Start To Finish - Goffstown 1 vs. Winnacunnet 0

January 30, 2023 – This game was a real treat from start to finish, one goal scored or not. End to end action with other-worldly goaltending and a great play for the lone goal of the game. I tip my cap to both teams, both coaches, and the officials. This was a beauty.

Max Ouellette scores the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win over the Winnacunnet Warriors. (Photo – Screenshot from WMUR Youtube Channel)

Down at ice level at New England College I could hear the coaches lift their voices to coach their kids throughout the game. I could hear players communicating with one another. The coaching was true, it was good, it was spot on. The players on both teams executed almost flawlessly.

It was a 1-0 game, with the goal coming 35 plus minutes into the game, but this was not a dull game. The pace of this game from start to finish was rapid. Good players skating hard and applying pressure on the opponent constantly. The ice was hard and fast and that’s how the game went too.

There was one penalty called in the game. There was one goal in the game. Both goaltenders were outstanding, if not miraculous at times.

The Goffstown Grizzlies and the Winnacunnet Warriors played each other for the second time in 9 days, with the first meeting ending in a 2-2 tie. Hunter Marshall made 35 saves on January 21st against the Goffstown hockey team, and he made 35 more on Monday night. 70 saves on 73 shots (.959) in the two games. But that wasn’t good enough to beat Ethan Santoro’s (Jan 21) 31 of 33, and Jake Webber’s 20 of 20 on Monday night. Either these goaltenders are sensational (combined 121 saves on 126 shots, (.960)), or the shooters are lacking. I say, the goaltending has been incredible!

At 5:49 of the final period, a goal was finally scored. The Grizzlies had been pressing in the offensive zone again. This time, Xavier Bibaud made a nice move behind his own net and worked the puck up and out of the zone with a hard clear off of the half wall. The puck skipped and hopped right through Brandon Bograd’s skates and out to center ice. There, Max Ouellette battled for the puck as it bounced over to Nick DiMarzio as they crossed center ice in a 2-on-2 scrum of sorts.

DiMarzio cut to the outside (left wing) and beat the defenseman to the circle by the length of a puck. As he got to the face-off dot he fired a pass to the low slot just as Ouellette got there. Max had skated a straight line to the slot and the pass was perfect. Ouellette deked one way, then back to the near side post and flipped the puck past Marshall. Maybe two periods of high-pressure fore-checking had taken just enough of a toll to allow this time and space to play out as it did. The goal, like the game, was an excellent play from start to finish. Ouellette from DiMarzio and Bibaud, even strength goal, 1-0.

As you can see in the video, Jake Webber made some pretty awesome saves in his second shutout win of the season. I actually had written a star (*) on my notepad during the game to note some spectacular saves by both Webber and Marshall.

If you like a lot of goals, this game wasn’t for you. But if you like great plays, excellent pressure, consistent execution, along with stellar goaltending and high intensity, then you would have liked this game.

Another thing about this game that made it even more appealing to me was the coaches. I have a great deal of respect for Coach Ben Slocum from Goffstown and Paul Kinnaly from Winnacunnet. I was able to talk with each of the coaches before, and after the game. It was a treat for me because they coach with class, they both have a much bigger picture in mind than just the picture we see on the 200-foot rink.

Coach Slocum literally took over, and turned a toxic atmosphere into a perennial winner 8 seasons ago. There were whispers that the Grizzlies may not even field a team for the 2015-2016 season if there was not huge change in the program. Only 17 players tried out for that team. Slowly over the following seasons, the number of players committing to play for the Goffstown Grizzlies instead of ‘full-season’ youth hockey teams has grown. The program is better for it. Slocum recorded his 90th career win as head coach, on Monday night.

Great pass from Nick DiMarzio over to Max Ouellette for the Goffstown Grizzlies lone goal of the game. (Photo – Screenshot from WMUR Website)

Coach Kinnaly has turned the Winnacunnet Warriors into a good hockey team that plays the right way. He took over after a couple of seasons where the Warriors were more prone to fill the penalty box than they were to fill the stat sheet with shots and goals.

I don’t know if Coach Kinnaly knew I was behind him as he walked to the team bus after the game, as the bus was right next to where I had parked. But I did hear some of his calming, encouraging words to some of his players as they trekked up the hill from Lee Clement Arena. As I told him earlier in the evening, “Paul, all the best to you and your team the rest of the way. You do it the right way, and I, we, all appreciate it.”

The Goffstown hockey team returns to the ice on Thursday night for a tilt with Spaulding. Spaulding has won their last two games, including a win over Alvirne-Milford. Of course, Alvirne-Milford just upset St. Thomas, 3-2 in OT, last night. The Winnacunnet Warriors play at Nashua South-Pelham on Thursday afternoon.

You can follow other Goffstown Hockey stories, here.

You can also follow this blog here. I write a lot about hockey. It’s a long season. It’s not all just about the hockey, but rather about lessons and takeaways that come up throughout these seasons. Yes, I am biased. I am biased toward the truth and the right way to do things, whether anyone is watching or not. Sometimes the truth is ugly, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look at it and most definitely learn from it.

As a long time coach in a few sports, I never won a game. The players did. The kids score. Most of the time, the kids band together for something that is bigger than themselves; the team. The kids do so many things right on any given play, on any given day. I have found that more often than not, the kids pleasantly surprise us all. It’s awesome. It’s all about the kids.

NHIAA Hockey:

Updated records.

Goffstown (5-3-2 NHIAA) (6-5-2 Overall) vs. Winnacunnet (6-2-1)

Lee Clement Arena, New England College, Henniker, NH

Monday, January 30, 2023. 7:46 PM Start.

Summary:

Goals:

Goffstown: 00 – 00 – 01 = 01

Winnacunnet: 00 – 00 – 00 = 00

Shots:

Goffstown: 13 – 12 – 11 = 36

Winnacunnet: 05 – 08 – 07 = 20

Scoring:

1st Period – No Scoring.

2nd Period – No Scoring.

3rd Goffstown at 5:49. Even. Max Ouellette from Nick DiMarzio and Xavier Bibaud.

Special Teams:

Goffstown Power Play: 0 for 0.

Winnacunnet Power Play: 0 for 1.

Saves:

Goffstown: Jake Webber 20 of 20. (1.000). (45:00)

Winnacunnet: Hunter Marshall 35 of 36. (.972). (44:10)

(from Jen Webber Photography)

Remembering Jen Cheney…

The 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.

The current look at my ‘hockey office’. So many hours spent in this space, tracking numbers and capturing season after season. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2023.

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.

“We should be dreaming. We grew up as kids having dreams, but now we’re too sophisticated as adults, as a nation. We stopped dreaming. We should always have dreams.” ~ the late Herb Brooks.

“I started writing sports stories 20 years ago. I still do. I write because somewhere, in some game, a kid might be having the time of his or her life. That’s awesome to think about. It’s all about the kids.” ~ Steve Beal Sr.