Admirals Win First Playoff Game Since 2012, Advance to Semis

After finishing their regular season at 9-7-2, Alvirne-Milford earned their first playoff berth in five years and had to travel to Phillips Exeter Academy to get a rematch with Winnacunnet in the quarterfinals. If their first matchup was a thriller, this one was on another level. The Admirals took the game 4-2 and will play Oyster River in the first semifinal appearance in Alvirne-Milford program history with Alvirne’s last semifinal appearance coming in 2011-12 when they were a stand-alone program in Division III.
The first period saw Winnacunnet control action throughout with the most evident stat being that the Warriors outshot Alvirne-Milford 19-2 in the first frame. Fortunately for the Admirals, Trent Scarbro had 19 saves to Owen Helton’s 2, and the score was still 0-0.
Braydon Atwood had a chance early on to give the Admirals the lead with the team’s first shot on goal, but Helton got his pad on the puck, keeping things even and that’s where they’d head into the intermission.
Going into the second period, Alvirne-Milford looked like they were a brand-new team. Winnacunnet was able to get on the board first with a tip-in by Brayden Emery 3:36 into the second period. Drew Morelli and Alex Santora picked up assists on the goal that gave the Warriors a 1-0 lead.
Alvirne-Milford answered back very quickly, however, as they scored at 5:56 in the second. The goal was initially credited to Landon Briand, but it was then changed to James Nemeth’s goal with Briand picking up the assist.
Brandon Callahan gave the Admirals the lead with 7:40 to play in the second frame. No assists were credited on Callahan’s first goal of the playoffs that gave his squad the lead, where they would stay until the final horn.
Nemeth tallied his second goal of the night with 4:42 left in the second. Cedrik Beaulieu and Bryce Larco were given assists on Nemeth’s second. That would send things into the second intermission with Alvirne-Milford up 3-1 and just 15 minutes from the semis.
In the third period, Drew Morelli kicked off the scoring, clawing his team back to within a goal as he scored on the powerplay after Ryan Ricard was called for hooking with 13:20 left in regulation. Nolan Rennie and Brayden Emery were credited with the assists on the Morelli goal.
That would be as close as the Warriors would get to tying things back up, though, as Brandon Ganas buried his first goal of the playoffs with 3:50 left in the game to send the game to its final of 4-2. Mason Tomkins and Braydon Atwood got the assists on Ganas’ marker.
It wasn’t a lack of chances for Winnacunnet, as they were credited with 50 shots on goal, but Scarbro stopped 48 of the 50 to send his team to the semis and push them one win closer to their first title in school history.
Three stars of the night went to Trent Scarbro who picked up the win and stopped 48/50 shots he faced, James Nemeth who had two goals, including the game-winner in the second period, and Brandon Ganas who picked up the final Admiral tally of the night and sealed the deal for Alvirne-Milford.

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