In a season in which the Admirals have struggled to find consistency, Saturday proved to be the biggest example. For the first time in nine total games, the Admirals dropped a game in which they held a lead at some point in the contest, having led 1-0, 3-1, and 4-3 at different points in the game before Spaulding would tie it up each time, scoring the game-winning goal with 33.8 seconds remaining in the third period, making it a 5-4 final.
This loss drops the Admirals to NHIAA .500 at 4-4-1, still being the second-best nine-game start in Admirals team history, only behind the team’s first season as a co-op program in which they went 4-3-2 in their first nine games in a season that the team finished 8-8-2 and earned a spot in the playoffs as the 8th seed.
Alvirne-Milford came out of the gates solidly with Landon Briand breaking the seal with his third goal of the season just 3:42 into the first period of action, and that is where the game stood after his team played lockdown defense in front of the suddenly red-hot senior netminder Trent Scarbro.
Scarbro managed to push his shutout streak to a whopping 94:07 between goals from Zach Grigg of Dover and Drew Tremblay of Spaulding, who scored two minutes into the second period, meaning he hadn’t allowed a goal in over two full contests worth of hockey.
Alvirne-Milford would respond back quickly, however, with Brandon Ganas and Cade Bouchard both getting goals of their own in fairly quick succession to make it 3-1 in favor of the visiting Admirals with 7:42 to play in the middle frame.
Second-period scoring wouldn’t stop there as Trevor Brennan found the back of the net on the powerplay with just over 24 seconds left to make it 3-2 Admirals heading to intermission.
In the third period, it seemed as if Alvirne-Milford felt content with just killing the final fifteen minutes off the clock and heading for the bus and a win. The Red Raiders, however, had different plans, as Braydon Roy found the back of the net for the second Red Raider goal in just 1:15 of action, scoring 50 seconds into the third.
The Admirals wouldn’t go down without a fight, however, as with just over 11 minutes to play in the third period, junior defenseman Ryan Ricard found the back of the net on a wrist shot that was initially ruled no-goal and then called a goal moments later. This was not only his first goal in NHIAA action, but it gave his team a 4-3 lead with a chance to come out of Rochester with a huge win.
Alvirne-Milford played much of the remaining period well, being content with getting the puck deep in the Spaulding end and killing time off the clock until Brandon Ganas got called on a five-minute major penalty for boarding with 9:09 left in the game.
Trevor Brennan would capitalize on his second goal of the game with 4:47 left in regulation, marking the first time the Admirals allowed two PPG in a single game all season, and more importantly, making it 4-4.
Both teams had chances to take the lead as time wound down in the third, although it would be Tyler Jean who got the game-winning goal with 33.8 seconds left on a juicy rebound that Scarbro couldn’t seem to find to make it 5-4 and give the Red Raiders a come-from-behind victory.
