WEST LEBANON — One by one, Hanover High’s boys hockey players made their way out of their Campion Rink locker room on Wednesday night, each wearing a suit coat and tie.
Through the lobby and into the snowy night they strode while lugging equipment bags and sticks and wearing dour expressions. The Marauders clearly won’t forget Exeter’s 7-1 rout anytime soon.
The NHIAA Division I title isn’t awarded in January. It’s crystal clear after Hanover’s last two games, however, that it has a long way to go before it can realistically dream of such a prize. The Marauders were drubbed, 4-0, by visiting Bishop Guertin last weekend.
“It was fun watching Exeter play,” said 38th-year Hanover coach Dick Dodds, whose team fell to 2-2 in league play and visits Nashua North-Souhegan on Saturday. “They’re skilled and deep. They’re a quick team, and they get that puck going north-south in a hurry.”
Hanover’s defensemen include a freshman, three sophomores, a junior and a senior. Those rearguards struggled with mercury-quick Exeter wing Brendan Doyle, who produced three goals and two assists. The senior was violently boarded by Hanover’s Nick Lee early in the third period, and the Blue Hawks scored twice on the ensuing five-minute power play.
Dodds described Doyle and teammate Ricky Davis, who had a goal and three assists, as perhaps the state’s top two forwards. The Marauders had better hope so, for the idea of better foes waiting in the wings is frightening. The duo was repeatedly part of lengthy stretch passes from the Exeter zone to the Marauders’ blue line.
“They’re really good at it,” Dodds said admiringly. “All teams want to do that, but not all of them can execute it.”
Hanover’s goal came on a power play five minutes into the second period when defenseman Tommy Lyons fired what looked to be an innocuous wrist shot from just inside the blue line. Exeter goaltender Jude Rogles Jr. reacted late, stabbing at the puck with his glove before it sailed under the crossbar to pull the hosts within 2-1.
The Blue Hawks (3-1-1) answered with two more goals in a 3-minute, 36-second span, increasing their lead to 4-1 and prompting Dodds to use his timeout. The contest finished under running time.
Exeter played at a higher pace throughout, its forwards fast and fluid and weaving laterally as if they hailed from Europe, not southeast New Hampshire. The visitors swung outside on almost every offensive rush, using the rink’s full width.
“It gives us more skating and passing lanes,” said first-year Exeter coach Paul DiMarino, a physical education teacher in his mid-20s who took over for veteran Jim Tufts after the 2018-19 Blue Hawks won 12 games and lost a playoff quarterfinal game in double overtime. “We want to create 2-on-1 mismatches all over the ice to give us options. It all came together tonight.”
DiMarino arrived at Exeter four years ago as a University of New Hampshire intern and drastically ramped up the program’s strength and conditioning program. Agility and speed work gets equal play with weightlifting, and the results are evident on the ice.
“We have kids who truly love hockey,” DiMarino said. “Most kids go home and crush video games all night, but our kids watch college and professional hockey, and they pay attention and develop their instincts. You should hear how they talk about the game; it’s amazing and it’s fun to be around.”
Unless you’re playing them. As Hanover can attest.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.