Alvirne-Milford took the trip up to Concord to take on the Oyster River Bobcats at Everett Arena in Concord, NH in the Division II semi-finals. This matchup pitted the sixth seed against the second seed, and it was anticipated to be a battle between two heavyweights, with the winner being the heavy favorite to win it all on Saturday against Spaulding, who had emerged victorious 3-1 over Dover earlier in the evening.
The first period saw Oyster River take control quickly over Alvirne-Milford with the Bobcats getting multiple chances with high-level pressure in their offensive zone. Still, as the Admirals saw in the quarters against Winnacunnet, senior netminder Trent Scarbro was up to the task.
It took Oyster River 6:27 to break the seal as Liam Eddy found the back of the net off a pass from Cam Beaupre that threaded the needle between Brandon Ganas and Cade Bouchard to make it 1-0 Oyster River.
Alvirne-Milford’s best opportunity to score in the game by far was when they were on the man advantage towards the end of the first period. Tallying five shots on Oyster River’s Cole Harwood in two minutes after the Bobcats took a bench minor for too many men on the ice. Unfortunately for the Admirals, Harwood kept Alvirne-Milford off the board through 15 minutes and the teams headed to the locker rooms with Alvirne-Milford trailing 1-0 to the Bobcats.
In the second period, it was more penalty trouble that got the Admirals in hot water as defenseman Landon Briand was called for hooking under two minutes into the period. Just 18 seconds later, Sawyer Levesque cleaned up the rebound in front of the net and just managed to sneak the puck over the goal line, getting an assist from his brother Cole, and making it 2-0 Bobcats.
The Admirals would kill off two more penalties while Oyster River killed one throughout the rest of the second period, and the score would remain 2-0 Bobcats to that point. Oyster River was just 15 minutes away from the title game against Spaulding and the Admirals needed to get some momentum and quickly.
Unfortunately for the Admirals, the exact opposite happened to start the third period, as, just 29 seconds into the final frame, Cam Beaupre got a goal of his own with assists from Brayden Moriarty and Cam Miner that would make it 3-0 Bobcats with just 14:31 left in regulation. The Admirals went from needing momentum to needing a miracle.
Oyster River, instead of pressuring for more scoring, opted to play the safe game and dump-and-chase most of the rest of the way, understanding that if the puck was on the Admirals’ side of the ice, they couldn’t possibly lose. Even when Alvirne-Milford was able to gain the offensive zone, they were unable to get sustained pressure, despite strong efforts by the likes of James Nemeth, Brandon Callahan, Brandon Ganas, and Mason Tomkins to keep plays alive.
The Bobcats weren’t done, however, as Brayden Moriarty took being robbed of a goal personally, as he found the back of the net, beating Scarbro high on his blocker side to make it 4-0 Oyster River, which is where the game would finish with the Bobcats punching their ticket to the finals against Spaulding. Oyster River went on to win that game, as well, earning themselves their first-ever NH State Championship in seven total tries.
For the Admirals, it wasn’t the way they wanted the season to end, but they did finish at 10-8-2 this season, a program best, and made a further run than any Alvirne hockey program has made since 2011-12 when they made the Division III championship and lost to Kennett.
