-Goffstown Grizzlies Hockey-

Rolling Along – February 26, 2025

There was a good crowd on hand at Tri-Town Ice Arena on Wednesday night for the Brady-Valley’s last game of the season. The Giants gave a good battle, but in the end, the Grizzlies offense kept rolling along. Goffstown secured a #4 seed in the standings with their 8-3 triumph on Ryan Frew Memorial Rink.

 

As a fan of Goffstown hockey, and hockey in general, I listen to the Grizzlies hockey broadcasts after the fact, usually while driving. Or sometimes I listen as I review video in order to get goals, assists, etc. recorded accurately for both teams. On Wednesday night, the The P Three were, ummm, well, something else. The Brady-Valley broadcast started with, “I’d love to do a play-by-play for you guys, but, I-uh, that’s not my gig”. I laughed out loud when I was listening to this on my work route. Paul, thank you for sitting in and going ‘solo’. It was PD1 and PD2 for awhile. Thank you Dave and Derek.

Paul be using audio from this broadcast for a song he’s working on entitled, ‘Moments of Silence’. I expect this will be a classic and make a big splash in the collectibles space. Pete eventually showed up and two of The P Three were off and running. Good job boys. GTown Nation was well represented at the rink, so maybe viewership was down, which had nothing to do with Paul.

Brady-Valley’s first goal was scored on the power play. Which should be a big reminder that the Grizzlies really need to stay out of the box if they want to win games beyond the regular season. The Giants finished their season with a record of 4-14.

Another favorite hockey scenario of mine is the picture below. Kids playing on their club teams, for years and years, now competing against each other in high school. Still friends. Still respectful, like they were on the same bench or the same line for the Flames. Just competing. Playing a game they love.

 

 

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Goffstown Grizzlies at Brady-Valley Giants

Ryan Frew Memorial Rink, Tri-Town Arena, Hooksett, NH.

NHIAA Hockey: Game twenty.

Wednesday, February 26, 2025.

 

 

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NHIAA Hockey:

Scoring:

Goffstown Grizzlies: 02 – 01 – 05 = 08 

BBV Giants: 02 – 00 – 01 = 03

 

Shots on goal:

Goffstown Grizzlies: 21 – 14 – 21 = 56

BBV Giants: 11 – 06 – 01 = 18

 

Goffstown Grizzlies Penalties: 

• Ellbeg – 2:00 – Tripping. PPGA.
• C. Chapman – 2:00 – Slashing.
• B. Bennett – 2:00 – Interference.

Goffstown was 3-for-4 on the power play, while the Giants were 1-for-3.

• Goffstown Grizzlies – Kyle Bennett (So.) made 15 saves on 18 shots (.833).
• BBV Giants – Payton Cone made 48 saves on 56 shots (.857).

 

Once again, the Giants gave a good battle. Eventually, the depth and skill of the Grizzlies hockey team took over and broke the game wide open. But it took two-plus periods to get there. Here’s how it looked.

