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Central skaters on the board following intra-city victory

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:13:00 GMT

BY RYAN O’CONNOR

They say the first win is always the most difficult. They are, of course, wrong. No matter the level, anyone who has coached recognizes it’s the last victory – the one that comes in the final contest of the postseason – that’s toughest to garner.

And that’s why Manchester Central’s first-year head hockey coach, Chris D’Agostino, wasn’t exactly doing cartwheels at center ice following the Little Green’s 7-4 triumph against rival Memorial on Saturday, Jan. 10.

Though he fully recognizes the lengths his team must travel to even be mentioned in the same breath as perennial powers Bishop Guertin, Bishop Brady and Concord, D’Agostino said the win was still meaningful.

“I needed it, but the kids needed it more than anything,” he said. “You know, we were 0-3, now we’re 1-3, so it’s definitely a little confidence booster. I thought we looked great out there.”

After opening the season with three tight setbacks against St. Thomas Aquinas, Pinkerton and Berlin, all top teams in Division I, D’Agostino said it was important to enter another tough stretch – against Concord, Salem and West – with momentum.

“We’ve got a bunch of players that are hard to get focused at times, but they’re good, coachable kids,” said D’Agostino. “And I’ll tell you what, winning is a lot more fun than losing. Now they’ve experienced that feeling, and I hope they want more of it.”

Ideally, Central can make a habit out of the practice, perhaps earn six or more victories and reach the postseason. But those are only this year’s goals.

“I definitely want to build the program to be bigger and better,” said D’Agostino. “Every year we should be making the playoffs. Every year we should be winning games at a school the size of Central.”

The team is young, so those coveted tournament triumphs may not be far off.

D’Agostino has only one senior, Zach Wentworth, on his top line. He had a hand in all seven goals against Memorial. His other top playmakers include juniors Kyle Pratte, who recorded a hat trick, Tyler Lavertu and Cam Geddes, who found the net twice.

Freshman Rene Couture, with no goaltending experience, starts in net for the Little Green this season and has already improved markedly.

Also contributing for the Little Green this season are seniors Nick St. Croix, Karl Ludwig and Tyler Pratte; juniors Alex Murphy, Trevor Paquet, Chris Straw and Greg Hood; sophomores Sean Burke, Mackenzie Myers, Kyle Pettit, Ben Johnson, Jon Bairam and Tyler Clark; and freshmen Joe Libby, Easton Dubois and Derek Clark.

Flames heat up quickly

Hooksett Editor — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:26:00 GMT

The Sports Arena Pee Wee Major Manchester Flames have played very well in the Massachusetts Select Hockey League and the Granite State League’s Tier 1.

In a 4-1 win over the Boston Jr. Bruins, goals from Brendan Philippon, Brendan Sullivan, Matt Moriarty and Connor Powell were more than enough to ensure victory. Moriarty, Powell and Ross Lougee earned assists.

The Flames then edged the Dual State Huskies, 2-1, as Bryan Syrene and Powell, with 36 seconds remaining in regulation, tallied. Ian Beliveau and Chase Poirier shared goalkeeping duties throughout.

The duo then shared a 2-0 shutout against the Neponset Valley River Rats. Powell and Andrew Kehas scored.

In a battle of Mass. Select powerhouses, the Flames tied the Valley Junior Warriors, 4-4, taking a 3- 0 lead, falling behind, then battling back. Moriarty, Kehas and Powell tallied early, and Powell’s second goal knotted the score. Josh Roy and Syrene earned helpers.

Another fall weekend, another two wins for the Flames, 5-1 over the Middlesex Braves and 8-1 over the Hooksett Avalanche.

Down early to the Braves, two shorthanded goals by Powell and another by Philippon turned the game. Cam Brown, Moriarty, Patrick Gagliardi, Andrew Putney and Philippon earned assists for the unselfish Flames.

Evan Tyros scored twice and assisted on another goal against the Avs. Gagliardi, Kehas, Powell, Moriarty, Sullivan and Syrene also found the net.

The Connecticut Clippers were the next victim, 5-2. Sullivan managed a hat trick and two helpers, and Powell scored twice. Ross Lougee also registered an assist.

The Flames also shut out the previously unbeaten North Suburban Wings, 4-0. Roy lit the lamp twice, and Lougee and Sullivan also found the net. Parker Anderson earned an assist.

Poirier and Beliveau continue to shine in goal.

The Flames tamed the Huskies, 5-1, spreading out the scoring among Philippon, Powell, Brown, Tyros and Lougee. Gagliardi dished three assists.

