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Dover survives late Timberlane flurry

Wednesday, March, 05 By David Willis
Staff writer

Timberlane coach Andrew Merrick shrugged and acknowledged what had doomed his team.

"You could see we were gripping our sticks a little tight in the first period," he said. "I think we were nervous and a little surprised by the pace of play and made a few mistakes. We gave them a few breaks, and they took advantage."

The No. 3 Owls fell behind by two goals in the first period, and spent the rest of the game playing catch-up in falling to No. 2 Dover 3-2 in the New Hampshire Division 2 semifinals last night at the Exeter Ice Den.

This marked the second straight season in which the Owls fell in the state semifinals. They lost to Oyster River a season ago.

"Last year we were really excited about making it to this point," said Merrick. "This year we are disappointed because we felt like we had a chance to at least make the state championship."

The Owls came out flying in the first, firing eight early shots on Dover goaltender Richard Siirala, but could not find the back of the net.

Then trouble struck when Timberlane took its first penalty. Only 14 seconds into the power play, Fredrick Englund gave the Green Wave the lead with a give-and-go goal. Three minutes later, Chris Bolton made the score 2-0.

"We couldn't recover from that 2-0 deficit," said Timberlane forward Nick Bundzinski. "We missed some chances. But we did battle back."

After back-and-forth play for much of the second period, Owls freshman forward David Evans cut the deficit to one with 6:23 left in the period when he flipped a backhand over Siirala's glove. It was his fifth goal of the season, and first since Feb. 2.

Timberlane goalie Ryan Rothwell (17 saves on the night) responded in the second. He turned in his best moment of the night, blocking one shot with his chest then dropped to the ice to halt the rebound. He also made another highlight save when he went into a split to knock away a shot with his left pad.

But Dover wasted no time retaking control of the contest. The Green Wave's Rick LaVache scored only 1:16 into the third for the winning goal.

"That third goal was a real backbreaker," said Merrick. "We were really excited about coming out for third period, only to give the puck up in the neutral zone. It was a preventable goal, and it breaks your spirit a little bit."

Nate Morrill did, however, nearly net the equalizer.

After leaving the game early with an apparent shoulder injury, he returned to cut the lead to 3-2 with 2:12 left with his seventh goal of the year, and first since Jan. 19. He then stole the puck a minute later and broke in alone for the tying goal, only to be halted by Siirala.

Timberlane had a few hacks within the final moment, but was unable to tie the game.

"We had our chances," said Merrick. "But we just couldn't bury the shots. Their goalie really played a great game."