Play In School

Play In School

Timberlane won the D-II Ice Hockey Championship in 2009. They were a talented, formidable opponent for years.

Goffstown has never won an ice hockey title. Both schools miss out on players every season. In fact most schools probably miss out on players each season.

Having been around NH High School Hockey for the last 15 or so years, I see a lot of the best things I remember about growing up. To this end, I truly hope that more kids would play for their school. Those kids, those teams, those moments shared with classmates, with teammates are still discussed today. Still friends, still talking about the ‘times of our lives’. Laughing and loving all the way.

Play In School

In some homes a form of conventional wisdom tells kids to play for their club/travel team instead of playing for their school hockey team. Then again, conventional means, stipulated (agreed, contracted, covenanted).

Wisdom goes like this: The right use or exercise of knowledge; the choice of laudable ends (Praiseworthy; commendable; healthy), and of the best means to accomplish them. This is wisdom in act, effect, or practice. If wisdom is to be considered as a faculty of the mind, it is the faculty of discerning or judging what is most just, proper and useful, and if it is to be considered as an acquirement, it is the knowledge and use of what is best, most just, most proper, most conducive to prosperity or happiness.

Play In School

The team wins and loses, as a team. They are mates, schoolmates, classmates, and teammates. After they game they skate on a rink in a backyard, or hang out with teammates around the dinner table and play games (video, outdoor, etc.). Except the kids on their club teams, they don’t win and lose as a team with their mates. They don’t get to sit around that table. To me, that isn’t the use of what is best, most conducive to prosperity or happiness.

I am just a parent, one who cultivated the idea that our kids play in school. Play together. Laugh and dream together. Go to school together. Go to prom together. Play in the backyard together. Study together, play together, and grow up together.

Play In School

Perhaps this plays into the equation as well. We pay taxes to the towns in which we live. Like them or hate them, taxes are paid. Then the kids grow up with families paying taxes to their town and multiplying their own cost by paying to play club sports. Some kids play town sports at a much lesser cost (generally) as they grow up. With parents complaining that it’s too competitive, while parents standing at arms length or two away are complaining that the competition is not enough for their child.

Play In School

Eventually high school starts and maybe too many parents’athletic careers either never made it that far or ended when they graduated high school. Either way, that isn’t the point. Our kids come along and guess what, they too have free will, just as we did and do. Perhaps they just want to grow up like generations before them. Where your town is an extension of your home, and the kids come and go, house to house, playing all the way. And when high school hits, above all, they want nothing more than to play with their best friends, the ones they see every day in school. As well as making memories all the way.

Bill Brown, I saw your players trying their best. They got mad when they made mistakes, and I took those things as signs of kids who care. They kept trying, start to finish. With this in mind, I give you all credit for that. Maybe each coach and kid could name other kids at school that could easily play on the team. For better or for worse, both sides lose a little bit when self is prioritized over the team. Keep doing things the right way. I trust it’ll come around again one day.

 

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Goffstown Grizzlies at Timberlane Owls-Pelham Pythons.

Icenter, Salem, NH.

NHIAA Hockey: Game fifteen.

Saturday, February 07, 2026.

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NHIAA Hockey:

Scoring:
Goffstown Grizzlies: 04 – 04 – 02 = 10 

Timberlane-Pelham: 00 – 00 – 00 = 00 

Shots on goal:

Goffstown Grizzlies: 24 – 11 – 06 = 41 

Timberlane-Pelham: 03 – 03 – 04 = 10 

Goffstown Grizzlies Penalties:

• 2nd – Burnett – 2:00 – Hooking.
• 3rd – Beland – 2:00 – Holding.

Goffstown was 2-for-4 on the power play, while Timberlane-Pelham was 0-for-1.

• Goffstown Grizzlies – Kyle Bennett (Jr.) made 10 saves on 10 shots (1.000).
• Timberlane-Pelham – Emery Pittman (Jr.) made 31 saves on 41 shots (.756).

 

 

 

Buckle up. Here we go. All the points were scored by our kids: Look at these incredibly exciting “Firsts’.

Enjoy every single second. Remember every second doesn’t have to be about you or your kid to be equally enjoyed. Choose joy.

1st Period

1. 1. 1st 6:47 – Goffstown Grizzlies – Even – Zack Tarrier from Tyler Belanger – GWG. 1-0.
   2. 1st 7:16 – Goffstown Grizzlies – Even – Connor Bernard from Owen St. Onge and Griffin Wilkinson. 2-0.
   3. 1st 9:57 – Goffstown Grizzlies – Even – Owen St. Onge from Zack Tarrier and Jackson Horne. 3-0.
   4. 1st 12:12 – Goffstown Grizzlies – Even – Corey Beland from Griffin Wilkinson and Zach Lessard. 4-0.

2nd Period

1. 1. 2nd 2:09 – Goffstown Grizzlies – Even – AJ Hill from Chase Giampa and Van Eames. 5-0.
   2. 2nd 5:03 – Goffstown Grizzlies – PPG – Griffin Wilkinson (First Career Goal) from Zack Tarrier and Connor Bernard. 6-0.
   3. 2nd 5:59 – Goffstown Grizzlies – Even – Chase Giampa (First Career Goal) from Van Eames. 7-0.
   4. 2nd 9:09 – Goffstown Grizzlies – Even – Tyler Belanger (First Career Goal) from Corey Beland and Cam Desruisseaux. 8-0.

 

3rd Period

1. 1. 3rd 10:00 – Goffstown Grizzlies – PPG – Tyler Belanger from Liam McGrail (First Career Point) and Zack Tarrier. 9-0.
   2. 3rd 11:02 – Goffstown Grizzlies – Even – Giovanni Fucile (First Career Goal) from Tyler Belanger and Corey Beland. 10-0.

 

 

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