DOVER — The Dover High School hockey team plays with an edge. Sometimes it gets too sharp.
Despite 10 penalties, however, the Green Wave struck a balance between goals and gall Saturday afternoon in a 7-1 win over Merrimack at Dover Arena.
Six players scored for Dover, which won its third straight and improved to 8-3-1 in Division II. The Green Wave killed off all but one of the infractions, which included two five-minute majors and a game disqualification.
“Our penalty kill did a good job today,” said Dover coach Mike Young. “A lot of practice. It’s frustrating. Today we escaped. We have to clean up the penalties going down the stretch here.”
Senior co-captain Jared Turgeon had two goals and an assist, including the go-ahead in the opening minute, and Aiden McDonough added a goal and an assist to pace the attack.
“We moved the puck well,” Turgeon said. “We were really good on the forecheck today and kept up good pressure.”
Jameson Goodridge, Axel Post, Garrett Swan and Doug Gnall also scored as 12 skaters registered at least one point for the Green Wave, who outshot the Tomahawks, 33-16.
“Get on them early and kind of wear them down,” Turgeon said of the game plan. “They have a short bench and we just wanted to outwork them.”
Doug Gnall’s goal with 25.2 seconds remaining in the third period was the first of the freshman’s varsity career and set up by his older brother Trevor Gnall, a junior.
“A lot of guys got in on the scoring which is what you want to see,” Young said. “I told the guys when we’re playing 5-on-5 or we get on the power play we’re making plays. It’s fun to watch, but we’ve got to stay out of the box.”
Freshman goalie Devon Lapierre finished with 15 saves. Dover led 2-0 after one period and 4-0 at the end of two. Zach Stimeling scored Merrimack’s only goal on the power play early in the third period to make it 4-1.
However, the Tomahawks (2-5-1) were penalized shortly afterward and Turgeon scored on the resulting power play by converting the rebound of a Nick Marchuk shot at 3:54 of the third to restore the Green Wave’s four-goal lead.
“We’ve got to be smarter,” Turgeon said. “We’ve got to use our heads more out there, not talk back to the ref. It’s all up here. It’ll come with time. We’ve got a reputation now. We’ve just got to be careful and use our heads.”
“We’re pretty deep up front,” Young said. “We’ve got some guys that can skate. Sometimes I have to remind them to use their speed.”
Dover scored two power-play goals, the other by Goodridge at 8:14 of the second period on a nifty centering pass by McDonough, who added an unassisted goal three minutes later to put the Green Wave up, 4-0.
“Just a gritty team,” Turgeon said. “We went down in the corners and worked hard. Yes we got some penalties for working hard, but we killed them off and got back to work.”
Turgeon deflected a shot by defenseman Josh Ball from the left point to give Dover an early lead just 23 seconds into the game. Post made it 2-0 on a screened shot from the right point to double the margin at 6:50 of the first period.
"I think we came out flat and once we got down by two goals we couldn't recover," said Merrimack coach Dan Belliveau.
Dover hosts Oyster River on Monday.
“We're gaining confidence," Turgeon said. "We had a tough stretch there both off the ice and on the ice. It’s just good to get some points and get back in the standings.”