Hockey: Opening Night Win – Goffstown 6 vs. Alvirne-Milford 3

December 17, 2022 – Opening Night Win – St. Anselm College – Goffstown, NH –

It is a brand new season and many people have ideas on how this season may go, but the beauty is that the games still must be played. Do we ever really know? Maybe. Since games are only played one at a time, G-Town-Nation might as well celebrate the fact that Goffstown opened with a 6-3 opening night win to start their season.

 

 

 

Well, this is a bit different for me. I wasn’t at this game. As a matter of fact it was the first opening night game I have missed in 8 years. My daughter had her Christmas figure skating show, so I was at a different local rink while this game was being played. And that even went longer than this game did.

Anyways, I have looked at a lot of video, done the stats (as you can see below), and now it’s story time.

It’s a new season and the schools have their reputations and hockey programs, but no two teams are ever the same. Personnel changes, kids, parents, coaches all have multi-faceted lives going on. Scenarios, commitments, and emotions ebb and flow. What does this mean? It means that you just never know.

On Saturday night, December 17th, 2022, the Alvirne-Milford Admirals played the Goffstown Grizzlies at Sullivan Arena. Let the games begin!

Early on the Grizzlies were chasing the puck, chasing their positioning, and even chasing a hit or two which left them out of position. The Admirals were able to get a handful of decent shots on Jake Webber and even got their first of seven power play opportunities on the night.

But that’s where things started to turn for the Grizzlies, believe it or not. Brandon Bograd got in a shooting lane while killing the penalty and Brennan Levesque’s shot hit Bograd and bounced toward the blue line and center ice beyond. Bograd put it in high gear right away and streaked up the ice with Levesque and Braydon Atwood in hot pursuit. Bograd got to the slot and ripped a shot into the net while under heavy back check duress. Goffstown had their first goal of the season, and it was, senior, Brandon Bograd scoring an unassisted goal while being shorthanded.

 

 

 

 

Goffstown killed the penalty and then got a power play of their own which did not lead to a goal, but it did help turn the tide. Max Ouellette ended up scoring the second goal for Goffstown on a nice backhand shot. The goal came after some nice puck movement by the Grizzlies, a scramble, and a good bounce, with Nick DiMarzio and Xavier Bibaud getting assists on the goal.

After killing another penalty, Goffstown went on the power play again. Eventually, Bograd won an offensive zone face-off that led to the possession that culminated in a power play goal and a 3-0 lead. Our play-by-play guru, Peter Tarrier called it something (paraphrasing) like this, Bograd wins it to DiMarzio, back to Pierce, to DiMarzio. DiMarzio flips a shot behind the net, Bibaud to DiMarzio, to the point, Pierce flips it in through a screen and it slips all the way through. Pierce has the goal! Pierce on the power play from DiMarzio and Bibaud.

Jake Webber was equal to the task, stopping all 11 shots that he faced in the opening period. Goffstown posted a short-handed goal, an even strength goal, and a power play goal to take a 3-0 lead to the intermission.

 

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Alvirne-Milford scored 2:44 into the middle period, on the power play, to get back in the game, at 3-1. Goffstown had a golden opportunity to clear the puck but failed and things quickly deteriorated from there. In a series of touches by Matty Ryan, Sal Pace, and finally Hayden Ricard, the Admirals scored while Webber and the Grizzlies defense were running around like a tornado had just appeared in their zone.

Then, as if turnabout actually is fair play, Alvirne-Milford snagged a short-hander goal of their own. The Admirals flipped the puck high and long, out of their zone like you do when killing a penalty. Brandon Bograd (the SHG scorer earlier) went back to his blue line to retrieve the back and then lost an edge while curling with the puck.

Chris Bedard was right there on the forecheck to grab the puck and skate in all alone on Jake Webber. Bedard found the net for the unassisted short-handed goal, and with 8:32 left to play in the second period, it was a one-goal game. 3-2.

