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Windham Jaguars Boys Ice Hockey '16-'17

Archrival bows ousts Windham

EXETER — To say that Windham and Bow have gotten to know each other well over the past couple years would be quite the understatement.
Wednesday night, the two met again in a rematch of last year’s Division 2 championship game.
Except this time, the matchup came a round earlier, and ended with a different result.
Bow got a hard-fought goal in the second period, and blanked Windham at the Rinks at Exeter. The No. 2 Falcons added an empty-netter late in the third period to clinch the 2-0 victory in the Division 2 semifinals, denying the Jaguars a chance to defend their title.
The two teams skated to a 0-0 tie after the first period, but Bow’s Christopher Mead finally pushed one in through traffic during a scrum in front of the Windham net. The opportunistic Mead converted after two previous shots in front of the net were turned away by Jaguar goalie Max Daly.
“Daly made about three or fours saves to try to get that one, but somebody else has to pick (Mead) up,” said Windham coach Shawn Dunn. “But blown coverages happen. It really only happened once this entire game, and it ended up in the back of our net.
“It was as even a game as you could get. We played these guys twice earlier in the year and it was a 2-1 loss and a 0-0 tie. It’s just two evenly matched teams and somebody had to win. We were just on the wrong end of it.”
No. 3 Windham (13-6-1) did get some quality shots on net, including a blast from Nolan Cunningham in the first period that ricocheted off the left post.
But the Jaguars were either turned away by Bow goalie Nathan Carrier (15 saves), or stifled by the Falcons defensemen.
“There are obviously small things you could do to get yourself more scoring opportunities, but Bow is a well coached team,” said Dunn. “They adjusted every period and came out with a different look. So it’s just good coaching.”
Windham was out-shot 26-15, highlighting the stellar play of the junior Daly. He made 24 saves total, turning away half of those shots in a brilliant third period. 
Daly lunged to make a great kick save in the first period, and then turned away Mead on a breakaway opportunity midway through the third to keep the Jaguars in it. His performance earned him high praise from his coach.
“He’s been huge for us all year. I can’t say enough about him,” said Dunn. “He keeps us in game. We have a really young defense, so he helps to hide their mistakes. We just couldn’t get that one goal tonight for him.”
Windham is losing key seniors in Owen McNamara, Tim Anderson, Brandan Madigan, Danny Donovan and Christian Bassi. But the Jaguars should be returning the majority of their roster next season.
Bow will play No. 1 Keene in Saturday’s championship game at Southern New Hampshire at 2:30 p.m.
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Boys Ice Hockey, 03/08/17 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars

Defending champ Windham rolls over Dover

SALEM — It may have been just the first victory in what Windham hopes is a deep playoff run towards a second straight state title. But the reigning Division 2 champions certainly sent a loud and clear message to the rest of the state.

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Boys Ice Hockey, 03/05/17 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars