Road Win Over The Warriors
It is undeniably true, road wins are not easy. The Winnacunnet Warriors were pesky in their defensive zone all day. Due to their swarming defense on Saturday, goals were hard to come by. With this in mind, both teams received excellent goaltending from their net minders. Finally, Goffstown was able to put up a goal in the second period, and that held up.
Period 1
Officially, Goffstown had 12 shots on goal in the opening period. Conversely, the Warriors had just one shot. As a matter of fact, their one shot was ‘starred’ in my notepad. That’s because Kyle Bennett made a brilliant glove save against Aiden Cink on a clean breakaway with 4:01 left in the first. All in all, there were 13 total shots on net in the period, and the goaltenders stopped all 13 of them.
Period 2
In the long run, goals were hard to come by on Saturday. However, when Goffstown scored 95 seconds into the second period nobody knew if the floodgates would open, or if scoring would still be tough the rest of the way. As it turned out, goals were not plentiful at Phillips Exeter Academy on Saturday. Goffstown had 8 shots in the period, to just 7 shots for the Warriors.
GWG
To summarize this scoring play it began all the way back in the defensive zone. Noah Paris collected the puck as a result of Jax Carnes being pinched against the boards by Corey Beland. Paris took the puck below the goal line and passed it over to Jackson Horne. Concurrently Horne had his head up, and he made a great diagonal outlet pass to Beland at center ice. All of the sudden Goffstown found themselves on a 3-on-1 break.
Beland skated on the left side, while Teddy Beal was wide open on his right. At just the right time, Corey sent a quick aerial pass past the defenseman. Then the puck landed flat right out in front of Beal. On account of the perfect pass, Beal was able to rip the shot up under the bar on one touch. It was a beautiful finish to a great play. To sum up, Paris to Horne to Beland to Beal, goal.
Period 3
Goffstown scored twice in the final period. As a matter of fact, Jackson Horne scored twice in the final period. The only power play goal of the game was scored 4:56 into the final period. Zack Tarrier won the offensive zone face-off to Owen St. Onge. St. Onge quickly moved the puck to Horne at the point. Horne let fly on a shot on goal. In the meantime, AJ Tramontozzi was camped at the top of the crease. Horne’s shot was just about perfect as it hit the underside of the crossbar and deflected into the net. 2-0.
3 Point Night
Jackson Horne scored again in the final period. This gave him three points in the game. Not to mention the fact that he had posted three points in the win on Friday (vs. Brady-Valley) as well.
The Warriors rushed the puck into the offensive zone. Horne poke checked the puck off of Cam Frenette’s stick. Though the puck went right to Lucas Crooks. Together with Jason Matatall who was back-checking on the play, Horne picked up the loose puck. Without delay he raced up the ice with Chase Giampa and Carter Smedick on either side of him.
Horne ripped a wrister from the top of the circles. It’s important to realize that Caponigro made a really nice save on the shot. Even so, the puck got under his arm and was loose behind him. Horne followed his shot even though he was outnumbered. Before a Warrior could cover the rebound, Horne whacked the loose puck into the net for the goal. Great hustle play after a tremendous shot. 3-0.
Finally
Indeed another regular season ended. Goffstown earned shutouts in their last two games, both on the road. Being that they won their final two games, the Grizzlies finished the season with a 13-5 record, which was good enough to finish 4th in the DII Standings. As a result the Goffstown Grizzlies earned a home game in the Quarterfinals. In this case, Goffstown will host #5 Spaulding on Saturday, March 7th at Sullivan Arena.
I would also like to point out that the win gave Goffstown back-to-back 13 win seasons (3rd time in program history).
Standings: Boys Ice Hockey Division II
NOTE: The following are not official NHIAA standings. They are only the accumulation of game results as reported by the athletic directors and coaches.
Click here to view the schedules for all of the teams below.
| School | W | L | T | Points | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-Alvirne-Milford | 14 | 4 | 0 | 59.00 | 3.2778 |
| 2-St. Thomas Aquinas | 14 | 4 | 0 | 58.00 | 3.2222 |
| 3-Oyster River | 13 | 4 | 1 | 55.50 | 3.0833 |
| 4-Goffstown | 13 | 5 | 0 | 53.00 | 2.9444 |
| 5-Spaulding | 12 | 6 | 0 | 50.00 | 2.7778 |
| 6-Dover | 12 | 6 | 0 | 49.00 | 2.7222 |
| 7-Merrimack-Hollis Brookline-Derryfield | 9 | 8 | 1 | 40.50 | 2.2500 |
| 8-Somersworth-Coe-Brown | 7 | 11 | 0 | 29.00 | 1.6111 |
| Winnacunnet | 5 | 13 | 0 | 21.00 | 1.1667 |
| Lebanon-Stevens-Mascoma | 3 | 15 | 0 | 12.00 | 0.6667 |
| Timberlane-Pelham | 2 | 15 | 1 | 10.50 | 0.5833 |
| Bishop Brady-MV | 1 | 17 | 0 | 5.00 | 0.2778 |
1st Period Scoring
No scoring
2nd Period Scoring
- 1:35 – Goffstown Grizzlies – Even Strength – Teddy Beal from Corey Beland and Jackson Horne – GWG. 1-0.
3rd Period Scoring
- 4:56 – Goffstown Grizzlies – PPG – Jackson Horne from Owen St. Onge and Zack Tarrier. 2-0.
- 12:30 – Goffstown Grizzlies – Even Strength – Jackson Horne from Jason Matatall. 3-0.
Goffstown Grizzlies at Winnacunnet Warriors
Rink A, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH.
NHIAA Hockey: Game twenty-one.
Saturday, February 28, 2026.
NHIAA Hockey:
Scoring:
Goffstown Grizzlies: 00 – 01 – 02 = 03
Winnacunnet Warriors: 00 – 00 – 00 = 00
Shots on goal:
Goffstown Grizzlies: 12 – 08 – 10 = 30
Winnacunnet Warriors: 01 – 07 – 08 = 16
Goffstown Grizzlies Penalties:
- 2nd – Booth – 2:00 – Slashing.
- 3rd – Booth – 2:00 – Hooking.
- 3rd – St. Onge – 2:00 – Interference.
Goffstown was 1-for-2 on the power play, while the Winnacunnet Warriors were 0-for-3.
- Goffstown Grizzlies – Kyle Bennett (Jr.) made 16 saves on 16 shots (1.000). 4th shutout this season.
- Winnacunnet Warriors – Mike Caponigro made 27 saves on 30 shots (.900).
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