Another Saturday, another undefeated opponent for the Grizzlies to play. Goffstown hockey battled back with a better skating game and passing game as the afternoon went on. Eventually, they were able to persevere and come back to even. It looked to me like they still had gas in the tank at the end of overtime too.
It started like we might have expected, getting pummeled by a count of 19 shots to 5. With St. Thomas scoring a goal in the last 30 seconds to take a 2-1 lead to the break. 341 days earlier, the Grizzlies were outshot 36-5 after the first period while hosting the Saints. But, on Saturday, Goffstown got the game turned and tied.
I watched the five goals allowed by the Goffstown Grizzlies over and over again. All I could come up with was this. How bad do you want it? To me, a huge part of ‘wanting it’ is learning the game. Learn the positioning and structure. And by all means, don’t just stand around and watch the other team demonstrate their skill and determination to beat you.
How Bad Do You Want It – Goffstown 2 at Somersworth-Coe Brown 5
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.
Hockey: Opening Night Win – Goffstown 6 vs. Alvirne-Milford 3
Sometimes you show up to play as a team and everyone gives it all they have, and it’s enough. Then you have a day like today when one of your teammates just plays a game up in the stratosphere somewhere. The Grizzlies played hard and even played some pretty stingy team defense, but their best defender today, was their goaltender. What a performance.
It was my fourth visit to a rink in the same day. I was in desperate need of watching some good puck movement by a team I was vested in. When I left Rochester on Wednesday night, I was thinking, “too much running around”. On Saturday night I was pleasantly surprised by how well Goffstown was able to move the puck.
On a rainy night in Rochester, New Hampshire, the Grizzlies hockey team somehow managed to escape with a 3-2 win over Spaulding in an OT thriller. The goaltenders combined to make 70 saves on 75 shots on goal. And the last two shots of the game were not even on goal.
Perhaps, as we walk quickly away from another season that our sons and daughters played,
we should pause for perspective, all the focus on them, and for our enjoyment, the prices they paid.
We all entered these overlapping eras the same way, from the back door, before dawn on a late November morn,
but did you get through the months that followed unmarked by the passion? Love of the game reborn.
Was all of this just another drive-thru moment, capture a picture here and there, passing by, out and about?
Or did you find a place to dig in, a connection to all-time, to make it better before the love runs out?
Well folks, high school playoff hockey time came and went here in New Hampshire, and it was awesome! There are some great people in the state of NH high school hockey. The kids are the reason why there is anything to see or talk about, and remember that they deliver a whole lot more than they don’t. It’s all about the kids.