Gutsy Comeback Puts Wild Over Monarchs
- by Alex Dodds
- Dec 13, 2015
- 3 min read
The Hanover Wild (7-4-0, 6-1-0 NHAHA) defeated the NH Jr. Monarchs (3-5-2 NHAHA) in a great game at Campion Rink.
The Wild came into the game looking to build off a solid performance yesterday. The emphasis was still on fast starts from Coach Dodds. The Wild had the better of the chances in the 1st period, outshooting the Monarchs 9-3. Jackson Kapuscinski was tested on all three shots and was up to the challenge.
The 2nd period was all Wild as they tallied 26--you read that right, 26--shots on net to the Monarchs' 3. Unfortunately they found themselves on the wrong side of a 2-0 score with five minutes left in the period. As was the challenge yesterday, the Wild wanted to dominate the first and last three minutes of every period. The Wild dug deep and did just that, completely changing the momentum as Nathan St. Pierre scored an unassisted goal to bring life to the Wild bench.
The Wild weren't done yet, as they received a huge boost as Will Brannen grabbed a pass from Carter Auch and scored after battling through not one, not two, but three different stick checks to tie the game at two. "Will changed the game for us today." Dodds said after the game. "He gave it everything he had and he finally got the goal he earned over the last few games. It lifted our bench and made our guys believe that we not only can win this game, but we will win this game."
St. Pierre added to his team leading 11 goals early in the 3rd period when he went coast-to-coast before scoring an unbeleiveable one-handed goal to give the Wild a 3-2 lead. Gregor Vogel had many chances throughout the game before capitalizing on a beautiful wrap-around goal. "I told him right before the shift to fake a shot and go for a quick wraparound." Dodds said. "All the credit goes to him for trusting me and executing the play to perfection."
With yet another strong defensive effort from Quinn Murnaghan, Teddy Lyons, and Will Fichman the Wild were well on their way to their 6th NHAHA win. Murnaghan just missed on multiple powerplay opportunities, Lyons made several fantastic defensive plays to take away scoring opportunities from the Monarchs, and Fichman played yet another five star game creating many scoring chances in the offensive zone after making good, hard pinches to keep the puck in the zone.
The Wild fought through some chippy play at the end of the game and earned another goal after Archer Judd and Ben Ives took hits to make a play in the corner (without retaliating, I might add) and Jake Reznek fired home a beautiful goal high on the glove side to give the Wild a 5-2 victory. The Wild outshot the Monarchs 51-9 in the win.
"A lot of teams would've given up." Dodds said. "We weren't getting the bounces and there seemed to be an invisible wall in front of their net. This is a win that shows the character of these 11 players. They never gave up and stayed positive on the bench. Us coaches notice that kind of thing and it's really encouraging."
The Wild will have a few hours to rest up for their game later this afternoon against the Keene Cobras (0-2-1 NHAHA) at Thompson Arena.
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