After losing a league game for the first time since before Christmas, everyone was wondering exactly how the Goffstown Grizzlies team would respond in their next game. Many folks in town hoped that the loss out at Kingswood on Saturday night would be a good learning experience for the team and serve as an in-season opportunity to self-correct their course.
Perhaps there are times in sports, even in everyday life, when we make mistakes but never really pay for them. Or at least we pay no more than the cost of listening to the taunting of our conscience and its innermost voice. Then, of course, there are times when our mistakes lead to immediate consequence and even seem to be plastered on a larger than life wide-screen for everyone to see.
Sometimes it’s difficult to remember that these high school hockey players are teenagers and that not every night is their best night. It’s also hard to forget previous teams, results, trends, and simple to get caught up in the numbers of all things tracked. Last season the Saints from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Dover, NH ended the Grizzlies hockey season with a 4-3 win in the NHIAA Tournament Quarter Final round.
It’s not every night in NHIAA Hockey where both the home team and the visiting team arrive to the rink, and then leave the rink in school buses. But then again, Goffstown High School (Goffstown, NH) traveled to play Winnacunnet High School (Hampton, NH) in Haverhill, MA, naturally. As if this wasn’t odd enough, the rest of the night kind of followed suit.
Some people, like professional commentators for instance, might say that tonight’s game against Nashua South Pelham was somewhat of a trap game. It would be sort of like the Grizzlies who finished Saturday’s game on a tidal wave of emotional momentum against a rival in Dover, playing a Division I team who is only 1-3 and not regarded as a real threat in the standings. Thus the potential let down, or “trap” game.
From Sullivan Arena on the campus of St. Anselm College, Goffstown, NH –
After sitting here looking at my screen for several minutes, literally not knowing where to start, I guess I will start. In an 8 day span that started last Saturday with weather that was too cold for buses, the Grizzlies won in Nashua, Dover upset unbeaten Windham, Oyster River lost twice, Keene won three times, and St. Thomas improved to 7-0. Then to cap it off, Goffstown beat Dover 8-5 and ran their record to 6-1 on the season.
From the Conway Arena in Nashua, NH –
In an attempt to see the glass as half full, it was a throwback to younger days, with our three youngest in the van, my wife and I, all going to a road hockey game. The glass may well have been half full, and maybe the water was completely frozen but it’s January in New Hampshire, what else would you expect?
From the Rochester Ice Arena in Rochester, NH –
Last night out in Rochester I walked, or slid, or skated, and might have completed an inadvertent toe loop as I made my way through the maze of mayhem in the frozen area formerly known as a parking lot. I finally made it to the entrance and walked into the old building on Lowell Street just in time to see Somersworth-Coe Brown wrap up their 11-2 win over Laconia-Winnisquam, getting their first win of the season, in Division III action. By the time the ice was resurfaced and introductions were done, Goffstown and Spaulding faced off at just about 8:10pm.
From J.F.K. Coliseum in Manchester, NH:
Goffstown played their third and final game of the Christmas Hockey Classic Tournament in Manchester on Thursday night against the defending Division II State Champion Bow Falcons. The Falcons are not what they were last year, but neither are a lot of teams. Goffstown pounded the puck at the net out shooting Bow 48-18 en route to their 6-2 victory.
From J.F.K. Coliseum in Manchester, NH:
Undefeated Hanover remained unbeaten with a 5-1 win over Goffstown this afternoon in the Christmas Hockey Classic game at 2:00 pm. Hanover scored each of their five goals with 3:16 or less to play in that period. These goals made matters seem worse, especially for a Grizzlies team that generated a lot of great chances, but could not cash in, only to give up goals late in periods. The Hanover High Marauders are a very well coached team, and just about everything they do, is done with purpose and within a structure that they are all well versed in.
From J.F.K. Coliseum in Manchester, NH:
Goffstown kicked off the Christmas Hockey Classic Tournament at 4:00pm against one of the Division-I favorites to win the title, in the Crimson Tide of Concord. The scoreboard ended up showing a rather lopsided score, with Concord winning, 6-1. The score didn’t completely tell the story of this game, but make no mistake, Concord is really good. Every line, every pairing, they all seem to be pretty good. Goffstown did get some good chances to score in the game, which included 4 power play chances, and the CBC line generated several opportunities on their own. On the other hand, the Grizzlies committed a couple of egregious turnovers, got beat as a result of some lazy defense, and gave up some goals that they probably wish they could take back.
From the ICENTER in Salem, NH –
Have you ever felt like you are a part of an event that appears to have been a massive afterthought? That’s kind of how it felt in Salem this evening. Playing on the lower rink, where the clock is difficult to read, the puck marred glass above the boards severely impairs everyone’s vision, and the facilities are better suited for Middle School hockey or a practice, the main event of Timberlane hosting Goffstown in a NHIAA Division II regular season game seemed completely out of place.
