Hockey: Goffstown 2 at Dover 7

Goffstown Gets Flooded By The Green Wave

Dover scored just 22 seconds into the game, and never trailed en route to a 7-2 win over Goffstown. The win brought Dover’s record up to 6-6-1 on the season while Goffstown dropped to 8-4-1. Dover won the D-II Title in OT last season and despite a record that might appear to be lackluster, they are a very good team. They opened the season by playing 7 of their first 10 games against teams that are currently in the top 4 of the division and the top team in D-III.

I was unable to get out to Dover on Saturday to cover the game against the defending champs. After looking at the score sheet, and watching the game on two different forms of video, I can confirm that Dover beat Goffstown, 7-2.

What really impressed me is the way that Dover looked to pass the puck, they scored all of their goals at even strength, and that nine different players were on the score sheet. They attacked quickly and moved the puck low to high, and east to west. Basically, wherever there was an open player, they got the puck to that player. Good teams often separate themselves most noticeably by exposing their opponents’ bad positioning or mistakes. Dover did that all day. A Goffstown defensive player stayed too high and Dover went low and scored. A bad pinch from the Grizzlies turned into a nice outlet pass and an odd-man rush for Dover. If Goffstown took away the back door pass, the Green Wave attacked the front door on the near post side. And vice~versa.

Dover goaltender, Vinnie Ciccotelli made a save on a long shot/dump in from Luc Ouellette out at center ice, and pushed a pass over to Parker Fleury. It was just an innocent play that most folks wouldn’t look at twice. What happened next had me look at the play more than twice. Fleury carried the puck up the left-wing boards, through some light traffic before hitting top speed. As he cruised into the offensive end he was challenged out wide and too high from a Goffstown stand point and brilliantly turned the corner toward the net. As he down shifted at the bottom of the circle, shifting to his forehand (right shot) he whipped a perfectly aimed shot into the nearside top corner of the net. He hit the only spot open to him, up where Grandma saves the best snacks for her grandchildren. Goffstown trailed, 1-0 just 22 seconds into the game. They would hold off Dover for the remainder of the period and were only outshot by a 10-8 margin.

Austin Campbell gets his first career goal out at Dover Arena. (Photo from LiveBarn Holt Rink)

In the second period, Dover struck for 4 goals, including a hat trick from Caleb Marasca. They attacked the front of the net with passes to open spaces, aggressive cuts to the net, and tapping in perfect set ups. Oddly enough, the only goal the Green Wave allowed in the period came while they were on the power play. Luc Ouellette broke up an exchange at the Dover defensive blue line and skated in alone to sneak a shot past Ciccotelli. At the time, it cut the lead to 3-1 for Dover. However, the home team pumped in a pair of goals in the last 3:06 of the period to put the game away.

In the final period, Dover added a pair of goals wrapped around one goal from Goffstown. The Grizzlies’ goal came on a really nice pass from Nick DiMarzio to Austin Campbell. It was Campbell’s first career goal and it came at 7:56 of the third period, making the score, 6-2. Jake Klardie carried the puck up the left-wing boards and met some resistance as he crossed the offensive blue line. DiMarzio was right there in support and he made a quick diagonal pass to Campbell who had continued skating a straight line to the net. The pass was on the mark and found Campbell who was ready to slap the puck into the net all in one motion. It was pretty sweet as first career goals go. Dover added a goal with 50 seconds left in the game and earned their 7-2 win.

Goffstown jumps from the frying pan and into the fire when they return home for two games next week. They play the undefeated St. Thomas Saints on Monday night at 7:30 pm. Then they get to play #2 Oyster River on Wednesday night at 7:30 pm.

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.