The Seacoast Spartans fell to the Flamese, 3-1, as Putney, Syrene and Philippon potted the puck. Tyros, Tim Tetrault and Anderson recorded assists.

The Pee Wees crushed the Nashua Pro Ambition Panthers, 6- 0. Beliveau and Poirier shared the win in net. Kehas scored twice, and Brady Sufat capped the offensive onslaught.

The Pee Wee team also skated past the Valley Jr. Warriors, 3-1, in a battle of league leaders. Roy scored twice. Sullivan added an unassisted tally. Moriarty assisted both Roy goals.

The Flames also won four times at the Springfield Pics Fall Classic, outscoring the Central Connecticut Capitals, Long Island Royals, hometown Pics and Wonderland Wizards by a combined score of 16-4, before succumbing to C.D. Selects in the tourney semifinal, 3-1. Kehas scored two goals in three of the contests.

At games, some adults cross the line of unacceptable behavior

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:45:00 GMT

BY RYAN O’CONNOR

Sitting at a youth hockey conference, watching what was likely to be another boring prerecorded training video, Kermit Brunelle sighed.

On the screen, Don Lucia, coach of the national champion University of Minnesota ice hockey team, was giving a speech.

“A lot of people think I have the best job in hockey, and I tell them, ‘You know, I have the second- best job in hockey,’” said Lucia. “‘The best job is being the head coach at an orphanage – no parents to deal with.’” Brunelle chuckled.

The Bedford native has been coaching youth hockey in the greater-Manchester area the past decade.

For nine years, he woke before sunrise, brought his son or daughter to a frigid ice rink and taught half-awake children to skate, handle the puck and, most importantly, play hard and clean. Only this year did he shed the added pressure of coaching one of his own children.

He’s been able to handle the lack of sleep and multiple layers of clothing well enough.

In fact, the experience has generally been positive, even rewarding, but it’s parents who think their child deserves more playing time than another, or those who vocally second-guess a coach or official, that grate on his nerves.

That behavior, said Brunelle, does not reflect the true nature of youth sports.

In some cases, emotions run high; in extreme cases, people are hurt, even killed. Usually, it’s the child who suffers.

Pressure points
As a Little League coach in Goffstown, Bob Gurskis knows all too well the weight parents can put on coaches’ and players’ shoulders.

In a town where baseball roots grow deep, he feels like just another weed to be plucked from the infield dirt, even after leading the Goffstown 9- and 10- year-old tournament team to a District 1 title in 2007.

“Some parents are so demanding, I literally have to talk to them and say, ‘Hey, lighten up, you’re taking the (kid’s minds) out of the game,’” said Gurskis. He said he’s talked to several players so disenchanted they’re ready to quit the sport rather than continue into Babe Ruth. It’s no wonder, he said, that at least one study indicates only 9 percent of children play organized baseball after the age of 12.

Gurskis grew up playing in Nashua and competed in semipro ball. He relocated to Florida and coached Little League there before moving to Goffstown. The attitude toward junior baseball in Goffstown – as compared to everywhere else he’s lived – is astounding, he said. “This year, even more than ever, I think it’s kind of 50-50.

Half the families and half the people involved understand baseball is entertainment. It’s a game. Coaches teach you to work hard. Sports is a healthy thing,” he said. “The other half take the game so far to the opposite direction. Every play is life or death. Every pitch is the last out of the World Series.”

And Gurskis said that mentality has reached the softball diamond, the soccer field and the football gridiron, among other playing surfaces.

“Everyone gets emotional,” he said. “But it becomes personal. ‘Why is your son getting the starting assignment and not mine?’ or ‘Why is he playing four innings and mine is only playing three and two-thirds?’”

Gurskis has clashed with fellow board members and coaches who have exhibited such an attitude, both at games and behind closed doors.

He can deal with the shots fired at him. It’s the collateral damage that concerns him.

“The pressure comes down on the kids, and that’s not what you want,” he said. “They’re going to find pressure in life without us. We don’t need to put more on them.

“Let’s help them try to be successful and analyze and improve what they’ve done wrong rather than scream at them for swinging at a bad pitch.”

It’s not just the coaches and players who are targets.

Leon Kenison of Bow began officiating baseball in high school when he was forced to substitute for a group of absent umpires. Roughly 50 years later he’s still listening to parents, coaches and players question his rulings. Most of it is background noise.

