December 2, 2007

Monarchs Invade the Gut
Past and present take over in Vermont

Burlington, VT – The New Hampshire Jr Monarchs traveled to Gutterson Field House on the campus of the University of Vermont to take on the Green Mountain Glades and were reunited with alumni throughout the weekend.  On Friday evening the team traveled in a day early to watch Chris Healy and Dan Anctil help St. Michaels College battle out a 4-4 tie with Amherst College.  Healy had an assist on the power play to give St. Mike’s a 4-3 lead.  Healy would add a power play goal the next night in a 6-4 win over Hamilton College.  Congrats to Chris, Dan, and Coach Chris Davidson on a great weekend!

Saturday afternoon started off great for the present day Monarchs as they notched a 3-1 win over the host Glades.  The boys from NH scored all the goals they would need in the first period as Brian Flynn took a great one-touch pass and would one-time the puck top shelf over Mike Mosher for a 1-0 lead with 9:14 remaining in the first period.  Minutes later Jeff Hannan would pick up a loose puck in the corner and head towards the net beneath the goal line and slide a perfect pass to Adam Kaiser who would make no mistake in snapping another one-timer past Mosher, Mosher would be unbeatable the rest of the way though and make some terrific saves, especially in the third where it could have been opened up if not for Mosher’s heroics.  The Glades made it a tightly played game, especially when Peter Child fired home a power play tally at 11:06 in the second period.  An empty net goal from Greg Burke would close out the scoring with 56-seconds left in the game.  Last weeks’ EJHL Rookie of the Week, Justin Gates, was once again very solid and controlled the game in net as he stopped 25 of the 26 shots he faced.  Mosher was equally impressive with 34 saves.

After a fantastic steak dinner at Glades coach Jimmy Smullen’s restaurant “The Icehouse,” a culinary treat on the water’s of Lake Champlain, the present day Monarchs went to watch the Monarchs of the past as the Providence Friars were in town to take on UVM.  Monarchs alumni were present on both team’s rosters as Reese Wisnowski and Tim Geverd are at UVM, while on the Friars you will find Jon Rheault, Marc Bastarache, Ryan Simpson, Ian O’Connor, Matt Germain, Austin Mayer, and Eric Baier.  Coach Tremblay felt like a proud father at the game especially when Monarchs players figured in on all four goals in the game as the Friars took home a 4-0 road victory.  Austin Mayer assisted on the game winner in the first and Eric Baier would assist on the second Friars tally in the first forcing Fallon out of the net.  Mike Spillane a former Glades player and also Team New England player for Coach Tremblay at the Chicago Showcase would come in and play well for the Cats.  However the two goals he would surrender would come off the stick of Jon Rheault with Ian O’Connor and Matt Germain assisting on both goals making the all Monarchs line unstoppable for the night.

“Anytime you can see any of your alumni play is a proud moment, but to be there with your entire team and staff and see the alumni do so well is truly a special night,” stated GM/Head Coach Sean Tremblay.  “Our entire organization could not have been happier to see all of them play so well.  It certainly added to the confidence of our current players to see Monarchs out there performing at an elite level.  I know I can say for myself it was a special couple of nights.”

The Current Monarchs would carry that confidence into Sunday’s game against the Glades and make it a sweep with a 6-4 win. The Glades would score on their first shift of the game when Riley Wetmore tipped home a Jimmy Powers shot from the point.  Any momentum the Glades might have had was ended immediately when Rence Coassin took a Lance Herrington pass at the far blue line and hit a streaking Yuri Bouharevich who streaked into the zone and snapped a laser to the far top corner for a 1-1 game.  The Monarchs would score the next two goals for a 3-1 lead as Owen Carpino fired home a Rence Coassin pass and Greg Burke tipped home a Jeff Hannan shot.  The Glades would cut the game to 3-2 with a Michael Power goal.  Two more goals from the Monarchs, both from the stick of Graham Sisson, would give the Monarchs a 5-2 lead.  Angelo Vrachnas assisted on both Sisson goals.  Riley Wetmore would give the Glades a lift with his power play goal at 19:03 into the second.  Peter Rohn and Peter Child assisted on the goal.

The third period began with a Monarchs power play.  After a couple of quality scoring chances the penalty expired and the Glades were able to get past the Monarchs for a breakaway.  James Mello would come up big with a great save and preserve the two-goal lead with eighteen minutes to play.  Rence Coassin would put it out of reach with a goal similar to Bouharevich’s first period tally to make it 6-3.  Zachery Vit added a power play goal with just 1:25 to play and make the final 6-4.  Mello finished with 18 saves while Chris Kamal stopped 30 for the day.  Both teams travel to the New England Huskies Invitational Showcase in Fitchburg, MA this weekend.