April 5 , 2008

New Hampshire Junior Monarchs
Repeat as Tier III Junior A CHAMPS

New Hampshire Monarchs 11    El Paso Rhinos 4

This game was a mismatch from the drop of the puck. The swift skating Monarch’s took the opening momentum early and never looked back. Jeff Hannan got New Hampshire on the board just 1:34 into the opening period scoring on a snap shot from the slot. Adam Kaiser and Ben Ketchum earned assists on the play. Less than a minute later Brian Flynn scored with Jeff Velleca adding a helper. El Paso got on the board a short time later scoring off a net front scramble closing the gap on the Monarch lead. The momentum did not last long,  New Hampshire forward  Jeff Hannan picked up his second goal of the night on the power play. Velleca and Ketchum were awarded assists. Just over a minute later the Rhino’s scored again netting a power play tally of their own and again getting back to within one. Despite being severely outplayed, the team from El Paso would not surrender. New Hampshire scored two more goals in the period, one by Velleca and the other by Ketchum. The Monarchs went to the locker room with a very comfortable 5-2 lead.

 At 9:26 of the second period Flynn scored his second goal of the game on the power play. Greg Burke and Velleca assisted on the power play goal, the second of the game. Four minutes later Burke scored a goal of his own, this time it was an even strength goal and line mates Flynn and Velleca earned assists. El Paso doing it’s best to keep this game from becoming a blow out scored another power play goal at the 16:32 mark to cut the Monarch lead to four. Rence Coassin regained the five goal cushion just seconds later scoring an even strength goal. Line mates Yuri Bouharevich and Graham Sisson assisting on the play. Center man Jeff Hannan completed his hat trick with a little over a minute to go in the second, again Kaiser and Ketchum picked up assists on the play. Both teams headed for the locker rooms with the Monarchs on top 9-3.

 For all intents and purposes the third period was just a formality. Jeff Velleca opened the scoring in the third with his second goal of the game and fourth point of the night at the 3:36 mark, Burke and Lance Herrington assisting on the goal. Adam Kaiser would finish the Monarch scoring on the night, lighting the lamp at 7:14, Hannan and Monarch Captain Owen Carpino would pick up assists on the play. With the Monarch lead at seven El Paso scored again to cut the margin to six. Final score New Hampshire 11, El Paso 4

New Hampshire Monarchs 3   Dubuque Thunderbirds 2

 The Dubuque Thunderbirds without a doubt came into this game with an upset of the defending champions on their mind. New Hampshire came in looking to pick up right where it left off the day before. The game itself was a hard hitting face paced affair from start to finish. New Hampshire drew first blood just 1:24 into the opening period. Brian Flynn scored a power play goal after a beautiful solo rush from deep within the Monarchs zone, finishing the play with a laser of a wrist shot that beat the Thunderbird net minder easily to glove side. At the 10:15 mark defenseman Ryan Miniaci would score his first goal in the National tournament with a hard slap shot through a screen while on the power play giving his team a two goal lead. Jim Gaudet would pick up an assist on the play. With less than 3 minutes to go in the first Dubuque would get the goal they had been pressing for all period. The goal came off a goal mouth scramble that somehow found its way behind New Hampshire goaltender Justin Gates. Gates and his teammates would take a 2-1 lead into the locker room after a penalty filled period that saw New Hampshire go 2 for 5 on power play and Dubuque go 0-4.

 Yuri Bouharevich would get the Monarchs going in the second with a goal just 1:55 in, Rence Coassin and Jim Powers would be credited with the assists. Despite some great chances from both clubs, neither team was able to score for the remainder of the period.  In the third Dubuque would answer right away with a quick goal to bring the score back to within one. Despite being called for four straight penalties the Monarch penalty killers bent but would not break, thanks largely in part to the supreme goaltending of Gates who turned back shot after shot. The Monarchs would hold on to win this game by a score of 3-2 for there second win of the tournament.

New Hampshire Monarchs 8     Minnesota Jr. Owls 1

 New Hampshire headed into this game hoping to secure a spot at the top of their bracket and the possibility of getting the number one seed in the semi-finals the next day, but there was some adversity that needed to be overcome with this game starting at 8:20pm and the other semi-final hopefuls already having played much earlier in the day. With the semi-finals scheduled for 11:20am the next day, the Monarch squad new they would be facing a much fresher opponent. The Owls were no match for the high flying Monarchs, New Hampshire spent large amounts of time in the Owl’s zone and peppered the Minnesota net minder from start to finish.
 Jeff Velleca continued to find the back of the net, scoring a power play goal at the 7:55 mark of the first. Line mates Greg Burke and Bryan Flynn earned assists on the tally. Despite being heavily out shot the Jr. Owls would take a 1-1 score into the locker room after scoring a power play goal of their own at the 18:12 mark.

 During the second period New Hampshire rattled off four quick goals. The first two were from the quick stick of Greg Burke. Mark Nemec picked up the assist on Burke’s even strength goal and Graham Sisson and Jeff Velleca would assist on Burke’s second a power play goal 7:07 into the second. Next it was Captain Owen Carpino’s turn to light the lamp, scoring yet another power play goal after a nice setup by Monarch forward and assistant captain Rence Coassin a mere minute later. The power play continued to do the Owl’s in, this time Jeff Velleca would do the damage, again Flynn and Burke would earn assists. New Hampshire finished the period up by a score of 5-2.

 The Monarchs would score three more goals in the third period Connor Moore, Adam Kaiser and Kyle Mountain would add to the Monarch lead and secure a spot in Fiday’s semi final.  The Monarchs high powered offense and power play would ultimately do the owls in. Final score Monarchs 8 and the Owl’s 1.