“Because of my gray hair, I guess I don’t get as much grief as some of my younger colleagues, whether it be from parents, coaches or players … But it’s tough to say because I’ve really trained myself not to hear that stuff,” said Kenison. “I know the younger (umps) let it get to them a little. When I’m in the stands I prefer to be a silent spectator and only positively encourage those on the field, but if I’m umping and someone gets really bad, I’ll just turn to them and say, “Gosh, I could use some help.”

There is constant recruiting for umpires, added Kenison, who said he’d rather be officiating than coaching.

“The coaches get a lot more pressure from parents in terms of, ‘Why doesn’t my kid play more?’” he said. “Not only do they have logistic stuff, in terms of scheduling practices and finding fields, which is a nightmare, but they have to deal with the parents of a 12-year-old kid who is going to break into the Major Leagues next week.”

Kenison has umpired and/ or coached at every local level, from Little League to high school to American Legion and beyond, and he’s seen the sport and the attitudes evolve.

In the past, a disruptive parent would be reprimanded and usually calmed by peers. These days, it’s not necessarily a parent’s actions that create problems, said Kenison, it’s inaction. “A kid (is) throwing a hissy fit when they think they’ve been tagged out or something like that,” he said. “… I’m not saying parents should reprimand their kids right on the field, but I certainly don’t see folks getting involved (in discipline) like they did 20 or 30 years ago. I think it makes it harder on the coaches more than anyone.”

Brunelle can relate.

On the ice, he teaches children to play with respect for themselves, their foes and the game, minus the violence generally associated with hockey. He knows other coaches preach a similar approach.

Yet many pupils still exhibit selfish tendencies.

“It’s the trips home from the rink after games,” said Brunelle. “(Parents are) talking about the performance of their individual child, where on the bench we’re stressing team play.”

Every now and then he witnesses the effects of a parent coaching from a distance.

“A lot of parents, I think, try to live vicariously through their children,” he said. “But parents yelling from the stands in such a manner that a child can hear it, that child usually takes it as criticism and internalizes it as a negative experience for them.”

Indeed, such actions generally serve as a deterrent to participate, said Kate Hays, who practiced sports psychology in Concord for 25 years before moving her practice to Toronto in 1997.

“Ironically, a kid may lose interest in being involved in sports because of the huge amount of negative energy involved,” she said. “(The parent) is thinking they’re protecting their kid or standing up for their kid, but most kids actually find that type of intervention embarrassing and feel more pressure to perform.

“Essentially, what may ordinarily be a fun activity with friends begins to have a lot of emotional pieces that in turn create long-term implications.”

Jim Bail not only coaches and serves as a Little League board member in Windham, but he scouts players for the professional ranks.

At one particular American Legion game in 2007, Bail was asked by Concord coach Avril Cate to take a look at a couple players.

Bail obliged and, after the game, pulled one particular athlete aside and told him he’ll never have a chance at the next level if he continues to throw fits over an umpire’s calls.

“I see parents softening their kids up a little more than is good for them,” he said.

More than ever, he added, parents are turning their children into victims.

“(The players) aren’t taking enough ownership for their own issues,” he said. “They try to pout their way onto teams or try to pout their way into starting positions – with mom and dad in the background saying how unfair it is – instead of bucking up and doing it themselves.”

Even in youth football, said Dave Tremblay, a coach receives their share of parent-generated headaches.

Tremblay has coached football at the youth and high school level for roughly 10 years.

“Generally, I think you have two different types of parents,” said the current Pembroke Academy head coach. “You have the parents who expect their kids to be all-stars, and then you have the parents who kind of have the fear of the unknown, the ones who get nervous when their kids are practicing five days a week, and they’re getting used to the physicality of the sport.” The latter is easier to deal with, said Tremblay.

He remembered one incident when he coached the Hooksett Hurricanes.

A neighbor, whose child played under Tremblay, decided to confront him because of a perceived lack of playing time.

A mildly heated exchange ensued, recalls the coach, but he said he learned from the experience.

“First of all, the Pop Warner rules set forth and regulate playing time, but I’ve just learned to be really open with everyone and let them know up front how it’s going to be. I also spread the responsibility among my coaches, so it’s not just my decision, and parents can’t single out one person.”

Even if disagreements occur, Hays said these kinds of moments offer opportunities to positively resolve problems.

More importantly, she said it’s necessary to communicate with the child and identify and separate the aspirations of the young athlete from the parent.

Proof positive
One of Brunelle’s most memorable moments as coach involved a youngster from Minnesota who had transferred to New Hampshire and was moving back to the Midwest with his parents.

