Written by It was -15F in Wolfeboro when the 2010 Flames arrived at Pop Whalen Arena early Saturday morning. The cold temperatures didn’t hinder the Flames but it did do a number on the Zamboni. Later on Saturday night the Flames visited Tri-Town Arena for a game with the Monarchs for 113th time this season. Sunday afternoon the folks from Berlin made the long trek south for a battle with the Flames at West Side Arena.
The Zamboni froze up and the outer ring was clean, but that was it. Well, clean after some old fashioned shoveling. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
The 2010 Flames were warm enough in the locker room up in Wolfeboro to skate back home with a 5-0 win against the Back Bay Indians. Back Bay keeps getting better and better, but the Flames were able to string together some nice plays and put a few pucks in the net. The pre-game didn’t go so well though, when the Zamboni’s auger froze solid and left some big chunks of snow all over the ice. After some shovels were handed out the ice was mostly clear. That rink is one of the colder ones you’ll find around NH and the colder temperatures outside definitely did not help the situation inside.
The Flames scored a pair of goals in the opening period and never looked back. Before that though, Travis Ingalls made a few key saves right out of the gate that kept the Indians off of the board, otherwise things could have gone very different. Finley Dunn dumped the puck in deep so the Flames could change up. The puck hit the end boards and Cam Desruisseaux stole the puck right off of the Back Bay defender and slid a shot into the net to give the Flames a 1-0 lead. About one minute later, Garrett Warren tapped in a goal after Sean McGee and Cam Desruisseaux worked the puck low, and then to the front of the net. The Flames would hold the lead at 2-0 after the first period of play.
Garrett attempts a shot from the slot up at Back Bay. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
There was only one goal scored in the second period. The goal came when the Indians were trying to clear the puck out of the zone along the wall where Caleb Powers stepped in from the point and controlled the puck. He rather innocently fired a wrist shot toward the net and the puck bounced on a short hop in front of the goalie, and found the far side of the net for a Flames goal. Will Rosenbeck made a nice save against an odd-man rush for Back Bay to keep the score at 3-0 after two periods.
Early in the final period, Will made another huge save on a point blank chance against the Flames who had one defenseman caught way up ice. Shortly after that, Logan McCain just flat tripped a Back Bay forward, but it wasn’t called. The trip also took out Teddy Beal who pushed the puck ahead on his way down to the ice with the Indian forward. Alex Panitz took the puck at his own goal line and decided to lug it out of his own end. With Beal, Soucy, and Casimiro all out in front of him, like blockers, Panitz skated in and scored to give the Flames a 4-0 lead. The 2010 Flames scored their final goal when Gavin Petrie collected a rebound from a Brayden Gillies shot and wrapped it around the boards behind the net. Logan McCain stepped in to keep the puck in, and passed to Gillies in the low circle. Gillies threw a pass into the crease and Cam Desruisseaux slammed the puck into the net. Manchester held the lead as it was, 5-0 and earned a nice road win in the process.
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- Casimiro looks for somewhere to shoot the puck at Back Bay. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
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- Desruisseaux begs to differ that no angle is a bad angle. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
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- Soucy lets a shot fly against the Indians at Wolfeboro. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
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- I broke out the drone for this shot of three Flames looking for a missing contact lens in the corner. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
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- Hey Will! (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
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- Will makes a save on this breakaway bid. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
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- This is a great old barn but funds are being raised to turn this into a modern facility, that can be used all year round. The architect renderings look pretty cool. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
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- The Flames gather with one another to celebrate a road victory to start their weekend. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
On Saturday night, the 2010 Flames visited the Monarchs for a game with their very familiar foe. It was the second game of the day for the Flames, and against a team that knows our team just about as well as we do. These games are tough ones to keep winning. The Monarchs are not a bad team, but the Flames have had their number thus far this season. As kids roll, you never know what version of a kids team you are going to get on any given day or night. The Flames found themselves trailing, 1-0 on the very first shift of the game. The Monarchs continued to press the action for the entire game. To the Flames credit, they responded and shut down the Monarchs for the rest of the night. Travis Ingalls left the game with 5:01 left in the opening period with a lower body injury. He skated off just after the Flames tied the game on a goal from Cam Desruisseaux assisted by Alex Panitz. Will Rosenbeck came in and played very well for the balance of the game. Finally, in the 3rd period, the Flames on the power play, they took the lead, 2-1. Cam Desruisseaux won an offensive zone face-off to Gavin Petrie who fed a quick pass to Logan McCain at the left point. McCain’s shot was a good hard one but it missed just wide of the left post. The puck bounced hard off of the kick plate and came to Jacob Casimiro outside the right post. Casimiro took a one-touch quick shot toward the net. The goalie made a nice pad save but the puck bounced toward the slot where Desruisseaux had glided into position. He wasted no time, shooting the puck into the net before the goaltender could get back to cover the other post. Flames led, 2-1 on a very nice hockey play. There was still 10:59 left to play in the game. Rosenbeck made a great save later in the period against a 2-on-1 break and the Flames held on for the 2-1 win.
I did not take any pictures of the Monarchs game as it’s a tough rink to take pictures in. Plus, I was running back and forth to the north rink to watch the Goffstown varsity game against Bishop Brady. Either way, the Flames were outworked for long stretches of the game and still found a way to win the game. A credit to both teams.
