Wild Open Tournament With Win Over Monarchs
- by Alex Dodds
- Mar 11, 2016
- 2 min read
The #1 Hanover Wild (1-0-0) defeated the #6 NH Jr Monarchs (0-1-0) 4-0 in their first game of the NHAHA State Tournament.
The Wild dominated the majority of the game, but struggled to find the back of the net. Jackson Kapuscinski made several key saves in the 1st period to keep the score knotted at 0. Teddy Lyons and Carter Auch played fantastic games defensively. Lyons doing what he always does, working hard on the backcheck and firing shots on net.
Ben Ives, Jake Reznek, and Archer Judd played their best game as a line all year. The three barely let the Monarchs out of their defensive zone. Though they didn't finish with any points, they were a huge part of getting momentum for the Wild.
The 2nd period saw the Wild break through at the halfway point on a BLAST, let me say this again, a BLAST of a shot from Quinn Murnaghan, who almost put the puck through the net. The enthusiastic Wild crowd exploded after the goal, letting teams in the first rink know the Wild were here to win. Murnaghan found the back of the net on his next shift, firing a shot from the goalline past the Monarchs goaltender on a snipe.
The score remained 2-0 into the 3rd period where Nate St. Pierre did his thing, putting home a goal on a Gregor Vogel rebound, with the secondary assist going to Will Brannen. St. Pierre scored just two minutes later. Coach Coté wanted to swing momentum back in the Wild favor, asking Will Fichman to "get mean". Fichman delivered, putting a massive hit on to cause a turnover where Murnaghan picked up the puck before feeding it to St. Pierre who dangled his way through the defense and fired the puck into the back of the net. The score would remain 4-0 and the Wild started off with a win in game one of the playoffs.
"We preach all year to control what we can control." Dodds said. "We now are in full control of our destiny."
The Wild faceoff tomorrow against the #3 Manchester Flames (0-0-0) at 2pm back at the Rinks at Exeter.
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