BY RYAN O’CONNOR

It may have been the consolation game of an exhibition tournament, but the West and Central offenses hardly looked frozen on ice.

After losing in the first round of the second annual Queen City Hockey Jamboree the week prior – a 3-2 setback to Trinity for West and a 4-1 loss to Memorial by Central – the two squads faced off Sunday, Dec. 9, at JFK Coliseum.

Though the Little Green jumped to an early 1-0 advantage, the Blue Knights scored three goals of their own in the first period and held on for a 5-4 victory.

Central sophomore Tyler Lavertu deflected the puck off a West defender’s stick three minutes into the modified contest, which included two 25-minute periods.

But five minutes later, Keith Pilotte knocked in a rebound on assists from Bedford’s Andrew Sterling and Hooksett’s Dalton Charest. And 40 seconds after that, Pilotte returned the favor, assisting on Charest’s successful one-timer. Joshua Fournier of Hooksett capped the first-period scoring when he lit the lamp with a laser from the blue line.

But Central came right back to start the second period; two quick tallies from Tyler Clark of Hooksett and Tim Sowa knotted the score.

The contest went back and forth the next five minutes, as Bedford’s Andrew Sterling scored for West, then Central responded with a goal from captain Jeff Monk, before Andrew Walton notched the game-winner with 13:45 remaining in the matchup.

While both coaches said the game was fun to watch, each admitted things are different when a game doesn’t count in the standings.

“You play to win and you hate losing for the kids,” said Central coach Randy Manni.

“But you (rotate) all four lines. You make sure everybody plays. You split the time with goalies. And you take a loss knowing if you had played different players in certain situations, you could have come out better.”

For West, winners of two games last season, coach Bob Rogier said the victory still serves an important purpose. “Obviously, from a selfconfidence standpoint, to win a game like that, a tight game against a city team, there’s a lot of positives in that,” he said. “They are all battles.”

Leading the Blue Knights this season are senior captain Zach Ouellet of Bedford and juniors Jon Mulvey and Jon St. Charles.

Also keying this year’s team are Sterling, Pilotte and Devin Greaney, as well as defenders Fournier, Kyle Lacerte and John Mara, Brad Sommer and Evan Bennett, said Rogier.

Promising varsity newcomers include Brandon Walton and Matthew Soutter.

Currently, juniors Kyle Dauphine and Michael West are battling for the starting goaltender position, though their coach said both have earned playing time.

“The expectations are a lot higher this year,” Rogier said. “We hope to win more games than we lose.”

Manni said Central hopes to improve on last season’s playoff appearance that ended in a loss to perennial D-I power

Berlin.

The first step, he added, is to improve on a seven-win ’06- ’07 season and post a .500 winning percentage.

Of Central’s eight seniors, Manni said he expects Monk, Sowa and Ross Croasdale to shine offensively. Each contributed 15 to 20 points last season,

he said.

“They’re our first line, and they bring a lot of offensive power and good experience,” said the mentor.

Defensively, senior Brendan Keenan of Candia and Tyler Pratt are expected to anchor

the blue line.

In net, Jared Cox, a fouryear letterman, starts and is backed up by junior Billy Lawson.

Game notes
Assisting on Blue Knight goals were Sterling, Charest, Pilotte, Fournier and Greaney. Central helpers came from Mackenzie Myers, Sean Burke, Greg Tibbins, Croasdale and Sowa.