“I received an e-mail thanking me for my efforts as a coach, and more importantly it said the one thing the boy remembered is, at the end of the game when you shake hands, you’re supposed to take your glove off.”

That, said Brunelle, was indicative of parents who care, and there are many of them, he said.

In fact, all parties interviewed for this story acknowledged they’ve generally had positive experiences with youth sports, and they said there are some encouraging trends.

Leagues around the country are taking proactive approaches to eliminating inappropriate behavior.

Kenison noted that approximately 10 years ago the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association created a policy that mandates any coach or player ejected from a game must sit at least one additional contest. A second violation brings an immediate end to that individual’s season.

Several other organizations, said Kenison, including Babe Ruth, have adopted similar policies. “It’s sort of a motivational tool to make people behave, and from what I’ve seen, it’s made a heck of a difference,” he said. “People previously felt they could have their say anytime they wanted, and now we just say, ‘See ya.’ I think that’s had a very sobering effect on malcontents and makes the umpiring job much easier.”

Brunelle said USA Hockey and Granite State Youth Hockey have created a parents code of conduct and are enforcing zero-tolerance policies concerning a parent’s verbal or physical abuse of a player, coach, fellow parent or official.

If an individual breaks the code, he said, a 30-day suspension follows, and those punished must go before a board and request reinstatement.

“I think it’s needed just to make sure parents understand this is a game,” said Brunelle, “and winning and losing is not that important, as long as kids continue to develop as players and people.”

In ‘Blue’ battle, Salem pulls away from West

Hooksett Editor — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 01:11:00 GMT

BY JERRY LIPTAK

The Division I match-up between 9-4-0 Salem and 5-6-2 Manchester West had a little something for every ice hockey fan: fine goaltending from both starting netminders, hard-hitting confrontations in the corners, frenetic action from blue line to blue line, even some heated verbal exchanges.

Ultimately, the visiting Salem Blue Devils had a little too much of everything for the host West Blue Knights to combat, taking a 6-1 victory at JFK Coliseum on Saturday, Feb. 9.

But at first, and well into the second period, West maintained a precarious hold on the lead, thanks largely to Mike West.

The junior goalie turned aside 16 shots in the first 24 minutes of action, thwarting odd-man rushes and pointblank attempts from a relentless Salem group.

In the meantime, the Blue Knights took a 1-0 lead 5:30 into the match when junior Andrew Sterling beat Salem’s sophomore keeper, Robert Liberatore, on assists from classmates Devin Greaney and Brad Sommer.

Salem’s head coach, Mark McGinn, said he didn’t need to chastise his players during the first intermission.

“We came out flat, no energy to speak of. We weren’t really excited,” said McGinn. “I didn’t have to say anything about that (in the locker room). The guys really picked up the pace from there.”

Indeed, Salem peppered West with 12 shots in the second period. Three found the mark. All were scored in a twominute span.

First, Ryan Desroches knocked in a rebound from Joel Vastl’s shot, knotting the score 9:19 into the period.

Just 34 seconds later, Michael Frahm, sandwiched by two Blue Knights, managed to push the puck past West for a 2-1 Salem lead. Seniors Derek Tomes and Joshua Frahm assisted on the sophomore’s go-ahead goal.

The deluge concluded 1:07 later when Vastl tipped in Mark Baroni’s left-handed blast from near the blue line. Desroches also earned an assist.

From that point, Salem and West players became testy, leading to an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Blue Devils after the second period ended.

That meant the Blue Knights took the ice in the third period with a power-play opportunity.

Instead of West cutting into the lead, the game was effectively decided on two short-handed tallies.

Joshua Frahm picked off an errant pass and, 10 seconds into the third, gave Salem a 4-1 edge. About one minute later, Desroches scored his second goal on another Josh Frahm helper.

West’s first-year head coach, Bob Rougier, replaced his goalie when Derek Tomes capped the scoring with less than five minutes remaining. Tyler Vigue assisted on that goal.

Rougier, though frustrated by another uneven effort, was pleased with West’s night between the pipes, as well as what he called aggressive, intelligent play from Keith Pilotte and Jon St. Charles, both juniors.

“He does what the coaches tell him to do,” said Rougier of St. Charles. “He’s a leader out there.”

West owns victories against .500 Pinkerton and secondplace Hanover, and Rougier absolutely expects a postseason appearance by his team. However, he said the group, which currently has only two reliable lines, must continue to develop a third line and avoid the lapses that proved insurmountable against Salem.

