Hanover boys hockey picks up another key road win over Concord

CONCORD - According to Concord High School boys hockey coach Dunc Walsh, Hanover completely dominated his Crimson Tide en route to a 4-0 victory Wednesday night at Everett Arena.

The Marauders (12-2) scored the game’s first goal inside the opening minute, tallied three power-play goals and received an 18-save shutout performance from freshman goaltender Ben Plottner.

The victory marked Hanover’s fifth straight, the past three of which have come on the road.

The Marauders outshot Concord, 26-18. The Crimson Tide (11-3) did not register a shot on goal in the second period.

“I think this was probably one of our best games where we just played a full 45 (minutes),” Hanover senior co-captain Hans Williams said.

Williams got the game’s scoring started, netting the first goal 56 seconds into the contest. The forward scored from the doorstep off a pass from Sylas Oberting at the left point.

“I think that was kind of key for us,” Williams said of scoring early. “Kind of got (Concord) on their heels a little bit so they’re playing defensive and then just kept pounding away.”

Matty Gardner doubled the Marauders’ advantage with 27.3 seconds left in the first period, when he went top shelf on Concord goaltender Parker Taylor (22 saves) to tally his unassisted power-play goal.

Gardner, a sophomore defenseman, finished with a goal and two assists.

Cam Woods put home Hanover’s second power-play goal on a rebound shot in front 7:19 into the second period, building a 3-0 Hanover cushion.

Plottner’s older brother, Charlie, a senior co-captain, scored on a Marauders power play with 4:34 remaining to cap the game’s scoring.

“We just have some players that can handle pucks that are really good and we were moving it,” Hanover coach Dick Dodds said of his power-play unit. “I think that helps. We’ve had problems before where we just were standing still and not moving pucks on the power play. (Wednesday), we were just moving it and I think it paid dividends for us.”

Concord did not offer the Marauders much resistance. The Crimson Tide did not muster a shot on goal on its lone power-play advantage, went 1-for-4 on the penalty kill and failed to test Ben Plottner with many dangerous looks.

Two of Ben Plottner’s harder saves of the night came in the first period, when he twice denied close-range shots from Concord junior Matt Hauschild.

“You just need an effort and we didn’t give out an effort (Wednesday),” Walsh said. “And Hanover took it to us. From start to finish, they were clearly the better team.”

Concord will travel to face Hanover again Sunday after a road meeting with Bishop Guertin on Saturday. The Marauders host Exeter Saturday before their rematch with Concord.

“We’re in a real pretty rugged stretch the last couple weeks so we’re not focusing on winning games or even the outcome of games,” Dodds said. “We’re just trying to play hard and get better and let things fall where they will. I think that attitude helped us (Wednesday) because the kids worked really hard.”