The Alvirne-Milford Admirals entered January on a hot streak never before seen by the co-op program before. Winners of their first three games of the season and Division II’s number one seed.
The Admirals’ schedule for the month of January certainly isn’t an easy one, though, consisting of Nashua South-Pelham, Merrimack, Somersworth-Coe-Brown, Dover, a rematch with Monadnock-Fall Mountain-ConVal, Spaulding, Winnacunnet, and St. Thomas Aquinas in that order.
A tall task to say the least. Alvirne-Milford came out of the break with losses to South-Pelham and Merrimack last week, 2-1 and 6-1 respectively.
The Nashua South-Pelham game seemed to be one that the Admirals had a chance to win from puck drop, as they finished the first period 1-0 in favor of South-Pelham. Both goaltenders were putting on clinics on how to play the position, with Kian Corcoran keeping up his hot streak for the Admirals, only allowing a single goal on a breakaway that Brandon Doughty managed to get two shots from, and Riley Pellitier continuing to heat up for the Kings.
The second period saw penalties aplenty on Alvirne-Milford, but the penalty killers, who came into the game 22/23 on the kill, came up big for the Admirals yet again. They would finish the night 5/5 and push their season mark to 27/28, not having allowed a powerplay goal since Lebanon-Stevens-Mascoma tallied one in their first game of the season.
In the third, both Gavin Asimakoupoulous and James Nemeth tallied markers to make the score 2-1 where it would finish. Not the ending the Admirals wanted, especially knowing that Merrimack had beaten Keene earlier in the night, earning themselves not only the four points for a win, but the extra point for defeating a Division 1 squad.
Saturday meant a matchup with hated rival Merrimack for the Admirals. And it was also a battle against a familiar face in former Admiral James Brew.
While these two teams entered Saturday as top contenders in Division 2, it looked to be a mismatch from the get-go, as Brayden Guagliumi and Eliot Medlock each had hat-tricks for the Tomahawks, and the Admirals, despite having a decent amount of puck possession, allowed several odd-man rushes and had a few dangerous turnovers that senior goaltender Trent Scarbro couldn’t bail his team out of.
One bright spot on the night from the game against Merrimack was Bryce Larco, who solidified his hold of third on the team in goals with his fifth tally of the night. Assists came from captain Ceddy Beaulieu and junior defenseman Ryan Ricard.
Our three stars of the week will go to Kian Corcoran, who despite the loss, stopped 21/23 shots he faced, Bryce Larco, who scored a goal and had an assist this week, and Trent Scarbro, who looked excellent despite allowing the six goals to the Tomahawks, with most of them coming by way of 2-on-0 rushes or turnovers in the slot directly in front of the net.
Alvirne-Milford’s schedule this week will consist of a trip to Rochester to play the Somersworth-Coe-Brown Bearcats, who enter at 4-2, on Wednesday at 5 p.m., which will air live on Anchor Down Sports’ Youtube page as well as Hudson Community TV’s channel 8, and then a home matchup against last season’s champions, the Dover Green Wave, who come into the week at 1-2-2 pending their matchup Wednesday night against an undefeated Winnacunnet Warriors team.