March 20, 2007

Monarchs Crowned Again!!!

Worcester, MA - The New Hampshire Jr Monarchs repeated as EJHL Playoff Champions, this time in convincing fashion as they swept the Bay State Breakers 5-0 and 6-0 in the EJHL Finals.  This is the second year in-a-row they are also “Triple Crown Champions” garnering the Northern Division Title, Regular Season Title, and now the Playoff Title.  “I am just so impressed by our guys to accomplish what they have thus far,” stated Head Coach Sean Tremblay.  “There are so many good players, coaches, and teams in our league it is truly a credit to our players to reach all of the lofty goals they set for themselves.”

James Mello was named the 2007 EJHL Playoffs MVP with a complete blanking of Bay State in 120 minutes of hockey.  Mello turned away 74 of 74 shots in the championship round and finished the overall playoff run with a 1.1 GAA and an amazing .966 save %.  “James was simply fantastic and has been all year long.  He came to us as a virtual unknown and as a backup to Ryan Simpson.  When Simpson left early for Providence he certainly filled the void and now everybody knows who he is and for good reason.  When you look at all the great goaltenders we have had from Joe Exter, Joe Pearce, Dimitri Papaevagelou, Brian Foster, and Ryan Simpson it is amazing to think James might be one of the very best we have ever had here in our organization.”

The boys from New Hampshire wasted no time in setting the tone in Game Two of the finals when they scored just 1:57 into the game.  Denny Kearney would hold the blue line and send a pass to Austin Mayer deep inside the slot.  Mayer with his back to the net saw Paul Thompson skating towards him and one-touched the puck right onto his stick and Paul made no mistake as he snapped it quickly over Brooks Ostergard for the quick 1-0 lead.  The Monarchs would continue their assault on the Breakers out shooting them 7-1 in the next ten minutes.  Ostergard would hold his ground, but went down hard to his shoulder during a great desperation save and would injure himself and would be unable to finish the game.  Already down a man, Bay State would take a bench minor and Nicholas Krauss would have to enter the game with his team about to kill off a 5x3 for over two minutes against the EJHL’s most potent power play.  It would prove to be an impossible task when at the 12:20 mark Paul Thompson would fire one past Krauss off of some great passing from Denny Kearney and Nick DelGallo.  Less than a minute later Thompson would net a natural hat-trick when he popped home a rebound off an Eric Baier shot.  Matt Germain would also be credited with an assist.

Bay State would get their opportunity when the Monarchs were called for two quick penalties allowing the Breakers a 5x3 chance.  Special teams win games and the Monarchs PK units were up to the task as was Mello as they would not give in to the Breakers.  After killing off almost two full minutes of 5x3, the Monarchs found themselves again down 5x3, this time for two full minutes when the referee and linesman each called separate penalties   Again the Monarchs were outstanding keeping the Breakers off the board and only giving them the shots the Monarchs wanted.  Huge blocked shots came off the bodies of Ian O’Connor and Matt Germain and all of the Monarchs defensemen did a terrific job shutting down the back door for Mello.

The only goal of the second period came on the power play when Nick DelGallo popped home another goal off of an Eric Baier shot and again was assisted by Matt Germain.  Mello would be huge again kicking out all 15 shots he faced in the period.

The third would be all Monarchs and they would score two more power play goals to seal the victory.  Trevor Dodds would snap one home off of some great playmaking from Jeff Fanning and Zach Joy.  The trio struck once again, this time with Joy snapping one off a draw from Jeff Fanning.  “That line was just tremendous all weekend for us,” mentioned Tremblay.  “I wasn’t sure how much we would use them, but they were great from the start and they deserved to be out there with the way they were playing.  I am really proud of that line with the way they played and happy they contributed so much to the team.”

Some key numbers during the playoffs were the following:
Five top scorers were Monarchs players
Power Play worked at 34.29 %, including 5 for 8 in final game
Penalty Kill was 92.86 %, including 14 for 14 in the final game
Ian O’Connor played in 4 straight championships and won 3 titles
Final EJHL record including playoffs is 44-5-1-2
Overall record is 53-6-1-2