-Goffstown Grizzlies Hockey-

Control The Controllables – January 29, 2025

Taking steps toward bigger goals. Control the controllables, such as effort, execution, game-planning, and making Hockey 101 plays.

 

 

 

The Goffstown Grizzlies Hockey team, their hockey family, and many fans know what time of the season is at hand. The Grizzlies are in a stretch of their schedule filled with traps. One definition of ‘trap’ in Webster’s 1828 dictionary is simply this: An engine for catching men. That is it, exactly.

The Grizzlies are beginning a stretch of games that could be described as ‘winnable’, or games ‘they should win’. While I agree that this line of thinking is based on probables and maybe even likelihoods, it’s not that easy.

First, there are young men and women playing these games ranging in age from 14 to 18. That should be enough said. At these ages just defining a controllable might be a task on its’ own. Let alone to control the controllables.

Second, rosters are riddled with sickness, injuries, bumps, bruises, academic and social pressures to name a few. And any given night at the rink might be the last place they want to be, or maybe the best place they could be.

Third, teams ebb and flow like most of creation does. And this is the beauty of it. A team that has struggled all season might show up and put together an effort and sequence of execution over 45 minutes of play that the group will remember for the next 50 years. You never know. And, that is fantastic!

Fourth, in every instant, there is greatness, or at least betterness, laid out for the taking. Who will show up and seize the moment? Moment by moment. Whose dash up the ice will inspire an entire bench to come to life and lift their collective game shift after shift. The gaps between average and excellent are not that big. On any night, who will close the gaps and call them their own, and achieve excellence.

This leads my mind to the great fictional coach, Tony D’Amato, and his memorable speech:

• The inches we need are everywhere around us. They are in every break of the game every minute, every second. On this team, we fight for that inch. On this team, we tear ourselves, and everyone around us to pieces for that inch. We CLAW with our fingernails for that inch. Cause we know when we add up all those inches that’s going to make the @#$@!^& difference between WINNING and LOSING between LIVING and DYING.
• I’ll tell you this in any fight it is the guy who is willing to die who is going to win that inch…
• …Now I can’t make you do it. You gotta look at the guy next to you. Look into his eyes. Now I think you are going to see a guy who will go that inch with you. You are going to see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team because he knows when it comes down to it, you are gonna do the same thing for him…
• That’s a team, gentlemen…

 

 

Trust me when I tell you, when you are fortunate enough to be on a team of such individuals you will know it and it will stay with you always. You may not win the title or achieve the pinnacle but you will win more than you should have and achieve more than you would have ever thought possible. The time spent together with teammates in doing so will be legendary to each of you. Someone will claim this as their story. Will it be you?

 

 

---

Goffstown Grizzlies at Timberlane Owls.

NHL Rink, Salem Icenter, Salem, NH.

NHIAA Hockey: Game thirteen.

Wednesday, January 29, 2025.

 

NHIAA Hockey:

Scoring:

Goffstown Grizzlies: 03 – 03 – 00 = 06 

Timberlane Owls: 00 – 00 – 00 =  00 

 

Shots on goal:

Goffstown Grizzlies: 15 – 18 – 11 = 44

Timberlane Owls: 04 – 04 – 02 = 10

 

Goffstown Grizzlies Penalties:

• S. Chapman – 2:00 – Cross-Checking.
• Diodati – 2:00 – Interference.
• S. Chapman – 2:00 – Hooking.
• Ellbeg – 2:00 – Interference.

Goffstown was 3-for-8 on the power play, while the Owls were 0-for-4.

• Goffstown Grizzlies – Kyle Bennett (So.) made 10 saves on 10 shots (1.000).
• Timberlane Owls – Jakobi SanSeverino made 38 saves on 44 shots (.864).

 

 

The Goffstown Grizzlies Hockey team scored three times in the first period. They scored three times in the second period. They scored three times on the power play. Maybe some descriptions will help.

