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 Continue Reading...
Hockey: Goffstown Grizzlies Win 2 out of 3 to Start the New Year
Goffstown started the New Year with a pair of home games at Sullivan Arena. It is always good to be hosting games at one of the best facilities in the state. The Grizzlies have been tough to beat on their home ice over the years. On Monday night (1-3-22), the Grizzlies played host to the Manchester Kings. The Kings were not impressed by Goffstown's home record in recent years. Continue Reading...
Hockey: Goffstown Hockey Spends Christmas Vacation on the Ice
The season opener finally came, and went. The Grizzlies had their annual Christmas Eve skate. Then it was Christmas Day, and remembrance of the greatest gift. But, the sweaters and pajamas were tossed quickly aside because the Christmas Tournament started the very next day. And what's this? A league game over Christmas break?!? Continue Reading...
Hockey: Goffstown 3 vs. Somersworth-Coe-Brown/Northwood 6
Finally, the 2021-2022 hockey regular season got under way for the Goffstown Grizzlies. After a game that was postponed due to winter weather, and another game pushed back due to illness, Goffstown played host to the Bearcats from Somersworth-Coe-Brown-Northwood Academy (SCBN) on Wednesday night. Continue Reading...
Goffstown Hockey 2020-2021: Golden Slumbers
Hopefully this hockey season will go down as the most peculiar season of all time, and as the only one of it's kind. Despite all of the misinformation and uncertainty, it was a near miracle that there was a season at all. I would be a complete fraud if I didn't also promote the idea of how incredibly uplifting it was to play games, to embrace competition, and to know that the kids were simply able Continue Reading...
Tournament Hockey: Goffstown 2 vs. Oyster River 7
Last night the Goffstown Grizzlies traveled out to Durham, NH to play the #1 ranked team in their region, the Oyster River Bobcats. They played ice hockey on a piece of property called Jackson Landing, a place that the Jackson family first owned as early as 1658. Back then they might have just played the game on the river. Continue Reading...
Tournament Hockey: Goffstown 5 vs. Portsmouth-Newmarket 3
When the calendar turns to March, and high school hockey is still being played, you know that it's a whole new season. Outcomes are not quite as predictable. Grit and determination is up. Scouting is up. Most everyone is aware of both their opponent's strengths and their weaknesses. Intensity is way up. Every shift, move, pass, shot, hustle, or not, is all scrutinized with a higher degree of Continue Reading...
Hockey: Goffstown 6 vs. Manchester Central-West 4 (Senior Night)
After a season full of uncertainty, anxiety, and a literal, almost daily, lesson that in life there are no guarantees, the Goffstown Hockey team was able to have it's senior night ceremony. The Grizzlies were the home team, oddly, on the home rink of their opponent, the Manchester Central-West Little Green Knights. Continue Reading...
Hockey: Goffstown 6 at Hollis-Brookline Derryfield 2
The mild temperatures last night made it feel like spring in New Hampshire. It felt to me like some sort of a fresh start, or at least a welcome transition. Then, some of the air was let out of that feeling when I realized that earlier games at Conway Arena in Nashua were running well behind. Eventually the rematch between Goffstown and Hollis-Brookline Derryfield School would get underway more Continue Reading...
Hockey: Goffstown 2 at Nashua North-Souhegan 3 (OT)
With a mix of snow and rain falling from the February sky on a Nashua ice arena parking lot players from opposing schools gathered with their teams out in the weather. There was not a school bus anywhere in sight. High school student drivers got out of their vehicles and unloaded their gear not unlike middle aged men and women showing up for another day of work. The word drudgery came to my mind. Continue Reading...