While not playing any games that counted toward the NHIAA Standings throughout the Holiday break, the Admirals played in the Backyard Brawl Holiday Tournament, hosted by the Hollis-Brookline-Derryfield School Warriors. The tournament was played at Conway Arena in Nashua.
Alvirne-Milford went 1-1 in the tourney, losing to Nashua North-Souhegan 7-1 and beating the host Hollis-Brookline-Derryfield School Warriors 6-0. They also got credit for a forfeit win against the Monadnock-Fall Mountain-ConVal Huskies, earning them 6 points in the tournament, and giving them a third-place finish behind only Nashua South-Pelham and Nashua North-Souhegan.
The Admirals got off to a rough start in the tourney in day two, drawing a very good Sabre-Titans team that played a physical style while also utilizing the stretch passes to spring their star forwards, Jacob Landry and captain Chase McBride, who combined for five of the seven goals scored by the victorious Sabre-Titans.
After having six days between games, the Admirals came out of the gate and struggled, falling behind 3-0 in the first half and surrendering the first point. Netminder Trent Scarbro, who has traditionally been stellar as a backstop for Alvirne-Milford struggled mightily against that Nashua North-Souhegan first line. He didn’t receive much help from the players in front of him, but it felt like he wasn’t on his game.
In the second half, the Sabre-Titans would begin to pour it on, even with the Admirals swapping goaltenders and sending sophomore Kian Corcoran in to try and stop the bleeding. Corcoran would allow four goals in the second half, and despite Bryce Larco breaking up the shutout that Sabre-Titan netminder Zach Veilleux had going, the Admirals lost 7-1.
“My boys got humbled today,” said head coach, Dave Thibeault, “Tomorrow is a new day.”
In their second game of the tournament, Alvirne-Milford would take on the host Warriors, who play their games traditionally in Division 3, and the Admirals made it look like the mismatch that it should have been, winning 6-0 with goaltender, Kian Corcoran, getting his second shutout in as many starts.
The Admirals were able to flash their depth scoring, with all six goals coming from their second line. Brandon Ganas led the way with his first three tallies as an Admiral. Brandon Callahan added two more, including a one-timer on the powerplay in the second half that senior goalie Rachel Irving had no chance to stop. Braydon Atwood would also score a goal for Alvirne-Milford.
In a game that the Admirals had to bounce back in, they did exactly that with far better play, crisper passes, cleaner shifts, and excellent play all around. They will definitely need the momentum going into their next matchup against Nashua South-Pelham on Wednesday, January 3.
Final standings for the tournament saw Nashua South-Pelham winning with 8.5 points and just two goals allowed, Nashua North-Souhegan with 8.5 points and three goals allowed, Alvirne-Milford with 6 points, Merrimack with 3.5 points, Hollis-Brookline-Derryfield with 0.5 points, and Monadnock-Fall Mountain, who forfeited their spot, had 0 points.
Alvirne-Milford will embark on a very tough stretch out of the break, beginning with the Nashua South-Pelham Kings at home on Wednesday at 7:50pm, then travelling to Manchester to play the Merrimack Tomahawks on Saturday at 4:00 pm and to Rochester to play the Somersworth-Coe-Brown Bearcats on Wednesday the 10th at 7:50pm before getting another home game on Saturday the 13th at 3:30 pm against the Dover Green Wave.
The three stars for Alvirne-Milford in the tournament go to Brandon Ganas, who tallied his first three goals, Kian Corcoran, who despite the rough outing against North-Souhegan, bounced back against Hollis-Brookline-Derryfield and got the shutout, and Brandon Callahan who added two goals to push his season total to six goals in five games.
