Move The Puck – Goffstown 6 vs. Timberlane 2

January 7, 2023 – Grizzlies move the puck in win over Owls –

It was my fourth visit to a rink in the same day. I was in desperate need of watching some good puck movement by a team I was vested in. When I left Rochester on Wednesday night, I was thinking, “too much running around”. On Saturday night I was pleasantly surprised by how well Goffstown was able to move the puck.

Austin Campbell gets the Grizzlies on the board. (Jen Webber Photography)

I recall talking to Coach Brown of Timberlane last season after a game, and commending him and his team for playing hard right to the final whistle regardless of the score. The Owls lost their varsity program for a couple of seasons due to dwindling numbers of players in their school district actually committing to play for their high school team. Yes, they are continuing to rebuild and they may not win many games this season, but they keep playing for the full 45 minutes.

On Saturday night, Timberlane had a short bench and they faced a Goffstown team that is young(er) than several teams they have presented on the ice in many years. It might be a difficult idea to prove on paper, that they are young, when they have 9 seniors who will receive a varsity letter in hockey this season. When the 2021 and 2022 graduating classes from Goffstown hockey included 32 wins in goal, and the greatest scorer in school history, including 7 players who played at least 70 varsity games in their careers, you start to realize that many of this years seniors are really 2nd season, full-time varsity players.

This is how high school sports work. It’s literally a new team every single season. And the greats come and go, but the voids always need filling. Greatness is available to many, but the work ethic chosen in order to attain the lofty perches in a school’s history doesn’t often come together within a player or a group of players in the very small window of a high school career. I am not condemning anyone here on their work ethic, I just know that it’s not strictly a talent equation.

Sometimes when the Grizzlies move the puck, it’s just Bibaud cashing in on a scoring chance. (Jen Webber Photography)

So, here we have it, the 2022-2023 hockey season. The Grizzlies have finished NHIAA play with a 15-17-1 record over the last two seasons combined. Will they beat the powers in D-II hockey this year? Probably not often. But that’s not a given. What if this group does already contain the next “Great Grizzlies Hockey players”? It is there for the taking. Dominating each and every of the coming seconds you are blessed to live through, is one way to start making a difference in your trajectory, and your teams’ trajectory.

Back to the game. The Grizzlies came out and dominated the possession game right off the bat. They were able to move the puck with tremendous effectiveness. Some might say, well that’s because they were playing a team that might finish at the bottom of the league standings. I say, that to move the puck effectively, you first must make a conscious decision to move the puck, to be unselfish, to engage your teammates and to make one good hockey play after another.

The Grizzlies scored first when Brennan Pierce (not on the ice when the puck hit the twine) made a simple pass from behind his own net to keep the puck moving. The puck slid to Xavier Bibaud who carried the puck up ice with a sense of urgency. Could he have ‘head-manned’ the puck? Maybe. But if you want the puck on a regular basis perhaps you should skate with the ‘hair on fire’ urgency that Bibaud does.

Xavier carried the puck into the offensive zone and lost the handle for a moment. He regained control and sent a pass to the slot where Austin Campbell received the puck and fired a shot into the net with an Owl defender setting a bit of a screen. Campbell from Bibaud and Pierce.

Zack Tarrier scored from the slot on a great feed from Jake Klardie who was behind the goal line below the circle. Bibaud had wrapped the puck hard along the boards from the left point and Klardie took possession and fired a pass to Tarrier who was moving with the flow of the play toward the net. It was a very nice play. Move the puck and players move with it. Tarrier from Klardie and Bibaud.

‘Grizzlies’ or ‘Goffstown’ across your chest. Lined up as a team because you deserve to be called a Goffstown Grizzlie hockey player. Standing together, win or lose. It’s a great place to be, playing hockey for Goffstown. (Jen Webber Photography)

The first period ended with the Grizzlies holding a 2-0 lead and also getting 11 shots on net while allowing only 4 shots against Ethan Santoro in net.

The Grizzlies scored another pair of goals in the middle period while outshooting the Owls, 15-4. There were no penalties called over the first two periods.

