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DC78-82
03-04-2008, 12:02 PM
This is an article printed in today's Foster's Daily Democrat. a little late notice, but hey - it's coverage! %#*($ - I wish I didn't have a UNH Friend's meeting tonight:( And the HE Finals two states away on Sunday:( Bad timing:(

H.S. Hockey Playoffs: Trip to finals on line for four locals

By MIKE WHALEY
sports@fosters.com


Article Date: Tuesday, March 4, 2008
DOVER — And then there were four.

The Division II and girls hockey semifinals will be played tonight, while on Wednesday the Division III frozen four will hit the ice. Four local teams are in that mix, each looking to advance to Sunday's championship day at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester.

Dover and Spaulding will take center ice at the Exeter Ice House tonight, with both eyeing Sunday's prize, a berth in the D-II championship at 2:15 p.m. at the Verizon

No. 2 Dover (14-3) will play at 5 p.m. against No. 3 Timberlane (15-3-1), while at 7:30 p.m., No. 1 and two-time defending champion Spaulding (15-2-2) locks horns with No. 5 Bow (12-6-1).

Meanwhile, at Concord's Everett Arena at 5 p.m., the third-seeded St. Thomas/Dover girls hockey team (12-4-1) will take on No. 2 Concord (11-4-1). The winner will advance to Sunday's final at the Verizon at 9:45 a.m. against the Hanover-Lebanon winner.
In D-III Wednesday, No. 4 Somersworth (14-5) takes on No. 1 Kennett (17-1) at 7:30 p.m. In the early semifinal matchup at 5, No. 2 Laconia (15-3) meets No. 3 Souhegan (15-3). The two winners advance to Sunday's championship (12 p.m.) at the Verizon.

"It's a new team for us to look at," laughed Spaulding coach Paul George, whose team will face Bow for the third time since they met in last year's semifinal. "I think you have two teams that play pretty smart and capitalize on the other teams' mistakes."

Spaulding beat Bow in the last regular season game, 3-2, scoring twice in the last 3:23 to secure its third straight No. 1 seed. Earlier in the season it played the Falcons to a 1-1 tie, getting a late goal from Jamie Ferullo to force the deadlock.

Bow beat Oyster River, 6-1, in its playoff opener, while the Red Raiders toppled Kingswood, 6-2, behind Ferullo's five points (3 goals, 2 assists) and four from Rob Laurenza (2 goals, 2 assists).

Dover beat Timberlane twice during the regular season (5-3, 4-3) and is coming off a 4-1 win over Winnacunnet in the first round in which it outshot the Warriors, 38 to 12. Ricky La Vache and Jakob Cadorette had a goal and an assist each.

n n n

The St. Thomas/Dover girls are enjoying their inaugural ride through their tournament, and coach Jim Hippern thinks tonight's matchup with Concord is very even.

"They've got a lot of depth, but talentwise we're even," he said.

Concord won the first meeting back in December, 3-2, and STA/Dover, which is 9-1-1 in its last 11 games, took game two in Dover, 5-3. STA/Dover advanced to the semifinals with Sunday's 5-1 win over Berlin, as Krissy Lovlien led the way with two goals.

"The key for us is controlling the game and not get caught running up and down the ice," Hippern said. "The defense has been tight and minimized shots, and on offense we've done the job getting plenty of shots on net. Kate (Boyd) has done a great job in net.

STA/Dover played Berlin with just nine skaters and Boyd, but the team gets another body back tonight, so it will have enough players for two lines.

"The girls have done a great job, they've kept us in all the games, except Hanover," Hippern added. "And we hope to get another crack at them."

freak
03-04-2008, 12:55 PM
No. 2 Dover (14-3) will play at 5 p.m. against No. 3 Timberlane (15-3-1),

GO OWLS!!!

Hail! to the victors valiant
Hail! to the conqu'ring heroes
Hail! Hail! to Timberlane
the leaders and best
Hail! to the victors valiant
Hail! to the conqu'ring heroes
Hail! Hail! to Timberlane,
the champions of the East!

DC78-82
03-04-2008, 12:57 PM
GO OWLS!!!

Hail! to the victors valiant
Hail! to the conqu'ring heroes
Hail! Hail! to Timberlane
the leaders and best
Hail! to the victors valiant
Hail! to the conqu'ring heroes
Hail! Hail! to Timberlane,
the champions of the East!

I gotta go with my home town boys- Go Spaulding - make it #3, and shout out to Derek the unbeatable:D

Gibber
03-04-2008, 01:45 PM
I will be surprised if Hanover lets up a goal in the semis or finals. It's not even funny how much better they are than everyone else...

I just hope STA/Dover wins tonight so I'll have another game to cover Sunday morning (9:45!?!) at the Verizon.

I have Spaulding and Dover's semi-finals tonight, both of which should be decent games...Spaulding isn't as dominant as they have been in recent years, but they have the best player in DII possibly the state in Ferullo (supposedly has had some looks from Providence)...

(I also wish the paper was better at fact-checking, as Bow beat Goffstown in the prelims, while Timberlane is the team that beat Oyster River 6-1 in the prelims)

DC78-82
03-04-2008, 02:56 PM
I will be surprised if Hanover lets up a goal in the semis or finals. It's not even funny how much better they are than everyone else...

