Monarchs Collect 4 Points in VT

The New Hampshire Junior Monarchs travelled north this past weekend to Jay, VT to take on the Green Mountain Glades in two Northern Division contests. The team won both games and took home 4 points on the weekend.

The venue for the weekend’s games was the newly constructed Ice Haus at the Jay Peak Ski Resort. The resort is also home to a beautiful, 5 year-old 18-hole championship golf course located on the property, which was the site of the first ever New Hampshire Junior Monarchs four-man scramble. Each team was allotted an “A” player with a supposed handicap of 15 or lower. The true handicaps of a few of those “A” players has come into question after watching some of their tee shots on the first hole however. The 9-hole tournament would be won with a score of 4 under par by a team comprised of Ryan Tyson, Derek Stahl, Tim Carr, and Evan Schultz. Despite the frigid playing conditions, everyone had a great day on the course, even the tournament’s obligatory cameraman, goaltender Brian Billett.

After thawing out and getting some down time, the team took to the ice at 7 pm for their first regular season meeting against the Glades. The Monarchs would open up the scoring when Ryan Tyson, obviously still riding high from his tournament win earlier that day, put home a feed from linemate Christian Cowles, and defenseman Billy Fitzgerald. The Monarchs came out in the 2nd period and took a 2-0 lead when Trent Ruffolo scored his first of 2 goals with assists going to Fitzgerald and Cam Brown. The Glades would answer back to pull within 1, but Ruffolo would score his second at the 17 minute mark of the period from Brown and defenseman Kyle Williams. The Glades would pull within 1 again, and the 2nd would end with the score 3-2. The 3rd period would be all Monarchs, as Brown would net a powerplay goal with assists going to captain Pat Doherty and Ruffolo. Cody Sharib would finish the scoring on a great feed from linemate Ryan Tyson and Christian Cowles. The game would end 5-2 Monarchs.

Sunday afternoon’s game would be another heated battle as the Monarchs set out to collect the weekend sweep. The Glades, determined to earn 2 of the 4 points, came out and dictated much of the pace of the game early on. The Monarchs however, would weather the storm and prevail by a score of 3-0, with the shutout going to goaltender Tim Carr who stopped 59 of 31 on the weekend. Ruffolo would score 2 more goals to bring his weekend total to 4 and Ryan Randall would add a third.

The team is back in action for 3 tough road games this weekend as they face off against the Huskies, Kings, and Warriors all in a 3-day span.