From the Whittemore Center on the campus of UNH –
I find that as I am getting older that I may be getting a little more critical in some areas. Even though my playing days are well behind me, it turns out that I still have this deep sense of competitiveness that bubbles up inside me. My mind is still in tune (as far as I know) with preparation, process, and the effort it takes in tirelessly crafting the skills of anything I ever wanted to compete in. With that mindset and background I watch the Goffstown Grizzlies play every shift, of every game, and work very diligently to be observant while accurately sharing the game as I see it. My mom always told me that if I didn’t have something nice to say, that I should say nothing at all. So, instead of being too brief, I am looking for the silver linings to the dark clouds that always seem to hover over the Whittemore Center every time the Grizzlies visit the Bobcats of Oyster River.
From Sullivan Arena on the campus of St. Anselm College –
In recent years, it seems that whenever Goffstown is scheduled to play Lebanon-Stevens in hockey, either the game is snowed out, or the game is played closely contested, with a pinch of physicality. This afternoon when Lebanon-Stevens (0-1) came into the Grizzlies Den to play Goffstown (1-0), things played out like they usually do. At least the weather was nice though.
From the campus of St. Anselm College –
Thanks to mother nature, the Goffstown High School Grizzlies hockey team opened the 2017-2018 hockey season at home, with a 3-1 win over the visiting Portsmouth-Newmarket Clipper Mules. Not much came easy for the home team, as Portsmouth-Newmarket (Ports-New) was feisty, and challenged every chance that they could.
Welcome to September hockey fans! Believe it or not, it’s time to get the 17th year of the Friends of Goffstown Hockey started. There is a board meeting coming up, and we would like to…
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/grain/
Against the Grain
I am here, I just don’t know if you can see me.
Here is where it all begins, but so far, there is no end.
You were here once it seems, but were you, then again.
Maybe it was me, and what I wanted, I had to pretend.
April 14, 2016 – My Dad was taken home by his Lord and Saviour. There are bunches of my words and stories that you can read if you so wish, regarding my Dad’s death found in the following links.
Dad.
I miss him.
May 14, 2016 – We took the twins and their older brothers to Fenway Park to see the Red Sox play. It is the 6-year-old twins’ first trip to the old ballpark in Boston.
This little visitor popped by today. The twins and I were happy to take a look at this natural beauty.
Sometimes I happen along during the day-to-day and I see something that reminds me of a scene I have seen somewhere before. In this case, it was turkey vultures on a pole, and it reminded me of…
As I have mentioned before, I have come across a TV show that I just can’t get enough of. I have found, and thoroughly enjoy, The Last Alaskans. One review I read on this show used a word to describe this show, that I would also use, intoxicating. Completely intoxicating.
The show is now in its’ second season and I can still honestly say, I can sit down and feel myself relax when I hear the opening music to the show, Heimo Korth narrates the opening behind the pictures, and I wait to see what these characters will reveal this week. The blend of music, amazing scenes, the reverence of the participants to their way of life, the hard work seen, and unseen, the stories, their histories, it’s so real. There is no flash. There is real life. It’s so compelling.
In recent weeks, Dad had talked with my Mom about how he could not wait to take (I would drive them) Mom back to Canada again this year. Then, on April 14, 2016, God intervened, and took Dad to his eternal home.
School vacation week is done. Now, it’s back to our mornings together at home. Today we thought of Grampy and shared a hug so we could lift each other up. I love these two, and…
Dad, can we gather round the table one more time and just let loose?
Oh, we’d laugh til tears, you, my siblings, Mom, this boy you called moose.
I look at the hoop and wonder if I’ll ever see that arch ever again.
Dad, you were one the best lefty shooters there has ever been.
You weren’t well, but I never thought this day would come so soon.
Dimly, I thought that maybe when the day came, I’d be somehow immune.
Dad’s presence was felt, his impact impossible to miss. I don’t think he was looking down from heaven at us, because I am hoping he had better things to do, like lose himself in his mother’s waiting arms, or to look his Dad in the eye and hear the words, “Well done son”. Maybe he was off creating comedy from nothing with his twin sister June. Perhaps he was walking the streets of gold and getting to know his brother Roger, who passed away as a baby, before any of the other siblings.
See, me, and my generation, we hope to be measured one day in the same breath as the great people of the generation before us. In that generation the simplicity of life lived was the stunning portrayal choreographed by the depth found in the intricacies of magnificent minds with the perceived time to approach extraordinary. I am just a man, my Dad was a great man, a great man of God. His new place in heaven ensures what should always be, that I’ll look up to him. I do, and I will.
Also, back on March 27, 2016, The Union Leader published to the Hockey All-State teams. Congratulations to all of the players named, especially to Goffstown Senior, Goaltender, Colin Holt who was named to the 1st Team. You can see that brief article by clicking the link below.
Only one team every year gets to end their season and post-season with a win in any given level of play. That’s very difficult to achieve, and people lose sight of the teams (everyone else) that doesn’t win their final game of the season, or even qualify for post-season play.
A couple of days ago, I went in search of nearby winter weather. I found ice. Everywhere.
I know I’m not the first, nor the last, to have a parent in a nursing home. Still, it’s a first for me. Dad is in a nursing home. Since the surgical procedure to insert…