The Admirals had more or less controlled the play throughout the second period, while cutting into their deficit. Then, an interference penalty, followed by a hooking penalty, put the Grizzlies on the power play with a 5-on-3 advantage.

While they had the advantage, Nick DiMarzio made a beautiful pass, that I will describe as a ‘wobbly saucer’, across the offensive zone and right to Brennan Pierce. Pierce centered a pass to the slot where Jake Klardie and Xavier Bibaud were both stationed. Klardie got his blade to the puck first, while he and Bibaud practiced their synchronized shooting techniques in near perfect unison. The shot was good, and the Grizzlies had regained their two-goal lead. Klardie from Pierce and DiMarzio, on the power play, 4-2.

 

 

After two periods were complete, the Grizzlies and Admirals had combined to take 11 penalties (there would be 6 more in the 3rd), score 6 goals, and collect 36 shots on goal. It was a 4-2 game with 15 minutes left to play, and anything could happen.

 

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3:15 into the final period, Goffstown scored an even strength goal to increase their lead back to a 3-goal differential. The offense was able to get a couple of shots toward the net and then still regain control of the puck and resume offensive pressure in the Admiral defensive end. This ultimately led to a Goffstown goal. The cycle was working and Klardie fed the puck back to the point where Brennan Pierce was able to direct another shot into traffic gathered in the slot. The shot hit glanced off of zack Tarrier’s stick and he directed the puck toward Jake Klardie. Klardie fired the puck into an open side of the net.

The goal was open somewhat because James Brew had to react to the original shot by Pierce. Since the puck hit traffic and was redirected to a much different angle from the net, Klardie had an opening to shoot at. He hit it. Klardie netted the even strength goal from Tarrier and Pierce. 5-2.

Less than a minute later the Grizzlies let Alvirne-Milford back into the game by allowing an even strength goal. Nick DiMarzio ended up with the puck after a defensive zone face-off but his attempt to flip the puck out of the zone misfired and went right to Mason Tomkins at the right point. Tomkins fired a shot waist high toward the net and James Nemeth perfectly deflected the puck down and past Jake Webber for an Admiral goal. It was now, 5-3.

Goffstown followed this up by taking a hooking penalty 22 seconds after allowing the goal. The Grizzlies killed the penalty and then drew a penalty on the Admirals shortly thereafter. While the power play was highly effective in relation to time of possession, Goffstown could not build on their lead.

 

 

The Grizzlies got away with a penalty or two before the Admirals were called for a hooking penalty with more than 3 minutes left in the game. After a poor decision on a pass in the offensive zone, Alvirne-Milford had a clean 2-on-0 breakaway against Webber. Webber sprawled, and went spread eagle to deter the shooter but the nifty deke and backhand shot by Hayden Ricard clanged off of the post and the score remained at 5-3.

Goffstown finally scored in transition when Brandon Bograd flipped a clearing pass out of the defensive end that found Nick DiMarzio at center ice. DiMarzio made a splendid one-touch pass to lead Jake Klardie into the right wing circle, then Nick stepped off of the ice on a line change. Brennan Pierce had continued up the ice in the left wing lane and Klardie found him wide open with a gorgeous pass. And Pierce made no mistake, putting the puck into the twine. Pierce from Klardie and DiMarzio. 6-3. Beautiful goal.

Over the final minute-plus there were three more penalties called as things got a bit chippy. In all, there were 17 penalties called in this one and the last few probably could have been avoided with some calls earlier in the game, as some cheap type shots were missed.

So, this season’s version of the Alvirne-Milford Admirals is not a bad team at all. If the Grizzlies hadn’t been able to cash in on so many power play opportunities, the outcome might have been very different. Goffstown has some youth and with it, some speed. If they can get past youthful mistakes and a team tendency to chase the puck instead of working smarter, they could be a dangerous opponent for a lot of teams throughout DII hockey this season.

Then again, we will have to wait and see. The beauty of sports is that they still have to line up and play the games in order to see how things go. You never know.

 

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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.