2000 Elites and 95 Elites Win NEHL Championships

Parity was the word of the weekend at the NEHL 95 American Tournament played at the Rinks at Exeter.  In the round-robin portion of the tournament the Springfield Falcons defeated the Spartans 4-3, the Vermont Glades defeated the Falcons 4-3, and then the Spartans defeated the Glades by the same 4-3 score.  The result was a three-way tie for the top spot with only two teams able to advance to the final game at the Haverhill Forum Sunday afternoon.  It took the fifth item in the tie-breaking criteria to determine that the Spartans and the Glades would play for the title.

The championship game was another hard fought battle.  The Spartans took an early lead in the first period on perfectly placed wrist shot by Lucas Bennett from the top of the circles that beat the Glades goaltender low to the stick side.  Later in the first period while the Spartans were killing a penatly in their defensive zone Tim Ward and TJ Boulanger pressured the Glades defense first blocking a shot and then poking the puck into the neutral zone.  Tim Ward blew by everyone picking up the puck and beat the Vermont goalie 5-hole on the breakaway to give the Spartans the 2-0 lead which is how the first period ended.

Just like all the other games that weekend, the Glades would make it a fight to the end.  The Glades cut the score to 2-1 on the powerplay about half-way through the second period.  Very late in the period the Glades tied the score on a great goal by Jordan Jones driving the net and cutting across to beat Spartans' goalie Ryder Garnsey to the far side.

All tied up in the third period it was the Spartans that took advantage of their powerplay opportunities.  To give Seacoast the lead again, Chris Pollini walked in with the puck from the point and fired a wrist shot into heavy traffic in front.  The shot was blocked but Pollini picked up his own rebound and on his second try threaded the puck through the mass in front finding its way to the back of the net for the Spartans 3-2 lead.  Later in the period on the powerplay again, it was Neil Maietta sending a perfect pass across the ice to Lucas Bennett just above the face-off dot and Bennett ripped a one-timer into the wide open goal.

With the 4-2 lead the Spartans played very good team defense sacrificing their offense to ensure they did not give the Glades any easy opportunites.  With the Glades having to press for offense TJ Boulanger ended up with the puck after a Glades turnover.  The right-handed Boulanger skated down the left side of the ice and fired wrist shot beating the Glades goaltender high to the glove side to put the Spartans up 5-2 with about five minutes remaining in the game.

The Spartans continued to clog the middle of the ice giving the Glades very few chances to get going offensively.  With the Glades goalie pulled for the extra attacker, after another blocked shot by a Seacoast forward Tim Ward won another puck battle at the point and then accelerated past a couple Glades players and deposited the puck in the empty net for the final goal of the game and the Spartans 6-2 win.

The final game was definitley the best collective effort of the weekend for the Spartans.  All four lines and five defensemen played hard and grinded out the win.  The one constant all weekend long was great goaltending by the Spartans as Ryder Garnsey and Brendan McMenimen alternated games in the tournament with Garnsey finishing off the finals.

The other Spartans team taking home the NEHL hardward this weekend was the 2000 Elite team.  In a weekend of extremes for the 2000 team, they did not start the tournament off on a positive note.  In their first round-robin game the Spartans came out on the losing end of a 5-2 score against the Northern Cyclones.  The Squirt Minors then rebounded in their second round-robin game pounding the Nashua Panthers 11-0, advancing them to the semi-final match-up against the tournament host the Springfield Falcons.

In a very close game the Spartans persevered coming out on top 4-3 over the Falcons, setting up a rematch with the Cyclones.  The 2000s saved their best for last avenging their earlier loss to the Cyclones by beating them 11-3 in the finals and earning the tournament championship.

In other Spartans tournament play:

2001 Elites:  The mites went 1-1-1 in round robin play against Nashua (3-0 win), the Red Rangers (5-0 loss), and the Vipers (2-2 tie), but it was not good enough to push them into the final game of the NEHL Championship.

1999 Selects:  The 99S team went undefeated to win the Woodstock Tournament in Vermont.

1997 Elites:  At the USA Hockey Tier-1 Regional Tournament, after a tough opening game loss to the NH Avalanche, they played well enough to advance to the semi-finals.  It a great battle with Mid Fairfield, it was unfortunatley the Spartans that came out on the wrong side of a 3-2 score.

1996 Selects:  The Spartans advanced to the final game of the NEHL tournament, but it was the Worcester Crusaders taking home the title game 4-0.

1996 Elites:  In what is arguably the most competitive division in the NEHL, the Spartans 96 Elite team found themselves going home after the round-robin portion of the six-team tournament suffering losses to the Springfield Falcons and Assabet Valley Patriots who both made it to the tournament finals (Falcons 3-0 in finals).