Dover boys hockey knocks off Merrimack to pick up sixth straight win
The Dover High School boys hockey team had played a strong first period Saturday against Merrimack.
MANCHESTER – The Dover High School boys hockey team had played a strong first period Saturday against Merrimack.
But moments after the Green Wave took a 3-0 lead, the Tomahawks got themselves on the board, and Dover coach Mike Young worried that his team might have left the door open.
It took a little while, but Dover slammed it shut in the second period, scoring three goals in less than 90 seconds to grab a 6-1 win over Merrimack for its sixth victory in a row in Division II action at West Side Arena.
Alex Schlapak had three goals for the Green Wave (8-4), while Jesse Frase added two goals and two assists and Jameson Goodridge also scored. Colby Stewart played well in goal for Dover.
“The effort was really good at times,” Young said. “When we stick to our game plan, getting pucks deep and going to work, things work really well for us, and we did that at times (Saturday).
“We kind of gave one up late there. We got sloppy in our zone off the faceoff and gave one up late. Instead of going in with all the momentum, I thought we left the door open for them to stick around, so I was really happy with the way we came out and played the second period.”
The trio of second period goals came after the teams had combined for four penalties in the first nine minutes of the period. At the end of that, Dover had a two-man advantage for nine seconds, and Schlapak found the back of the net with one second left on the 5-on-3.
With the Green Wave still up a man, Schlapak scored again to make it 5-1 with 4:56 left in the period, and Frase scored 17 seconds later to give Dover a five-goal lead.
“Coming into this game, we knew it was big,” Schlapak said. “We definitely wanted to come out and beat them this year. That was huge. In the beginning of the game, they had a lot of momentum, but when we scored, we knew we could come out with a win. We started pumping them in after that.”
Merrimack (3-5-1) got its lone goal from John Tiano and Greg Bourque had an assist. The Tomahawks stormed out of the gate, putting pressure on Dover’s defense from the start, but while Stewart had trouble with rebounds early on, Merrimack couldn’t capitalize.
“I told the guys if two of those went in, or even one, it would have changed the entire game,” Merrimack coach Mark Davis said. “We can play with them, but it’s the mental aspect and with high school kids, it’s so hard to remind them. We came together at the end of the game, but it was too late.”
Goodridge got the scoring started with 9:28 left in the first and Frase made it 2-0 just 51 seconds later. Schlapak’s first goal of the game made it 3-0 with 2:40 to go in the period, but Tiano slipped a shot between Stewart’s pads and the post to make it a two-goal game just 17 seconds later.
“I don’t ever want to take a lead for granted, and especially since Merrimack is a good team,” Young said. “They’re well-coached and anything can happen in a period in high school hockey. That was the message we tried to send in the third, just go out and take care of business.”
