Monarchs weather Kings; Advance to Semifinals

Hooksett, NH – An impending snowstorm wouldn’t be the only thing the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs would have to weather Sunday morning in Foxboro, MA. After going down 1 game to the South Shore Kings, the Monarchs faced a must-win situation to avoid being ousted from the Eastern Junior Hockey League Playoffs.

Despite putting 39 shots on goal in Saturday afternoon’s game, the Monarchs were only able to score 1 goal to the Kings’ 2. The Monarchs arrived at the rink on Sunday knowing they would have to win not only the 2nd game of the series, but also the 20 minute mini-game in order to move on to the league semifinals.

The first minute of the game did not bode well for the team, as they would go down 1-0 within 41 seconds of the first faceoff. Kyle Beattie would even the score at the 10-minute mark with a goal assisted by line mates Brooks Herrington and Adam Shemansky. A little bit over a minute later however the Kings would take back the lead. A Brooks Herrington powerplay goal with 2 minutes remaining in the period would tie the game at 2.

The 2nd period would prove to be all Monarchs, as they outscored the Kings 4-1 on 2 goals from Kyle Beattie to complete his hat trick, and 1 apiece from Pat Kiley and Jeff Hannan. Ryan Corcoran would put an emphatic stamp on the Monarchs’ win in the 3rd period with a powerplay goal just over 1 minute into the period. The final was 7-3.

After a quick flood, the 2 teams took the ice again for a 20-minute mini-game to decide who would move on to the league semifinals. The Monarchs would strike 1st when Kyle Mountain feathered a pass through 2 Kings players to a streaking Charlie Mullan in the neutral zone for a short-handed goal. The Monarchs would go ahead 2-0 when Matt Mangene beat the Kings’ goaltender after driving wide with the puck into the offensive zone. Pat Kiley would score the 3rd goal of the mini-game off of some great forechecking by his line mates George Lotito and Jamie Ferullo.

The Monarchs will now face the Bay State Breakers this weekend in a 2 game semifinal series at the Valley Forum in Haverhill, MA.