From Sullivan Arena in Goffstown, NH – December 15, 2018:
For the second game in a row, there was a pre-game tribute of sorts to someone who has been taken too early from this earth. I was asked to lead the moment from the booth, which I had no problem with. When I asked for some direction on what to say, or in what order, etc. I was told, “just wing it”.
From West Side Arena in Manchester – December 12, 2018
As I sat down to write this recap, I literally removed my baseball cap and sat in silence for 22 seconds to honor Hunter Burke and the Burke family as I had done with the crowd at West Side Arena yesterday afternoon.Hockey: Goffstown 10 @ Merrimack 5
From the Whittemore Center on the campus of UNH – December 10, 2018
On Monday night the Goffstown Grizzlies made their annual trip out to the spacious confines of the Whittemore Center to play the Oyster River Bobcats. In this opponent, the Grizzlies know that Oyster River is well coached, and usually structurally sound. The second period showed just that.
Goffstown scored 3 goals in the first period and added 4 more in the final period to come from behind and win their pre-season scrimmage game against Manchester Memorial at Sullivan Arena on Sunday evening. Grizzlies earn a 7-4 pre-season victory over Manchester Memorial
Goffstown dug themselves a huge hole, falling behind 5-0 in the second period, while Dover was dictating play by simply executing better than the Grizzlies. Goffstown reached down, found some collective fire within, and came storming back. With less than 10 minutes to play in the game, the game had turned into an intense, nail-biting, one-goal, tournament game with the Grizzlies trailing Dover, 5-4.
Well, folks, the prelims are done. #8 Oyster River overcame a 2-0 deficit and came back to beat #9 Merrimack, 5-2. #7 Kingswood fell behind #10 Portsmouth-Newmarket, tied the game in the 3rd, and won… Hockey: D-II Quarterfinal Bracket
Goffstown ended their spectacular regular season in Salem against a very strong Windham Jaguars team on Saturday night. Despite dropping their final two contests, the Grizzlies did win 14 games in the regular season for the first time in their program’s history. Windham jumped out to a 4-0 lead and the hole was too deep for the Grizzlies to climb out of and overcome, but that’s not the whole story.
One of the beauties of sport is that competition brings opportunity where something has to give. People can talk, stats, results, and personnel can be compared on paper, but in truth, it’s only after having contested in the sport that we really know. Last night out at Keene Ice, the Keene Blackbirds hosted the Goffstown Grizzlies on Keene’s Senior Night. It was NH Hockey’s Division II #1 vs. #2 in a last week of the season matchup. Something had to give.
Last night on the hilltop, as some say, the Grizzlies hosted their final regular season hockey game of the 2017-18 season. It was also Senior Night, a chance to recognize Goffstown’s 5 seniors on this year’s varsity squad. The opponent was Merrimack, a team that these senior’s had never beaten (0-4) coming into their final regular season home game.