Wild Clinch First With Win Over Huskies
- by Alex Dodds
- Feb 14, 2016
- 3 min read
The Hanover Wild (20-7-0, 14-1-0 NHAHA) defeated the Henniker Huskies (6-7-3 NHAHA) 10-4 in a win that clinched first place in Tier 4 for the Wild.
The Wild started out strong when Nathan St. Pierre scored an unassisted goal while shorthanded to give the Wild a 1-0 lead. Carter Auch put home a rebound from a St. Pierre shot to give the Wild a two goal-lead halfway through the 1st period.
Jackson Kapuscinski made what could've been the save of the year and might be featured on SportCenter's Top 10 plays tomorrow morning on a cross crease pass. The Husky player was looking at a wide open net with no Wild player there to stop him. Kapuscinski desperately stretched his left toe across the crease and stuffed the Husky forward, earning a huge uproar from Wild supporters.
After the Huskies found a way to pull within one, Will Brannen tipped home a shot from Gregor Vogel with the secondary assist going to St. Pierre. The Wild led 3-2 after the 1st period. As has been the goal all year, the Wild want to win every period. The coaches told the players to reset the score to 0-0 and win the next period.
The Wild scored early in the 2nd period on Auch's second goal of the game with an assist going to Jake Reznek, who played arguably his best game of the year. The Wild made it 5-2 on a goal from Archer Judd with assists going to Reznek and Auch. The Reznek/Judd/Auch line had a great game, playing great positional play and putting forth a relentless attack. The Huskies made it 5-3 before the end of the 2nd period and the Wild reset the score back to 0-0 once again for the 3rd period.
After giving up a goal just nine seconds into the period, the Wild answered back with a goal from Quinn Murnaghan with assists going to Judd and Teddy Lyons. The Wild put forward an unbelievable effort for the rest of the period, scoring four more unanswered goals. Vogel scored on a gorgeous shot after racing the entire length of the ice to win a race against a Husky defender on a great long pass from St. Pierre, the secondary assist going to Lyons. St. Pierre scored on a rebound from a Vogel shot to make it 9-4.
Vogel then found the back of the net with an assist going to Murnaghan followed by a St. Pierre goal assisted by Vogel and Brannen, capping off yet another hat-trick for St. Pierre. The Vogel/St. Pierre/Brannen line put on a show offensively, at one point putting on such heavy pressure they held the puck in the offensive zone for three minutes straight. Backstopped by Will Fichman's great effort defensively, the Wild sent the Huskies home licking their wounds.
"It's not easy to beat a team three times in a row, no less four." Dodds said after the game. "That was the most effort I've seen this team put into one game all year. I told the team in the locker room, the first third of the season the most skilled team wins, the second third of the season the best conditioned team wins, and the last third of the season the team who wants it more wins. We wanted it more and it showed."
Lyons received the coveted retro jacket, one of two players yet to receive it this season, in a LONG overdue wait. While it may not show on the statistics page, Lyons is consistently one of the best players on the ice defensively. Without Lyons shutting down the best players on opposing teams night-in and night-out, the Wild would not be in first place.
The Wild look ahead to a game they have circled on their schedules since day one, a rematch against the very strong Upper Valley Storm (10-2-1 NHAHA) at Campion Rink.
Comments