Telegraph photo by TOM KING Bishop Guertin's Julie McLaughlin, right,would be a likely candidate for the initial NH Girls High School Hockey Invitational set for Saturday, June 20..

Maybe the high school hockey season isn’t over after all, at least on the girls side.

Introducing the New Hampshire Girls High School Hockey Invitational,set for Saturday, June 20 at the Tri-Town Arena in Hooksett and the brainchild of Nashua sports businessman Jon Goode.

Goode got the idea from his daughter, Kenzley, who is likely going to play prep school hockey in Massachusetts. Goode attends a ton of high school sporting events, including girls hockey and he knew that every year there is a New Hampshire-Vermont Make A Wish Senior All-Star Game (set for June 27 this year at Stowe, Vt.), but this is different. Players will be selected from New Hampshire high schools as well as from any junior and prep school programs in the region, with one stipulation – the players have to be from New Hampshire. They can be any year in high school (public or private) – freshman, sophomore, junior or senior. There will be a Freshmen-Sophomore Game at 4:30 p.m. followed by a Junior-Senior Game at 7:30 p.m.

Proceeds from the game will benefit girls youth hockey in New Hampshire.

Goode wanted to include players from prep schools, even out of state, citing the example of Windham’s Mia Langlois, a top hockey player at the prep school Cushing Academy, located in Ashburnham, Mass. Because she lives in New Hampshire, Langlois would be eligible for this game.

“We want to recognize the very best girl hockey players from the state of New Hampshire,” Goode said. “There are girls in other areas and at other levels who are also from New Hampshire, and they don’t get the recognition.

“So I figured what if I get creative, create a hockey game that is just for New Hampshire girls hockey players? Talking to some people in the game, they feel girls hockey in New Hampshire is definitely on the rise,and doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. … And we thought it would be fun to include players from all four years (freshmen through seniors).”

But to be specific, say a player plays for a New Hampshire private high school such as Bishop Guertin or Brady-West-Trinity but does not live in New Hampshire? They won’t be eligible for the event, Goode said.

“We had potential sponsors express interest because it was a game for New Hampshire players only,” he said, so he’ll be hard and fast on that rule.

And Goode did some research, and was astounded to realize that there were New Hampshire players who played on the U.S. Women’s Olympic Hockey Team that have won gold medals. Thus he recruited the support of four of them: Trisha Dunn-Luoma of Derry, Tara Mounsey of Concord, Katie King of Salem, and Kali Flanagan of Hudson Flanagan grew up and played most of her hockey career in Burlington, Mass.but her family moved to New Hampshire a few years ago.

“It’s just great to have them involved,” said Goode, who has the teams named Team Dunn, Team Flanagan, Team King and Team Mounsey. Which ones will be for what game (the underclassmen or upper classmen) hasn’t been decided yet.

The rosters will be filled via nominations, a process which has been extended through Friday, April 24 due to the pandemic.

The class year of the player is determined by the class the player was in on January 1. For example, if the player was a freshman on January 1,she would be eligible to play in the Freshman/Sophomore game. Each game will have three 20-minute periods with rosters of 12 forwards, eight defensemen and two goalies. The teams will be coached by girls youth hockey coaches in New Hampshire.

To nominate a player, those interested can to to www.nhgirlshockey.com. There are also social media sites on Facebook and Instagram for the game that will also include updates.

“The interest so far from players and coaches has been amazing,” Goode said. “But if there’s any girl who hasn’t been nominated that is worthy, we went people to feel free to nominate them or forward the information to parents.”

Once the nominations are closed, Goode will oversee picking the teams, and said he will have players from the same school play on the same team, rather than have them go against each other. In fact, he said, some players have already made that request.

Goode will then send emails out the week of April 27 to let players know if they have been selected. The rosters will be announced publicly the week of May 4.

Goode said several nominations have already been made, so he’ll have his work cut out for him. But also, while this is a New Hampshire event, Goode has been in preliminary discussions with the Vermont hockey community for a similar game down the road, and is even hoping to develop one for the Southern Maine region.

“But we want to get New Hampshire off the ground first,” he said.

Of course, for this year, there are potential COVID-19 pitfalls, as the nervous part for Goode about this event is if there’s a crowd restriction of say, 250 fans, it may not even cover the event expenses.

“If we try to raise money for a non-profit, it would be nearly impossible,” he said. “Not only will we lose sponsorships leading in because businesses don’t have it, but if we’re restricted on attendance, then. … We’re still planning on it. We haven’t canceled it. … Hopefully it happens.”

Either way, Goode wants to make this an annual event, and considers this an extremely important boost for New Hampshire girls high school hockey.

“We wanted to put something together that recognizes the top high school (age) girls hockey players from New Hampshire,” Goode said. “Whether it’s public, private, juniors, whatever it is, we’ll match them all together in one setting.”

A setting he hopes produces an event to remember, if it’s allowed to happen.

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