1. 1st 10:00 – The Goffstown Grizzlies Hockey team fell behind, 1-0 in the opening period. The Giants scored on the power play to open the scoring. They won an offensive zone face-off after Dylan Ellbeg had been sent off for tripping. The puck worked back to Luke Bedard at the right point for a shot. He took a shot that was partially blocked by Zack Tarrier but the puck still traveled toward the net. The puck ended up at the feet of Colin Reardon in the low slot. Reardon shot with some light pressure from, if not in close proximity to, Zach Lessard, Sam Chapman, and Jackson Horne. Reardon’s shot was saved by Kyle Bennett but the puck came off of his pads. There, alone, was Tyler Carter. He tapped the puck into the net for the goal. On the very next shift, the Grizzlies tied it. Tyler Lessard, Zack Tarrier, and Brock Bennett played catch with the puck along the sidewall for a few moments. Then Lessard fed a pass behind the net to Ellbeg and everyone rotated. Movement is good. Ellbeg centered a pass to the slot but Lessard wasn’t there yet. So the puck kept skidding toward the blue line. Brock moved quickly over from the point to grab the loose puck. He snagged it, spun, and fired through traffic from the other point, out at the blue line. There were three Giants and an Ellbeg in front of Peyton Cone. They were at varying depths of distraction between the shot and the net. Somehow the puck found a path straight through all of them and into the net. Even – B. Bennett (7) from Ellbeg (8) and T. Lessard (17). 1-1. Grizzlies on the board. 
2. 1st 12:58 – The Giants broke the puck out of their D zone after a nice possession by the Grizzlies. Brock Bennett was back at his own blue line when he timed his poke check perfectly and took the puck off of the Giants player. Bennett stepped forward into center ice and slipped a pass to the middle. The pass slid past Owen St. Onge over to Sam Chapman. Chapman carried in and from below the dot at a tough angle he expertly placed a shot up under the bar and into the net for the goal. Great defensive play and excellent finish. Even – S. Chapman (21) from B. Bennett (16). 2-1. The Giants answered this with a goal of their own in the final minute of the first period, tying the game, 2-2. Tyler Carter sent a pass from the corner out to Jason Doyle at the blue line. Doyle’s shot bounced roughly halfway to the net and skipped off of Kyle Bennett. The puck trickled out to the far side post where Chase Thomas cashed in on this glorious opportunity. Giants goal. Two goals, two posts undefended. 2-2 at the end of one period. 
3. 2nd 10:32 – After a four goal first period, there was only one goal scored in the second period, despite the Grizzlies giving the Giants a pair of power play chances. This is how the one goal was scored. Somehow Goffstown fought through an atrocious breakout attempt with a save by Bennett and eventual breakout. After a mishandled 3-on-1 break the Grizzlies had the puck in the offensive zone. Lessard to Tarrier behind the net. Tarrier off of the wall out to Griffin Wilkinson at the point. Wilkinson to Lessard on the half wall. Lessard toe dragged (dangled, if you will) a couple of Giants and stepped into the middle for a shot. Ellbeg set a good screen. The shot was saved by Cone. There was a rebound and the ever alert Tarrier fired the puck into the net off the rebound. Great finish. Even – Tarrier (6) from T. Lessard (18) and Wilkinson (3). 3-2.
4. 3rd 1:48 – The play opened up in the third period. The Giants had a shorter bench than the Grizzlies to start the game. By the final period there were injuries on both sides that shortened the benches even further. Goffstown stepped into the opportunity and scored five goals in the final stanza. This was the first one. S. Chapman had just jumped on the ice for T. Lessard and Tarrier hit him with a tremendous pass for a clean breakaway chance. Chapman’s shot hit Cone’s shoulder and flew high and wide of the net. Ellbeg and Chapman secured possession of the puck along the wall. Chapman slid a pass back to B. Bennett at the point. Bennett stepped in and fired just before the lane to the net was swallowed up by defenders. The shot rose with great velocity before the twine at the back of the net stopped its flight. Good goal, great shot. Even – B. Bennett (8) from S. Chapman (12) and Ellbeg (9). GWG. 4-2. 
5. 3rd 9:00 – The goal was scored on the power play as the Grizzlies got the extra attacker out on a delayed penalty coming to the Giants. Cooper Chapman got a nifty shot away that was saved by Cone but the rebound dropped right in the crease. Owen St. Onge was making a play on the loose puck when he was cross-checked up around the shoulders or higher by Anthony Dow. This sent St. Onge’s stick sliding to the corner. Before Cooper was hit up around the head against the boards, he got the puck in the corner and dropped a pass to St. Onge. Owen had no stick and deftly kicked the puck forward toward the end boards. Cooper Chapman had escaped his hit and took the puck toward Gretzky’s office behind the net. Before he got there, he slipped a pass to his brother Sam coming down the slot. The Giants were reacting to a puck behind the net but it wasn’t back there. It was off of Sam’s stick and in the net before the Giants ever touched the puck. Great composure and head’s up play by St. Onge. Power play goal – S. Chapman (22) from C. Chapman (23) and St. Onge (10). 5-2. 
6. 3rd 10:28 – The Giants scored to cut the Goffstown lead to 5-3 before the Grizzlies got another one. From out of nowhere a play that was broken up by the Grizzlies turned into a Giants goal. Tarrier to Cam Desruisseaux below the goal line but the puck wasn’t controlled by Cam or by Connor Bernard who was right there.. The puck slid toward the slot off of Colin Reardon’s stick. Chase Thomas, while performing a pirouette, took a wild shot that flew wide, to the corner. But the Grizzlies were watching the play, like they were somehow exempt from any peril. The wild shot was run down in the corner by Tyler Carter. He circled while a trio of Grizzlies watched him close by. Carter sent a pass to Thomas in the slot, he was wide open. I mean, WIDE OPEN. With Reardon tying up Tarrier in front of the net and creating a diversion at the same time, Thomas ripped a much less wild shot on net. It was a great shot. Top corner. Goal. Now the Grizzlies were watching the Giants celebrate a goal 10:08 into the period on their first shot of the period. Twenty seconds later, the Grizzlies had an answer. Dylan Ellbeg won an offensive zone face-off to Tyler Lessard. Lessard came off of the half wall toward the middle, fading toward the blue line as he skated with the puck. Then he turned and fired a shot on net. With Gavin Diodati, Ellbeg and two defenders in front of Cone, it was a good play. The puck sliced through the air and found the net. Good goal. Even – T. Lessard (25) from Ellbeg (10). 6-3.
7. 3rd 12:32 – On the power play – Sam Chapman was low in the circle and he flipped a pass to Tyler Lessard in the slot but it was tipped enough to rule out a one-timer from Lessard. Lessard still controlled the puck and got it back to Austin Campbell at the point to reset the structure of the power play. Campbell made a diagonal pass to the bottom of the opposite circle where Sam was set up. Sam controlled with his skate and moved the puck to his stick before setting up Zack Tarrier. Tarrier was at the top of the crease. Under some pressure, Tarrier got the puck past Cone for the power play goal. Good puck movement. Power play goal – Tarrier (7) from S. Chapman (13) and Campbell (10). 7-3.
8. 3rd 14:06 – On the power play – Ian Miller had drawn a major penalty for boarding at 13:30 of the final period, so barring a Grizzlies penalty they were on the power play for the rest of the game. Goffstown did cash in. The Giants did get a rush up ice, but Liam McGrail slowed their progress some and the shot they mustered missed the net, wide. Gavin Diodati took the caromed puck off of a Giant’s stick. He was off to the races with Connor Bernard. A clean 2-on-0 breakaway. There was no passing. Just Diodati in, deke, shot, score. Power play goal – Diodati (9) unassisted. Final score, 8-3. An assist was given to #3 Jackson Horne on the play but he hadn’t been on the ice since early in the 3rd period. The goal was unassisted.

 

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

 

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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.