved to 3-2 in league play, while Winnacunnet fell to 1-4.

 

 

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NHIAA Hockey:

Updated records.

Goffstown (1-2-0) vs. Manchester (1-1-0)

Sullivan Arena, St. Anselm College, Goffstown, NH

Monday, January 03, 2022. 7:15 PM Start:

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Summary:

Goals:

Goffstown: 1-0-0 = 1

Manchester: 2-1-2 = 5

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Shots:

Goffstown: 03-05-05 = 13

Manchester: 21-06-08 = 35

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Scoring:

1st Manchester at 5:22. Even. Joe Velez from Lukas Tafe and Connor Cunningham.

1st Manchester at 11:10. Even. Parker Burgess from Nick Duclos and Colin Fields.

1st Goffstown at 13:03. PPG. Brennan Pierce (2) unassisted.

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2nd Manchester at 13:11. Even. Colin Fields from Parker Burgess and Aiden Kelley.

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3rd Manchester at 3:27. PPG. Owen Kelley from Lukas Tafe and Joe Velez.

3rd Manchester at 8:36. Even. Parker Burgess from Lukas Tafe and Joe Velez.

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 Special Teams:

Goffstown Power Play: 1 for 2.

Manchester Power Play: 1 for 2.

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Saves:

Goffstown: Ethan Santoro  30 of 35 (.857). (45:00)

Manchester: Landon Wilson 12 of 13 (.923). (45:00)

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*Jen Cheney Memorial Scholarship and Sportsmanship Award (awarded each season)

As a sixteen-year-old junior, Jen was a manager for the very first Goffstown Grizzlies hockey team in the 1999-2000 club season. Her infectious smile and friendly nature was a joy for everyone fortunate to know her. Jen is now our eternal team angel. The spirit of Jen lives on…our team champions an angel memorial patch sewn to each uniform jersey.

On Thursday, May 18th, 2000, Jen was killed by a drunk driver. We are dedicated to memorialize Jen’s life with the Jen Cheney Memorial Scholarship and Sportsmanship Award. But we also want to deliver a message from our team angel… simply…if you choose to drink, don’t drive.

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NHIAA Hockey:

Updated records.

Goffstown (2-2-0) vs. Alvirne-Milford (0-2-0)

Sullivan Arena, St. Anselm College, Goffstown, NH

Wednesday, January 05, 2022. 7:15 PM Start:

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Summary:

Goals:

Goffstown: 1-2-1 = 4

Alvirne-Milford: 0-2-0 = 2

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Shots:

Goffstown: 12-18-14 = 44

Alvirne-Milford: 07-04-06 = 17

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Scoring:

1st Goffstown at 4:59. PPG. Luc Ouellette (3) from Brennan Pierce (5).

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2nd Alvirne-Milford at 2:38. Even. Dylan Greenlaw from Cade Bouchard and Sal Pace.

2nd Goffstown at 6:35. PPG. Luc Ouellette (4) from Xavier Bibaud (4).

2nd Goffstown at 8:10. PPG. Brandon Bograd (2) from Luc Ouellette (2) and Brennan Pierce (6).

2nd Alvirne-Milford at 12:04. Even. Braydon Atwood from Dylan Greenlaw.

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3rd Goffstown at 9:07. Even. Xavier Bibaud (1) from Brandon Bograd (1).

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 Special Teams:

Goffstown Power Play: 2 for 3.

Alvirne-Milford Power Play: 0 for 3.

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Saves:

Goffstown: Jake Webber  15 of 17 (.882). (45:00)

Alvirne-Milford: Trent Scarbro 40 of 44 (.909). (43:34)

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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.