Page’s hat trick leads Manchester past Souhegan, 5-3

NASHUA, NH — Junior Rylee Page notched her first hat trick of the season to spark Manchester to a 5-3 win over Souhegan Regional, Wednesday night at Conway Arena.

Page added an assist, helping Manchester craft its highest offensive output of the season.

Elizabeth Kelley (goal, 2 assists) and Taylor Morin also scored for Manchester (1-6-0).

As the clock struck “0:00”, the Manchester players mobbed freshman goalie Sofie Loya. It was an emotional win for a team has taken its lumps against some of the best teams in the state early in the season.

”It’a a big win for us because most of our girls are new skaters, who just stepped on the ice this year,” said senior Captain Rosie Tague-Bleau. “It just shows how we can come together and what we can accomplish as a team. And it shows how much improvement we’ve all made through the years.”

Head Coach Cassidy Lavigne celebrated the win with her team in a raucous locker room but said that with such an inexperienced team, success and progress are measured in other ways.

”The girls are here, not just for the wins, but to learn the game of hockey,” said Lavigne. “I’m here to teach them to play, how to be good people and how to be great, on and off the ice.”

Manchester dominated the game for long stretches, moving the puck well and applying steady pressure. The game might have been a blowout, but for the stellar play of Souhegan goalie Maeve McNamara, who finished with 34 saves,

Manchester fell behind early, as Souhegan drew first blood on a goal by Hanalia Dykstra, 8:27 into the game.

Manchester tied the game on a highlight reel goal by Page. She took the puck in the neutral zone, raced down the left side and beat McNamara over her left shoulder.

Souhegan retook the lead, less than a minute later, on a goal from Avery Wyborney.

McNamara did what she could to hold off Manchester, making big saves on Page on consecutive rushes. But on the second, Kelley was waiting on the doorstep and knocked home the rebound to tie the game, 2-2, with 1:44 left in the first.

Moments later, Manchester was on the attack again. This time, Kelley dug the puck out of the corner and slid a perfect centering pass to Page, who snapped it just inside the post to make it 3-2.

Manchester went into its locker room leading at the end of a period for the first time this season.

Lavigne made sure her team knew there was still 30 minutes of hockey to play and plenty of room for improvement.

”We talked a lot about how we felt like we were playing as individuals and not as a team,” she said. “We were kind of (playing) frantic with some of the things that were happening, so we told them just to focus on playing as a team.”

What followed was as complete a period of hockey as Manchester has played all season. They outshot Souhegan, 14-3 in the period, with forwards backchecking consistently to help the defense.

A power play goal by Morin gave Manchester some breathing room, before Page finished off her hat trick to make it 5-2, with 1:22 left in the second period.

Lyla Hawkes closed out the scoring for Souhegan (0-7-0).

Manchester returns to the ice Saturday at 4:10 pm, when they play host to Exeter High at JFK Arena.