Redemption

Tonight’s game against Dexter School looked as if it was not going to get played, as the 6:00pm start time came and went with no sign of Dexter. Dexter was able to make their way through the fog and arrived around 6:15pm, allowing for a 7:15pm puck drop. After the long wait to play the game, New Hampton came out of the gate a little slow. Dexter took the play to the Huskies for the first couple minutes. Although, the Husky skaters might have started a little slow, Matt Sayles was sharp in net and helped New Hampton weather the early storm. After the first three minutes, the Huskies settled in and the next seven minutes or so, saw back and forth action between two fast hockey teams. Just after the ten-minute mark, a turnover by New Hampton in their defensive zone, lead to Dexter taking the first lead of the game. Dexter’s go-ahead goal did not phase the Huskies, as they stuck to their game plan and worked hard to try and tie the game up. With less than two minutes remaining in the period, solid positional play, lead to Michael Kesselring picking off a Dexter pass in the neutral zone. Kesselring, then slide a pass to Michael Kane just before the offensive zone blue line, who in turn hit a streaking Thomas Albert with a cross ice pass. Albert fired a perfect shot, back across his body, around the top of the circles, that beat the sliding Dexter goaltender over the pad to the blocker side. The period ended with both teams knotted at one. In the second period, both New Hampton and Dexter came out hard, looking to score the next goal. At times the game was played at a feverish pace with back and forth action, resembling the Eighty Oilers. The crazy pace lead to quality chances from both team, but neither team able to find the back of the net. It looked as if both teams were going to head into the second intermission tied at one, until Jake Dunlap caused a turnover in the Dexter zone with seconds to play. Dunlap, then passed the puck to Lynden Breen, who walked in on the Dexter goaltender, deking to his backhand, which opened up the Dexter goaltender’s legs, the place Breen nicely slide the puck, to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead with two seconds remaining in the period. Breen’s goal gave the Huskies momentum to start the third period. The Huskies used that momentum to put pressure on Dexter during the first shift, resulting in Dexter taking a penalty. A minute and a half into the period, on the ensuing power play for the Huskies, Joe Dunlap scored. On the rush, Dunlap ripped a shot five-hole, past the Dexter goaltender to increase New Hampton’s lead to two. Adam Shuchart and Thomas Albert assisted on the play. The Huskies two-goal lead did not last long, as four minutes later, Dexter scored to make it a one goal game again. New Hampton dug it’s heals in defensively and Matt Sayles played strong the rest of the period, not allowing Dexter to tie the game. The 3-2 win for the Huskies was a nice way to bounce back after the overtime loss to Proctor and seek redemption for some heartbreaking overtime losses to Dexter over the past two years. The Huskies will have to get some rest tonight and be ready to go tomorrow afternoon, as they take on Hebron Academy, in their last game before having a week without games due to Midterms.