Late goal lifts Windham boys hockey past Dover

SALEM – Tim Anderson thought he’d missed his mark, and in a way, he did.

The Windham High School senior was skating toward the back of the goal late in Wednesday’s boys hockey game against Dover, and at the last moment, tried to send a pass out in front of the net.

Anderson didn’t see right away where the puck went, and thought he’d put it by everyone in front of the net. But then he looked down and saw it in the back of the goal.

That’s where the puck ended up after deflecting off a Dover stick, and after a monumental effort by goalie Max Daly in the final two minutes, the Jaguars held on to a 4-3 win over the Green Wave at the Salem Icenter.

“I crossed the red line and was going to dump it in when I realized I could beat the defenseman wide,” Anderson said. “I took it wide and I was looking for Jimmy Harootian in the middle and I got a lucky tip off a Dover stick.”

And with the power play goal came a huge sigh of relief from the Jaguars (4-1 in Division II), who had jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first period, only to watch Dover (2-4) rally with two goals in the second to tie the game.

“We had a good start and then went to sleep in the second, kind of let them back in the game,” Windham coach Sean Dunn said. “We picked it up, we had a good timeout (after Dover tied it), the message was well received, and the guys had a good second half.”

Anderson finished with two goals for the Jaguars, while Nolan Cunningham and Harootian each had a goal in the first period, and Jake Aleksa added three assists.

Dover got two goals from Alex Schlapak, including the game-tying goal on the power play with 6:19 left in the second period. Aiden McDonough also scored for the Green Wave, who were playing their second game in as many days.

“I was happy we bounced back, but it’s hard to put a team on the power play in a 3-3 game,” Dover coach Mike Young said. “They capitalized on it. It’s been the downfall in a few of our games this year. An untimely penalty when we’re playing well. We didn’t have a lot of penalties, but we had untimely penalties. They played really well and they made big plays when they needed to.”

That included a solid effort from Daly after Dover went on the power play with 2:14 left in the game. The Windham goalie made nine saves on the power play, including four straight shots from Dover’s Jameson Goodridge from in close.

“I’ve never seen him have a bad game,” Anderson said of Daly. “It was unbelievable. He really came up big for us when we needed the W.”

It looked like the Jaguars were well on their way to the win in the first period, when Cunningham and Anderson scored 1:39 apart to give Windham a 2-0 lead. Schlapak scored with 4:23 left in the period to halve the lead, but Windham went back up by two just 57 seconds later on Harootian’s goal.

“It’s something we emphasize with the kids all the time,” Young said of the need to start fast. “You’ve got to have a good warmup, on and off the ice, and come ready to play. It can set the tempo of the game, and (Wednesday), it was evident.”

McDonough got Dover back within one early in the second period, and with 6:50 left, Aleksa was called for a charge and given a 10-minute misconduct for arguing the call. The Green Wave wasted little time on the power play, as Schlapak scored 31 seconds later to tie the game.

And that’s where it stood until Anderson’s goal put Windham ahead for good.

“Coming out of the first period, we’re up 3-1 and the mood in the locker room was too mellow,” Anderson said. “Everyone was feeling too comfortable. The coaches tried to bring us back to reality. We came out flat and they put in two. We just came together and I got a lucky one, and that was that.”