McGee scores for the Flames against Berlin. This shot actually hit the handle of the goaltenders stick and went in. Also, maybe the best goalie pads in the league. Tretiak model? (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
Sunday afternoon the Flames got to ease into a home game at West Side Arena against the Berlin Sabres who had to make the long ride down from the Northern Woods. The 2010 Flames will return the favor by traveling up there on February 6th. I commented in our team chat during the game, that “Berlin can skate”. That they can. They had a few players that could turn and burn and beat everyone up the ice. This was a good, well played, well-paced game.
There was no score after one period, but there was a lot of action. The Flames killed two penalties in the period, the first of which, I remarked that Travis Ingalls had pretty much killed that first penalty by himself. He made a bundle of saves and gave the Sabres nothing to shoot at in close. Berlin also killed a penalty in the opening period by not allowing the Flames any good shots.
Travis makes a save, giving the opponent nothing to shoot at. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
Sean McGee got the Flames on the board with an unassisted goal early in the second period. The Flames made their change in net, with Will Rosenbeck coming to play the second half of the game. Unfortunately for Will the Sabres scored right away on a quick, low shot the tucked inside the far post. The timing of the shot looked like it might have surprised Rosenbeck a bit. Moments later, Will showed he was on his game with a big save in tight, while Berlin was shorthanded. The game would flow to the third period with the score knotted at, 1-1.
Berlin took a penalty early in the third, but killed the man advantage. Then with the Flames making an ill-timed defensive line change, Berlin skated in on a clean 2-on-1 scoring opportunity. Rosenbeck denied the chance with a great save to hold the score at, 1-1. Moments later, on a fortuitous line change for the Flames, Teddy Beal skated in, stole the puck from a Sabre defender and ripped a shot past the goalie to give the Flames a 2-1 lead. On the next possession Berlin took the puck right to the net but Rosenbeck made another great save. Right off of the save, the Flames turned the puck up ice and Beal threw a pass to open ice where Sean McGee collected it in the left wing circle in the offensive end, and he spun while making a perfect pass at the same time. The puck hit the slot and Cam Desruisseaux slammed the puck into the open side, and the Flames led, 3-1.
Rosenbeck made another key save as Berlin pressed the attack. The Flames took a penalty but they killed it. However, damage was done as Berlin scored just after the penalty expired, to cut the lead back to one goal, at 3-2. There was 1:29 left in the game. Berlin got their goaltender pulled for an extra attacker and the net was empty. Cam Desruisseaux broke up the play at center ice and the puck was scooped up by Teddy Beal who didn’t realize the net was empty. He crossed the blue line in traffic and through a screen put a shot on net, which of course went in because the net was in fact empty. This gave the Flames a 4-2 advantage and the game would end with the score not changing. Like I said earlier, it was a very good game, and the Flames found a way to put up three goals in the final period to get the victory.
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- Berlin was not afraid to take the puck right to the net. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
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- Travis played it cool, just cutting angles and making saves despite the mayhem. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
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- I am not a strategist, but I do know that coaches don’t score goals, but they do have their bench outnumbered. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
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- Alex gets back on defense and forces the offensive player to make a move to one side or the other. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
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- Soucy was pressured on every stride and this small window of opportunity for a shot closed quickly. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
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- During the “Tell me your best joke” portion of the intermission, Coach Nick can’t hide his reaction, knowing he had not heard that one before. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
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- Travis makes a save while checking the air space for my missing drone. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
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- Coach counts the number of points he wants to make. Andy dreams of distant vacations. Petrie thinks he spotted my drone. Couch Soucy gives directions to a random passerby who wandered onto the ice. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
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- Will simply speaks with his actions, and his actions say, “Look Ma, no hands.” (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
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- Casimiro was one of several Flames who had a great weekend. Here he steps into a shot that the goalie ended up getting a piece of. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
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- Hey you can’t save them all. Berlin manufactured a few breakaway chances, and this one found the net. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
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- This picture sounded something like this. Good game, good game, nice pads, good game, how many coaches do you have? good game, good game, Isn’t Berlin in Germany? good game, eh. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
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- Early in the 3rd period, Vegas had projected the final score to be, 10-1 for Berlin. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
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- But the Flames held their course, took advantage of the opponents short bench (not counting coaches) and pulled off this miraculous final score. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2022.
Team scoring: Saturday morning.
Back Bay: 0-0-0 = 0
Flames: 2-1-2 = 5
Flames scoring: Desruisseaux unassisted, Warren from McGee and Desruisseaux, Powers unassisted, Panitz from Beal, Desruisseaux from Gillies and McCain.
Travis Ingalls and Will Rosenbeck combined to lead the Flames to another shutout victory. Both goaltenders made keys saves, early and late to not only give the Flames a chance to take the lead, but to also earn another shutout win.
Team scoring: Saturday night.
Monarchs: 1-0-0 = 1
Flames: 1-0-1 = 2
Flames scoring: Desruisseaux from Panitz, Desruisseaux from Casimiro and McCain.
Travis Ingalls (1 goal allowed) and Will Rosenbeck (0 goals allowed) got out of Dodge with a 2-1 win. Ingalls came up lame in the first period and Will took it from there. That is what team is about.
Team scoring: Sunday afternoon.
Berlin: 0-1-1 = 2
Flames: 0-1-3 = 4
Flames scoring: McGee unassisted, Beal unassisted, Desruisseaux from McGee and Beal, Beal from Desruisseaux.
Travis Ingalls (0 goals allowed) and Will Rosenbeck (2 goals allowed) teamed up to backstop the Flames to nice against a good Berlin team.