1. 1st 6:59 – Owen St. Onge broke up a play along the wall in the D zone. Then he dove to tip the puck out of the zone. The inches are all around us. Hockey 101 play. The puck skidded to center ice where Cooper Chapman quickly tapped the puck ahead to his brother Sam. “The Sam Scoot” was on. Scoot means ‘to go or leave somewhere quickly’, thus “The Sam Scoot”, he was doing both parts of that definition. He cut forward and diagonally at the same time. Outside feign. Inside move. Past the D. In on net, shot, score. Even – S. Chapman (12) from C. Chapman (14) and St. Onge (4). GWG. Up 1-0.
2. 1st 9:12 – Power play – The Grizzlies won an offensive zone face-off and retained the puck in the zone until the puck was in the net. Zach Lessard ripped a backhand shot that was headed for the organist on level 3 but the glass on the end boards kept the puck in play. A loosely played moment or two unfolded before Dylan Ellbeg fired the puck around the kickplate and around the boards to the far corner. Connor Bernard played the puck and Zach kept it alive, getting the puck back to the point where his D partner Brock Bennett was perched. Now Bennett did something not usually seen in the offensive zone. He skated straight west toward the other wall while mostly on his backhand. The defense released him to his dead end fate. Then, Bennett turned sharply north, like a button hook, and back to the east, toward the net. Then he ripped a shot past SanSeverino for the power play goal. Strange, but patiently effective. PPG – B. Bennett (3) from Z. Lessard (2) and Bernard (2). Up, 2-0.
3. 1st 14:15 – Control the controllables. The Owls flipped the puck into the zone trying to get it deep or on net. Brock Bennett cut all of that short. He played the puck and banked the clear off of side wall. Hockey 101 play. Cooper Chapman scooped up the puck while it was at the feet of an Owl player. Cooper took off with the puck. Winning the inches. Cooper made a nice move into the zone and then fed a gorgeous pass to the crease. Gavin Diodati was there and open for business. He calmly settled the puck for a split second and lifted the puck into the net for the goal. Nice play all around. Diodati (3) from C. Chapman (15) and B. Bennett (7). Up, 3-0.
4. 2nd 7:56 – Power play – Another long possession by the Grizzlies led to their second power play goal of the game. The Owls tried a quick clear from their own slot but there were Grizzlies all around. Ellbeg picked off the puck with a backhand stab. He was in the slot. He turned and fired on his forehand. The shot hit the defenders stick and bounced toward the net. Diodati tipped the puck with his stick which flattened the puck perfectly for Bernard who was standing at the post with an open side of the net. Bernard tapped the puck into the net for the power play goal. PPG – Bernard (2) from Diodati (4) and Ellbeg (4). 4-0 lead.
5. 2nd 8:29 – On the very next shift the Grizzlies hockey team was in the zone and circling like hungry hungry predators. After SanSeverino made a couple incredible saves, the Grizzlies maintained possession of the puck in the zone. Tyler Lessard fed the puck back to Griffin Wilkinson at the point. Wilkinson stepped in and took a great shot toward the net. Zack Tarrier and Cam Fratus were in front of the net along with some defenders. Tarrier tipped the waist high shot straight down and bounced it into the net for the goal. Great play all around. Even – Tarrier (3) from Wilkinson (1) and T. Lessard (9). 5-0.
6. 2nd 12:58 – Power play – Control the controllables. Hockey 101 plays all in a row. Tarrier won an offensive zone face-off. Execution. The puck slid over to Tyler Lessard. Lessard one-touched a feed back to the quarterback on the power play, the captain at the point, Brock Bennett. Bennett didn’t rush. As no one rushed out to him, he stepped in with the puck. He cocked to shoot, but still no pressure. So he held the puck another second and glided in a little closer to the target. That’s at least a Hockey 201 play. Then, he fired. Top corner, near side post. Then as Cousin Eddie might say, “Bingo!” PPG – B. Bennett (4) from T. Lessard (10) and Tarrier (9). 6-0, final score.

 

 

You can find news, video, updates, and all kinds of interesting tidbits involving Goffstown Grizzlies hockey here, Goffstown Grizzlies Hockey.

 

 

---

Goffstown Grizzlies Hockey

Tarrier’s Treasures – (Thank you Meagan)

 

---

 

 

 

---

 

---

---

The thoughts and opinions expressed here are those of the individual contributors, mostly mine. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the leagues, schools, coaches, players, or characters listed in any of these blog posts. Or, maybe they do. Either way, you would have to ask them directly.