By TRIS WYKES
Valley News Staff Writer
CONCORD — Revenge, served after a year’s chilling, was sweet indeed for the Hanover High girls hockey team Tuesday night at Everett Arena.
The fourth-seeded Maroon and White, which exited last season’s NHIAA playoffs with an overtime loss to Bishop Guertin in the semifinals, this time handed the second-seeded Cardinals a 4-2 defeat. Hanover advanced to Saturday morning’s final at Manchester’s SNHU Arena against fifth-seeded St. Thomas-Winnacunnet-Dover, a 6-3 victor over ninth-seeded Pinkerton in the night’s first semifinal.
Sophomore forward Maeve Lee scored twice for Hanover, which also received 21 saves from Katie Smith. The senior backstop’s numbers don’t do her justice, for she denied several point-blank scoring chances and was the difference in the game.
“Our first six or seven minutes, the nerves were there and we seemed to be thinking about last year,” said Hanover coach John Dodds, whose team won at STWD, 3-0, on Jan. 4. “We had two good battles with (Bishop Guertin) this year and we knew we had our hands full, but we finally settled down and started moving the puck better.”
Bishop Guertin (16-4) opened the scoring after just 45 seconds out of a goalmouth scramble and took the first six shots. Hanover answered two minutes before the intermission when a Lee shot from the center slot zipped over the leg pad and under the blocker of Cardinals goaltender Scarlet Casey. Lee’s strike was her team’s seventh unanswered shot.
“We were just working our complete hardest to get back that goal,” said Lee, who’s also a soccer standout. “It was a little intimidating when they got it, but we bounced right back.”
Said Dodds: “Maeve’s a great athlete who sees the ice well and she was dispersing the puck and that opened things up. She’s like the quarterback out there.”
Hanover took a 2-1 lead two minutes into the second period and on the second of its six power plays. Lee corralled the rebound of her own shot at the left post, then scooted behind the net for a wraparound goal.
Hanover (16-4) struck again four minutes later after senior Kaye Lindsay carried the puck across the blue line’s center and passed to Julia Lawe in the left circle. Lawe’s shot bounced off Casey and Lindsay barreled down the slot and jammed the rebound home at the right post before being buried under a scrum of players in the blue paint.
“Once we got that second and third goal, the momentum swung to us,” Lee said.
Hanover coach John Dodds said his team was then able to play a more conservative style. His forwards made sure at least one of them remained high in the offensive zone, allowing them to essentially become a third defenseman if the Cardinals broke out.
“Once you have the lead, you don’t have to take quite as many chances in the offensive zone and on those 50-50 battles,” Dodds said. “We always try to have backskating help so we don’t give up odd-man rushes. Our players were told that with no uncertain clarity that there had to be somebody there.”
The third period became nerve-wracking for Hanover after a turnover between the circles handed the Cardinals’ Julie McLaughlin a scoring chance upon which she didn’t miss out. Now up, 3-2, with 4 minutes, 34 seconds on the clock, Hanover was bailed out by Smith before Nora Bradley scored into an empty net with a second to play.
“We have a lot of players who played in (the semifinals) last year and we wanted revenge,” Lee said. “Katie was reaching all over the place to get the puck and she had the game of her life.”
Notes: Lindsay’s cheering section included her older sisters Grace and Ella, who previously played for Lebanon High… Hanover High boys soccer coach Rob Grabill waddled around the arena in a full-body bear suit. His school has voted to remover its longtime Marauder mascot and replace it with a bear, but has yet to use the new logo in any uniforms, signage, etc… Dodds said he’s hopeful that the NHIAA will rearrange Saturday’s championship game lineup so his school’s boys and girls teams can play back-to-back. The boys squad needs to upset top-seeded Concord on Wednesday to make that relevant. The current schedule has the boys Division I final at 5 p.m. The boys are coached by John Dodds’ brother, Dick, and the pair have captured championships within hours of each other before.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.