I am just a man. I am a father, a son, and a husband. I am a homemaker, caretaker, coach, writer, speaker, and photographer. I love God. I love my family. I love my country. God has blessed my family and I, and I am eternally grateful. Author of Generation Jumping: Losing those who are not lost. Downtime with my family is about as good as it gets for me. Being outdoors in nature, among the animals and the wilderness, the Created, comes pretty close. Baseball, followed by hockey, are my two favorite sports, with several others a close third. I would rather do it right the first time. Honesty, respect, and integrity are virtues that I hold dear, so I call it like I see it. Before we as a society attempt to re-define these words, I will be here telling the raw truth.
Well, the regular season came to an end over the weekend, with the 2010 Flames playing a pair of make-up games at home, and another one down in Bridgewater, Mass. The Flames dug deep and won all three games. They played with great energy and effort to sweep the final weekend before tournament play.
It was a quiet weekend for the 2010 Flames, they only played two games. They won both by beating the Crimson West team, 8-2 on Saturday at home and then beating a very tough Shamrocks team, 2-1 on the road.
For the last home game of Goffstown’s season they had their best crowd of the year. They raised well over $200 for the NH Food Bank, and collected more than 10 bags of canned goods and food. They also played the Winnacunnet Warriors but were not able to get the four points needed in the standings. The Warriors have been playing excellent hockey since the Grizzlies saw them back in early January.
It was only a few days ago, but it seems like it’s been a week or more since I was at JFK Coliseum for the Flames game against the Shamrocks. But, apparently the 2010 Flames tied the game against the Shamrocks. Then they tied the Crimson. Then they improved on a five-goal loss last week by tying Plymouth this week, before dropping a 5-3 affair to the Greater Boston Vipers.
I described much of the first half of this game as Goffstown playing not to lose. Almost like they were waiting for the other shoe to drop. They powered through and played like a team that had each other’s backs, and that served them well. The Grizzlies were able to add a pair of third period goals and skate to a solid, 4-1 win.
The BearCats turned open ice into breakaway goals and half ice celebrations en route to a 7-1 destruction of the visiting Goffstown Grizzlies on Saturday night. Goffstown could not cash in on any of their power play opportunities and were never really in the game from the beginning.
The Oyster River Bobcats came to town on Wednesday night for a game with Goffstown. Goffstown came in to play with an 8-5-1 record while Oyster River entered at 9-3-0, so a win for the Grizzlies could allow them to gain on teams ahead of them in the Division II Standings.