Goffstown’s third goal was scored directly off of a face-off win in the offensive zone. Dylan Ellbeg was outstanding on the dot all night. That is, he won a very high percentage of the face-offs he took. On this particular one, he won the puck to Nick Caldwell who was the left side D-man on the play. Caldwell ripped a shot through some traffic and found the net just inside the nearside post for a 3-0 lead. Caldwell from Ellbeg.

Late in the second period, Zack Tarrier bagged his second goal of the game on a great individual play and a beautiful burst of speed. The Grizzlies lost a defensive zone face-off and Timberlane’s left D might have second guessed his idea to make a D to D pass while he was still making the pass. Because the puck was kind of fumbled off of his stick as Tarrier had read the pass and was already in the passing lane. Zack took the puck and flew the zone, beating everyone down the ice. He deked, went backhand and put the puck in the net. 4-0, Tarrier unassisted.

At the end of the second intermission one of the officials returned to the ice and skated to the booth, commenting on the Zamboni just finishing the ice and the amount of water on the ice sheet. We had noticed the same thing. Then, 11 seconds into the period, the Owls struck for their first goal.

Timberlane won the face-off and dumped the puck into the offensive zone. Corbin Huntley was back for the Grizzlies and played the puck without any hesitation or pressure. He looked like he probably would work the puck to his D partner Brennan Pierce to break the puck out against the fore-check. But that’s when the puck stopped in a puddle of water and before Huntley could recover, Slater O’Connor had the puck for Timberlane.

Dylan Desruisseaux hustled back to break up O’Connor’s bid but the puck went right to Jack Condon outside the crease and Condon put the puck past Santoro. 4-1, Condon from O’Connor and maybe the puddle too.

When the team is able to move the puck effectively on offense, then the defense and the goaltender get a breather now and then, allowing for optimum team performance. (Jen Webber Photography)

At 3:08 of the final period, the Grizzlies answered with another goal. Xavier Bibaud poke checked the puck to center ice as Timberlane tried to enter the offensive zone. Gavin Diodati was along the boards where he quickly corralled the puck and had the good sense to chip it ahead to Bibaud who was flying up the ice already. Xavier got to the circle, angled right and lifted a shot over Sanseverino’s shoulder and into the top corner where grandma hides the homemade cookies. Grizzlies led, 5-1. Bibaud from Diodati.

Goffstown added a final goal at 11:33 of the final period, which was another example of what their offense can look like when they move the puck. Zack Tarrier had the puck along the end boards and cut quickly to the crease area and tried to stuff the puck in the net at the nearside post. Sanseverino was equal to the task and kicked the puck out to the high slot. Brennan Pierce stretched out to move the puck back toward Tarrier with poke of his stick. Instead, the puck ended up on Jake Klardie’s blade and he made no mistake with a low hard shot inside the post.

Move the puck, get better chances. 6-1. Klardie from Pierce and Tarrier.

Timberlane kept playing hockey even though there were less than four minutes to play in a 6-1 game

Just 8 seconds later the Owls scored to make the score 6-2. Klardie had won the face-off back to Nick Caldwell who had to retreat into the D zone to collect the puck. As he did so, he slipped a pass to Brennan Pierce but the pass was a little bit wide and Pierce had to spin to control it. Instead of chipping the puck up the boards and out of the zone, Pierce made a blind pass back to Caldwell. Well, the pass connected, but onto the stick Billy Shanley of Timberlane who was on the fore-check after losing the face-off. Shanley was all alone and fired a shot over Santoro’s shoulder at point blank range. Shanley, unassisted, 6-2.

That would be it for scoring. It was a clean game with very few whistles really. Goffstown won the shots race, 39-16. The Grizzlies took the only two penalties of the game with a pair of hooking minors. Jakobi Sanseverino played well in net for the Owls but he was left to face too many Grade A chances to save them all. Ethan Santoro made 14 saves in the victory and the two goals he did allow both came on turnovers right in front of his crease.

I didn’t get to talk to Coach Brown after this game but I would have wished him well and mentioned that his team played hard, clean hockey for all 45 minutes. As it should be.

Coach Slocum smiled and said to me after the game, “Hey, we actually can move the puck”. I agreed.

Grizzlies score off of the face-off win by Ellbeg. (Jen Webber Photography)

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.