NHIAA Hockey Champions 2024

Well folks, high school playoff hockey time has come and gone here in New Hampshire. It was awesome! What a day at SNHU Arena! Congratulations to all of the players that were able to participate in the State Tournament! It’s all about the kids.

The hockey tournaments are done! The Champions have been crowned! Congratulations to every single team in NHIAA Hockey for competing, and for completing a wonderful hockey season. We should take a moment to count the blessings we have because who would have guessed that just completing a season would be so uncertain. This stage, NH High School hockey, is a tremendous place to showcase your teams and your talents. Job well done. Congratulations, of course, to the State Champions in each division!

: Singing the Anthem before the Boys D1 Final at SNHU Arena.

: This young lady’s voice was so wonderful and powerful that it captured special attention from the crowd. Dozens upon dozens of fans turned from the flag at one end of the arena, to look at the corner where she stood and sang. Outstanding job!

D1 Boys NHIAA Hockey Champions 2024 – #1 Windham led #2 Londonderry, 2-1 going into the 3rd period. Then, Londonderry went off in the last period. Morin from Maloney on the power play to tie it, 2-2. Carey from Morin and Maloney, sweet move, 3-2. Carey steal at the blue line, to Hamilton, 4-2 at 10:41 of the 3rd. Carey added an empty-netter from long distance, and the Lancers win their first ever Hockey State Championship, 5-2.

It was a great game. Windham had a great season, and they were just beaten to the punch in the final period.

Londonderry – NHIAA Boys Ice Hockey D1 State Champs!

D2 Boys NHIAA Hockey Champions 2024 – #8 Spaulding shocked everyone, and won three games in the playoffs, but they needed one more win to take the D2 Title. They played #2 Oyster River in the Final. The Bobcats scored on a quick transition goal in the opening minute of the game, Moriarty from Beaupre, and that ended up being the game-winner.

Oyster River scored again in the second period, Cam Miner scored on a brilliant display of strength and skill with a hard cut to the net, from Cole Levesque. Then, Sawyer Levesque added an empty net goal with 1:02 left to play in the game, from Talon Beyer. The Bobcats won their first Boys Hockey Title, 3-0.

Oyster River – NHIAA Boys Ice Hockey D2 State Champs!

D3 Boys NHIAA Hockey Champions 2024 – I thought this was the best game of the day, from start to finish. Which is saying something because every single game was pretty awesome. Declan Sullivan ripped a shot off of the post early in the first period, but the puck bounced wide. There was no score after one period, and I gave a slight edge in play to #2 Pembroke-Campbell.

I made a note that #1 Berlin-Gorham had turned up the offensive pressure over the first five minutes of the 2nd period. Then from out of nowhere, B-G had a 3-on-1 chance in front. They cashed in by scoring a goal. Walsh from Boucher and Lemoine. They led, 1-0 after two periods.

The two goaltenders, were outstanding, and they traded sensational saves throughout the 3rd period. Kolin Melanson for B-G, and Liam Cripps for PAC.

Connor Lemoine scored an empty net goal, to make the score 2-0 with just 50.6 seconds left to play, and the city of Berlin had their 33rd Boys Ice Hockey Championship (Notre Dame, Berlin, Berlin-Gorham).

Berlin-Gorham – NHIAA Boys Ice Hockey D3 State Champs!

D1 Girls NHIAA Hockey Champions 2024 – Oyster River-Portsmouth (ORP) scored first (DeSantis), and they took a 1-0 lead to the final period. Hanover was coming on strong, like the tide at high tide. Hanover scored (Lindsay), with 5:39 left to play, and the game was tied, 1-1.

Hanover kept swarming the offensive end and the Clipper Cats got in a counter punch semi-rush from time to time but could not get another goal. Sage Bussiere was incredible in net for ORP (great story on Sage and ORP, here). Even on the game-winning goal for Hanover, with 46.4 seconds left in the game, she was awesome on the scramble before hand. Hanover outshot ORP, 11-1 in the 3rd period.

But the Bears were not to be denied and Nora Bradley buried the game-winning goal from the slot with players strewn all over the crease. Hanover was undefeated against New Hampshire teams this season, and won the Title, 2-1.

Hanover – NHIAA Girls Ice Hockey D1 State Champs!

I do know this, that whether a school, or combination of schools, has a history of winning NHIAA Hockey titles or not, there are always outstanding games, performances, and surprises in every tournament. Every season, players, coaches and teams are making history. Saturday was an epic day of NH High School Hockey! The greatest thing is that it’s the players that make the moments. Moments that many will cherish for the rest of their lives.

For some, a high school hockey career came to an end in a tournament game. And in those tournaments, only one team gets to win. But, I would say, that the athlete wins. The athlete playing their sport in the times of their lives. It’s beautiful.

For every second that the athlete doubts their ability or their chances, or even the slightest thing, there are so many more rewarding moments. The moments might happen in the backyard, with music playing, and on the 10,000th attempt. Eventually, the obstacle was overcome, and therefore, forever no longer in doubt. The moments might happen in a tournament win. They might happen when a bus load of teammates realize there is no place they would rather be. They might happen when the athlete first sees their name on the roster, or when they hug loved ones on Senior Night.

There are moments all around us, happening all of the time. The athlete tries, the athlete fails, the athlete succeeds, the athlete wins, the athlete loses. But, the athlete wins because they get to take all of those moments with them, and nobody can take them away from the athlete. And that is awesome!

Congratulations to all of the NHIAA Hockey Champions 2024. The competition was incredible! It’s all about the kids.