CONCORD — Almost exactly three years ago, during the title game of a Woodstock house-league tournament, Kaye Lindsay’s frazzled peewee coach sent her onto the ice during the final minute of a scoreless game, despite her obvious fatigue.
Glancing back at the Union Arena bench, Lindsay, the only girl on either team, received terse instructions: “Just score!” Which, on a breakaway and with time winding down, she did in smooth-gliding fashion, coolly notching the winning goal.
Now the Hanover High girls team’s lone freshman, Lindsay did it again Tuesday, breaking a scoreless deadlock 10 minutes into the second period of an NHIAA semifinal against Oyster River-Portsmouth. Lindsay’s fifth tally of the season lifted the No. 5 Marauders to a 2-0 victory over the top-seeded Bobcats.
Flying down the ice half a stride ahead of defender Tori Leitz and on the back side of a rush led by Natalie Morhun, Lindsay was in perfect position when a shot from the left side caromed off goaltender Sallie Squire’s pads and into the slot.
So hard was No. 17 skating that she was unable to stop after swatting home the rebound, rolling and sliding violently into the right corner boards and lying still for several seconds until Rose Donaldson arrived with congratulations.
“That was probably the biggest goal of the year, to break the ice,” said 14th-year Hanover coach John Dodds, whose team is chasing its 10th consecutive state title and its 11th in the last 12 years. “She’s very aggressive and fast and she’s fearless. She’s got a good head on her shoulders and she’s gotten a lot better this year and has three good years to go.
“She had been on a dry spell, but in the last two or three weeks, she’s had some big goals.”
Lindsay, whose brother, Kordell, is a former Hanover player and whose sisters, Grace and Ella, have skated for Lebanon, said her shot might not have zipped into the net’s upper right corner without Leitz’s unintentional help.
“I was about to shoot and the girl hit me from behind and the puck went higher than I expected,” said Lindsay, who admitted she didn’t expect to make the Marauders several months ago. “I saw it go in and then I fell and slammed into the boards.”
The result sets up a Saturday title game between Hanover (13-6-1) and second-seeded Exeter (15-4-1), which thumped Concord, 6-1, during Tuesday’s first semifinal. The Marauders and the Blue Hawks tied at Exeter, 3-3, on Jan. 3. The championship will be at Manchester’s Southern New Hampshire University Arena at 10 a.m.
“If we’d thought about the streak, we’d have been done long ago,” Dodds said. “This is a totally different team and we have to focus on the things that this team does well.”
The Marauders, who finished with a 34-13 shot advantage, increased their lead to 2-0 a minute before the second intermission. Emma Tysinger’s shot from the point trickled through Squire and across the goal line as the netminder looked behind her. Violet Sperry earned the assist, joining Natalie Morhun, who was awarded one on Hanover’s first scoring play.
“We did a good job today of getting pucks back to the point and not necessarily shooting off that, but changing the point of attack and that was creating chances,” Dodds said. “We were finding open people who got shots from good angles and produced rebounds.”
Making 13 saves was Hanover’s Rebekah Rudd, a sophomore who only began playing hockey as a seventh-grader and didn’t move into the net until last fall. The Marauders needed a backup at the time, but the former reserve has come a long way. Hanover, which suffered all its losses to out-of-state foes, has allowed just eight goals to New Hampshire opponents this season.
“Defense is the first thing we work on every year, whether people notice it or not,” said Dodds, whose team has scored 95 goals and surrendered only 35. “That’s our pride, team defense. Everybody working together as a six-person unit.”
Notes: Hanover is 32-9-2 the past two seasons. … Everett Arena is named for former Dartmouth College player Doug Everett (1905-96), who turned down several NHL offers to pursue an insurance career in Concord. A 1932 U.S. Olympian, Everett was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 1974. … Hanover has numerous former players in the college ranks, including three at Amherst (Mass.) College. The Mastadons (13-11-2) received three goals and two assists from senior forward Sarah Wagner, a goal from junior forward Eliza Laycock and two goals and nine assists from senior defender Miriam Eickhoff. The first two played every game and the latter appeared in 22 contests. … At Williams (Mass.) College, the Ephs (20-4-3) won the NESCAC title and host No. 9 Norwich in an NCAA first round game on Wednesday. Freshman defender Bri Laycock played in every game and produced four goals and five assists. … Northeastern (25-5-5) clashes with No. 4 Providence in Saturday’s Hockey East semifinals. Junior forward Matti Hartman has five goals and 11 assists and hasn’t missed a contest.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.