Semi Finals: NH Monarchs 9 Northern Mass Cyclones 4
 
This semi-final match up was supposed to get underway at 11:20 am, but with half the New Hampshire team delayed because of a huge traffic accident on Interstate 495 southbound New Hampshire could not field a complete team until almost one o’clock. New Hampshire was forced to start the game without three of its defenseman and another seven literally arriving and getting dressed for the ice.

 Northern Mass jumped out of the gate quick seizing the momentum and applying constant pressure to the distracted Monarch team. Monarch goaltender Justin Gates did a commendable job keeping the high flying Cyclones at bay until the 6:46 point of the opening period when a tic-tac-toe play in front of  the net skirted through. For the next five minutes the Cyclones continued to buzz the Monarch zone and eventually scoring their second goal at 11:49. At this point the defending champs would have been happy to get out of the period down by two. Greg Burke began the turn around for the Monarchs muscling his way into the right side of the Cyclone zone cutting to the middle and scoring over the glove of the Northern Mass net minder, cutting the deficit to one and giving his team life and the momentum. 59 seconds later Ryan Miniaci evened the score with a blast from the right point from a nice feed from Rence Coassin. The score was even 2-2 after one period of play, and New Hampshire in two minutes found their legs and focus and had made this a forty minute game.

 New Hampshire came out flying in the second and looked every bit like the National Champions they are, scoring in the opening minute. Graham Sisson gave his team their first lead of the day on a nicely set up play from Juri Bouharevich. Three minutes later Juri notched a goal of his own, set up by Coassin to give New Hampshire a 4-2 lead. Greg Burke scored again less than a minute later to extend the Monarch lead to three. Northern Mass must have been wondering what happened with a five goal outburst in less than five minutes. Northern Mass was able to stop the bleeding, although only momentarily, scoring at the 5:31 mark to get back to within two. Rence Coassin would have none of that answering back 36 seconds later with Bouharevich assisting to regain the three goal lead. Owen Carpino would extend the lead to four at the 8:42 mark courtesy of a Coassin feed. Northern Mass added the final goal of the period less than a minute later. The third period was tighter checking by both clubs, with the Monarchs protecting their three goal lead and the Cyclones not wanting to have this game get out of hand. Mark Nemec would score on a blast from the point and Kyle Mountain added a late period goal as New Hampshire easily cruised to a convincing 9-4 victory and a much anticipated rematch with the New Jersey Hitmen, making the 2008 National Championship Final an all Eastern Junior Hockey League final.

National Final:  Monarchs 5  Hitmen 2

 With revenge on their minds, New Hampshire took to the ice for the 2008 National Title against a familiar opponent in the New Jersey Hitmen. The Hitmen claimed the EJHL Championship from the Monarchs nine days earlier winning the two of three game series in two hard fought games. After that disappointing loss, New Hampshire could only hope to meet them again in Nationals. They got their wish, and the stage was set for another classic battle between two great teams.

  Both teams took to the ice in the first wanting to gain early momentum and get their opponent back on their heels. Monarch goalie Justin Gates was sharp early, turning away quality chances when New Hampshire had trouble defending the persistent Hitmen attack in their defensive zone. New Jersey backstop John Morrow was equal to the task holding Monarchs forwards at bay with some key saves. The whole period was a hard hitting; high paced affair and look like both teams would take a scoreless tie into the locker room after a period, despite each team having two power play opportunities. However, with 53 seconds left in the stanza Monarch wing Ben Ketchum collected his rebound and fired it high over the glove of an outstretched Morrow. The goal fired up New Hampshire and gave them a one goal lead heading into the second period.

 The second began with the Hitmen scoring a quick goal off a broken play deep in New Hampshire territory just over a minute in. The remainder of the period would be tight checking with each team generating very little in the way of offense. Most off the shots that Gates and Morrow faced were perimeter shots. The stage was set for twenty minutes of hockey to decide the National Champions. New Jersey came out in the third and took the lead 2-1 just 1:26 into the final period. What seemed to be a huge goal at the time  was short lived when Monarch right wing Graham Sisson answered back almost immediately scoring the tying goal just nine-teen seconds later. Yuri Bouharevich would pick up the lone assist on the play. Just over six minutes later the Monarchs would score again to take the lead, and once again it was Sisson. This time assisted by Rence Coassin and Bouharevich. With the 3-2 lead and twelve minutes to play, New Hampshire was content to get the puck deep and not give up any out numbered scoring chances. The game plan worked to perfection, as the New Jersey attack ran into a sea of purple clogging up the neutral zone. The final blow came at the hands of Bouharevich with just over six minutes to play when he jammed home a failed Hitmen clearing attempt and put the defending champs up by two. Justin Gates held strong between the pipes down the home stretch turning aside each Hitmen scoring bid, and with the extra attacker on the ice and the New Jersey goalie on the bench, Juri Bouharevich secured the win adding an empty net goal with nine seconds remaining. Bouharevich had his hand in the last four Monarch goals with two goals and two assists. The win gave the Monarchs their second National Title in as many years and brought a great conclusion to a wonderful year!

New Hampshire Junior Monarchs College Commitments 2008

Brian Flynn              University of Maine 2008
Jeff Velleca              Merrimac College   2008
Greg Burke               University of New Hampshire 2009
Yuri Bouharevich     Quinnipiac University 2008
Rence Coassin           Harvard University 2008
Graham Sisson          Bowdoin College
Ben Ketchum             Quinnipiac University 2008
Connor Moore           Providence College 2009
Ryan Miniaci             Sacred Heart University 2008
Mark Nemec              University of Maine 2008
Lance Herrington       University of Vermont 2008
Jimmy Gaudet            Dartmouth College 2008
James Mello               Dartmouth College 2008
Justin Gates                Providence College 2008