Strong Third Period Carries New Hampton To Victory

The New Hampton Huskies traveled two exits on 93 South to take on Lakes Region Rival, Tilton School. New Hampton and Tilton both have seven points in the Lakes Region Standings, but the Huskies have played two less games. A win today for New Hampton would help put some distance between them and Tilton, as both teams are looking to make playoffs. The game started off with some back and forth action, both teams creating some early scoring chances. The Huskies were the team that was able to take advantage of their scoring chances first. Just over three minutes into the game, Michael Kane got the puck to Lukas Uhler, just outside the offensive zone blue line, Uhler proceeded to make a nice move to go around the Tilton defenseman and then threw a nice backhand pass to Michael Kesselring in the slot. Kesselring one-timed the puck five-hole passed the Tilton goaltender to put New Hampton up by one. After Kesselring’s goal, both teams started to settle down defensively and the game was evenly played the rest of the period. The scored remained 1-0 in the Huskies favor heading into the second period. New Hampton was not prepared to start the second period, while Tilton came out hard and put pressure on the Huskies. In the first seven minutes of the second period, Tilton took advantage of the Huskies slow start, scoring two quick goals to take the lead. A well timed, timeout by New Hampton, allowed them to regroup and refocus. A minute after Tilton took the lead, Lukas Uhler put the puck between the Tilton centerman’s legs during an offensive zone faceoff and then passed to Thomas Albert for a backdoor empty net goal. After tying the game, the Huskies seemed to take back control of the play for the rest of the period, but were unable to find the back of the net and take the lead. New Hampton used the momentum they built up in the latter half of the second period to come out to a fast start in the third period. Just before the two-minute mark of the third period, Lukas Uhler feed a pass to Thomas Albert just inside the offensive zone blue line. Albert made a slick move to beat the Tilton defenseman and then slide the puck to a wide-open Michael Kane for an empty net goal, giving New Hampton the lead. The Huskies continued to put pressure on Tilton for the next four minutes, looking to increase their lead but they kept coming up short. At the six-and-a-half-minute mark, Tilton was able to tie the game, off an offensive zone face-off win. New Hampton was determined to win this game and just over a minute after giving up a goal to Tilton, Lynden Breen set up Bradley Shaw in the slot for a shot. Joe Dunlap was able to deflect Shaw’s shot past the Tilton goaltender to give the Huskies back the lead. This time New Hampton was not going to give up the lead. Two minutes after going ahead by a goal, the Huskies added insurance, when the hard work of Joe Dunlap and Lynden Breen, set up Bradley Shaw for a goal. New Hampton played strong defense in the final eight minutes of the game and Matt Sayles gobbled up any pucks that came his way to give the Huskies the 5-3 victory. After being on the road for a couple game, New Hampton will play Friday night at home against Holderness, in another important Lakes Region matchup.