After wild 2nd period, Kings skate away from Pioneers in city battle
A back-and-forth game through two periods turned into a two-goal victory for Manchester’s co-op high school ice hockey team.
MANCHESTER, NH — The Manchester Central/Memorial/West co-op high school boys hockey team entered Wednesday’s game against cross-city foe Trinity High School on the cusp of securing a Division-I playoff spot. Trinity needed the win to maintain its own playoff chances.
Competing at JFK Memorial Colosseum, it was the Kings (7-6-2) who managed to pull away in the third period to take the Queen City battle, 4-2.
“They cared more than us. They wanted it more than us,” said Trinity head coach Mike Connell. “They were short-staffed tonight. We just didn’t want to play.”
Indeed, Matt Vachon put the Kings on board first 4:51 into the contest on an asset from Luke Vattes and Jake Lessard.
The Pioneers (4-10-1) equalized on a power play goal from Max Beaulieu at 7:03 in the second only to watch the Kings retake the lead 31-seconds later on a shorthanded tally from Jake Lessard.
Trinity tied the game again less than three minutes later on a goal from TJ Venezia on a Conor Hurley ssist, the third goal between the two teams over the course of a five-minute major.
The Kings managed to regain the advantage when Owen Flynn found the back of the net on a Ryan Marden assist with 18 seconds remaining in the second period.
“That was a back-breaker,” said third-year head coach Jeremy Baker. “You know, it’s tied, 2-2, they score back-to-back goals on a 5-minute man advantage, so I said, ‘just keep the pressure on, get another goal and the game will be done, and we did it.”
Indeed, with 6:25 left in the third period, Connor Cunningham iced the game for Manchester on a Vattes assist.
“I said from the beginning of the year, I think (the Kings) are going to be a really good team, and they can make some noise,” said Connell.
“We were shorthanded. We had about five or six sick kids, but it is what it is, I told the kids to take it on as a challenge and give it their best effort, and they did alright,” said Kings third-year head coach.
The Kings, 5-1-2 in their last eight contests, look to continue their recent hot play as they head into their final three contests beginning with a challenging road matchup at 8-4-2 Hanover on Saturday at 1:10 p.m.
“Last year, we were 9-9, but this year, I think we’re a little closer, as a family, and we’re getting really good goaltending out of Cam Roberge,” said Baker. “It started in the Concord game. Even though we got beat, the kid made like 38 saves, and he’s carried it through to the last seven games and it keeps us in games, which is great.”
They’ll close the regular season with back-to-back home games against Windham and 0-13 Nashua North/Souhegan on Feb. 26 and March 1, respectively.
“If we can carry momentum, like we’ve done the last seven games, and try to get as high as seed as we can for the first round, that’s what we’re looking for,” said Baker. “You know, instead of being on the bottom, I’d rather be in the middle, so that’s the goal. We’ve got three games left and if we can win two out of three, that would put us in a really good situation.”
Trinity, 0-9-1 in its last 10 games dating back to Jan. 18, looks to right the ship and sneak into the playoffs as they finish the regular season with a challenging three game stretch beginning with a home clash against 9-3-1 Salem this Saturday at 4:10 p.m. before back-to-back road contests at 3-12 Bedford and 11-3 Bishop Guertin on Feb. 26 and March 1, respectively.
“We’ve been struggling with a few areas of our game and we just haven’t been able to get over a couple humps, and we’ve been in a few games that just didn’t go our way,” said Connell. “We’re not out of it, at least mathematically, but we need to win all three, and I’m expecting them to come out and play hard every night, regardless of who else (wins or loses) and we’ll go right down to the wire and see what happens. We’ve still got a shot.”
