Where’s The Heart – Goffstown 4 vs. Nashua North – Souhegan 6

January 26, 2023 – The Goffstown Grizzlies had a 4-1 lead. Then came 5 unanswered goals from the Nashua North Souhegan hockey team, which made some wonder, where’s the heart? from the Goffstown hockey squad.

I was unable to attend the game on Thursday night, but I got this quote from a very reliable source who was at the game. “6-4, lost to Nashua. 5 unanswered goals. Zero heart. Print that.” I also got this, “Lost, 6-4. Gave up 5 unanswered goals…skated around like they never played before.”

The Goffstown Grizzlies fell behind, 1-0, and then scored four straight goals to take a 4-1 lead. They were really clicking on offense and getting lots of open looks and great scoring chances. The Goffstown hockey team had scored four goals in 5 and a half minutes of game time. When this team gets the legs going, they can really create. It is a lot of fun to watch.

It was Hockey Fights Cancer Night at Sullivan Arena and the place was buzzing! By the way, the jerseys that Senior, Jack Wilkinson designed are awesome! I thought they looked fantastic in pictures and on video! I liked the socks too. Nicely done! The Goffstown hockey team, players, coaches, families, and friends raised more than $2150 on the evening to fight cancer. So there are wins everywhere, despite what the scoreboard might read.

I was recently told to focus on the positive aspects of the game, the team, the players. I suppose I could always be better at that. I also know that reporting things that happen on and off of the ice these last eight years, is truth, not a focus on negative, or positive, for that matter. When things in life don’t exactly go our way, that is not necessarily a negative, and these things happen a lot, for the entirety of our lives. How we choose to react, that next conscious thought, we possess the power to take that next step. That is the furthest thing from negative. That is literally a super power that we each possess.

If we were to collectively focus on just the positive aspects of this game, would we leave the story with Goffstown leading 4-1 and then surprise everyone when they learned the final score? Or would we leave out the “negative” parts that Goffstown hockey must carry because it was a “positive” for their opponent? Not on my watch.

Stuff happens. You may call it good or bad, or positive or negative. Either way it happens, no matter what you call it. I call it truth. I often times pray that the truth will set me free, set all of us free. But if we never deal with the truth, then we are destined to be tripped up by it until we do.

A couple more quotes from Thursday night’s game, “…they gotta find a way to rally each other here, and pick it up…they’re gonna have to play with a little more speed and intensity…”

“It is the Hockey Fights Cancer game, you gotta fight!”

On Thursday night, the truth is that Goffstown jumped out to a 4-1 lead against a team that never stops giving effort. Those are positives on both sides. The Nashua North Souhegan hockey team kept battling to come back, and they did. Goffstown hockey was fighting cancer (and that’s a bigger, worthy cause), NNS was fighting the Grizzlies.

If you choose to read on, you will see the detailed box score from the game. This comes from lengthy review of video from the game. It will be called the way it was seen. In all things there are opportunities. That’s how I choose to see them.

The thoughts and opinions expressed here are those of the individual contributors, mostly mine, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the schools, coaches, players, or characters listed in any of these blog posts. Or, maybe they do, but you would have to ask them directly.

Either way, “It’s a great day for hockey” ~ the late “Badger” Bob Johnson.