I just hope STA/Dover wins tonight so I'll have another game to cover Sunday morning (9:45!?!) at the Verizon.

I have Spaulding and Dover's semi-finals tonight, both of which should be decent games...Spaulding isn't as dominant as they have been in recent years, but they have the best player in DII possibly the state in Ferullo (supposedly has had some looks from Providence)...

(I also wish the paper was better at fact-checking, as Bow beat Goffstown in the prelims, while Timberlane is the team that beat Oyster River 6-1 in the prelims)

I guess that means a trip to CT is not in the plans for this weekend? Bummer. Gonna have to trust Phil and the fancy camera;)
Go Red Raiders:D

DC78-82
03-05-2008, 08:25 AM
St. Thomas-Dover bucked by Tide

By MARK QUIRK
mquirk@fosters.com


Article Date: Wednesday, March 5, 2008


St. Thomas-Dover's Krissy Lovlien (right) protects the puck from Concord's Hilary Kane during the teams' semifinal playoff game Tuesday night at Concord's Everett Arena.

CONCORD — Not bad for a team that almost didn't exist this season.

Just months after merging together because of number problems at both schools, the St. Thomas Aquinas-Dover High School girls hockey team was on the brink of playing in the sport's first state championship when it took on Concord in the semifinals on Tuesday.

With its already small roster depleted to just 10 skaters and a goalie for the postseason, third-seeded St. Thomas-Dover finally ran out of gas during a 3-1 loss to the second-seeded Crimson Tide at the Everett Arena.

"It means a lot to make it this far," St. Thomas-Dover captain Samantha Hippern said. "You can't even tell we're from two different schools. We really came together during the season."

It was 0-0 after one period and then Concord struck twice to take a 2-0 lead into the final period. Bacall Brooks scored for St. Thomas-Dover early in the third to make it a one-goal game, but it only took the Crimson Tide 32 seconds to bounce back with a goal of their own to make it a 3-1 advantage.

St. Thomas-Dover had stolen the momentum momentarily, and then it all swung right back to Concord within a matter of seconds.

"It was big," St. Thomas-Dover coach Jim Hippern said about the third Concord goal. "They came right back and scored another. That made it that much harder."

Also making it hard on St. Thomas-Dover was Concord goalie Julia Coffin (16 saves). Coffin robbed Emily Raiche of a goal late in the third with an incredible glove save and then stood firm when St. Thomas-Dover went on the power play with 2:41 remaining in the game.

The Crimson Tide (12-4-1) advance to the championship game on Sunday morning (9:45) at the Verizon Wireless Arena where it will take on top-seeded Hanover. St. Thomas-Dover finishes its season with a record of 12-5-1. The teams split their two meetings during the regular season.

Both goalies came up big for their teams during the first period. St. Thomas-Dover netminder Kate Boyd (13 saves) went into the butterfly to stop Melissa Lehtinen from close range and then had a beauty of a pad save with 3:07 left in the period to keep things at 0-0.

Lehtinen finally opened the scoring with 6:28 left in the second when she beat Boyd with a shot from the right slot. Just over five minutes later Meridith Foote skated around a couple of St. Thomas-Dover defenders and beat Boyd glove side to make it a 2-0 game.

St. Thomas-Dover's Samantha Hippern (left) carries the puck through center ice as she is trailed by Concord's Heidi Foote during the teams' semifinal playoff game Tuesday night at Concord's Everett Arena.

That's the way it stood until Brooks got her team on the board early in the third. She skated around a Concord defender and just after she crossed the blue line into the Crimson Tide zone, she ripped a wrist shot that beat Coffin top shelf. It was 2-1 with 11:02 left to play.

"I was rushing the puck," Brooks said. "I saw an opening, I took a shot and got lucky."

Thirty-two seconds later Lehtinen struck again to bump the lead back up to 3-1. Concord looked fresher down the stretch, which was the plan from the outset for the Crimson Tide.

"We tried to get the puck down to their zone as much as possible," Concord coach Tom Ackerson said. "And we skated all three lines, which was very important."

St. Thomas-Dover didn't have that luxury and just couldn't muster the offense to pull even.

"The girls gave everything they had," Coach Hippern said. "I'm proud of them. It was an awesome season."

Gibber
03-05-2008, 10:10 AM
I guess that means a trip to CT is not in the plans for this weekend? Bummer. Gonna have to trust Phil and the fancy camera;)
Go Red Raiders:D

Possibly Saturday, if I can snag a ride down and back in time for the men's game at 7, but Sunday is a no go. Spaulding got the benefit of some late penalty calls (that were legit, but they didn't call anything the whole game) to come back from a 4-2 defecit and win in OT....

freak
03-05-2008, 10:25 AM
D@mn Green Wave. :mad: :p Timberlane apparently has most of it's impact players coming back next year, and for once I should be able to go to a few games.

DC78-82
03-05-2008, 11:25 AM
Possibly Saturday, if I can snag a ride down and back in time for the men's game at 7, but Sunday is a no go. Spaulding got the benefit of some late penalty calls (that were legit, but they didn't call anything the whole game) to come back from a 4-2 defecit and win in OT....

Check your e-mail - I might be able to hook you up with the ride.;)