Frustrating night for Central means loss at Salem

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:29:00 GMT

BY MATT SCHOOLEY

Manchester Central generated little on offense, falling 3-0 on the road to Salem High School in Division I boys ice hockey on Saturday, Jan. 5.

Salem scored little more than two minutes into the contest when forward Derek Tomes put in a rebound past Central goalie Jared Cox.

Central trailed by three when, with 9:20 remaining in the game, the team produced its best chance to score.

After an initial shot was stopped by Salem goalie Robbie Liberatore, nearly every Central player put a stick on the puck during the ensuing scrum, but Liberatore stopped all five putback chances, and the Blue Devils cruised from there.

Salem head coach Mark McGinn said discipline helped his crew beat the Little Green. “I think for the most part until the end we stayed out of the (penalty) box. We played good team defense and eliminated a lot of shots from their offense,” he said. “We brought a little more energy and had a bit better spirit.”

The game was physical, with multiple roughing penalties throughout. The two teams committed 23 penalties, including a 10-minute major on Greg Tebbetts.

“If you look at the first period, there were only a few penalties. As we got the lead on them, they started taking a few more, and ours were kind of reacting,” said McGinn. “If it were a tighter game, I don’t think you would see those penalties.”

Entering the contest, Central had been averaging four goals per game, having scored seven, six and five goals in wins over Memorial, Berlin and Trinity, respectively. The Little Green also boasted a 3-2 win against perennial power Bishop Guertin on Jan. 2.

Although it was the only regular-season match between the two teams, Salem’s coach said his group was familiar with Central.

“A lot of it is preparation. We’ve watched them a few times,” said McGinn. “We neutralized their top line, and when you get a couple (of goals) on them, they take some more chances. We put them in that position because our offense gave us a lead.”

LeClerc retires after longtime local ties in sport

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 20:02:00 GMT

BY MATT STOUT

More than 36 years of coaching hockey can go by in a blur, and perhaps, in some ways, it has for Rene LeClerc. Yet, on this night, his final night as the coach of the Southern New Hampshire University men’s ice hockey team, LeClerc can remember nearly every single detail.

Standing behind his bench in the Northeast-10 semifinals on Feb. 28, LeClerc said he felt as if he could see things happening before they actually did as his team played rival St. Anselm College into overtime.

The game slowed down, time seemed to inch by and LeClerc, envisioning his team scoring the gamewinning goal, felt laid-back, even through the frantic extra frame. In a word, he said, it was surreal.

“And then all of a sudden it’s a quick turnover, a goal and the game’s over, and you’re like, ‘What? What happened here?’” LeClerc said of Mike Foley’s score that lifted the topseeded Hawks into the tournament championship. “So I wasn’t a good prognosticator.”

But a coach, mentor and hockey mind, few would argue with LeClerc’s credentials.

Though the outcome wasn’t the ending he or his Penmen wanted, LeClerc said he has no regrets as he retires after eight years as SNHU’s coach. Since taking the job in June 1999, the Candia resident has elevated the program to heights it never before reached.

In compiling a program-best .569 winning percentage through a 111- 82-16 record, LeClerc guided the Penmen to a conference title game four times, a school-record 18 wins in the 2004-’05 season – the same year he was named NE-10 Coach of the Year – and their first win over St. A in the program’s 32-year history.

That success followed 12 years as the coach at Manchester Central, which played in two state title games under LeClerc, and the time he spent as a Division I college hockey official.

For all this, LeClerc is being inducted into the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey Hall of Fame, which will honor the coach and eight others in a ceremony at C.R. Sparks in Bedford on Sunday, April 1, at 11 a.m.

It’s purely coincidental the honor comes at the same time LeClerc is stepping down. The New Hampshire College alum, who last March overcame a heart attack that put him in the hospital prior to the NE-10 championship, told his players, coaches and the school before the season that it would be his last.

But it surely makes for a deserving ending.

“When Peter Tufts, the previous coach, left, what I really wanted was a guy who was just hockey,” said SNHU athletics director Chip Polak. “And Rene and hockey are synonymous. It’s not basketball, it’s not golf, it’s not tennis – it’s hockey. That’s what I really wanted, especially in terms of professionalism, and that’s what I got with Rene.”

A clear impact LeClerc’s career can be defined by many things, with professionalism and his fiery nature as a coach at the forefront.

Concord High coach Duncan Walsh, who faced LeClerc in each of his 12 years at Central, remembered a fierce competitor unafraid to give the officials his – ahem – opinion. He also recalled a match-up in 1993 when Concord, the defending state champ, brought its 16-game win streak into the JFK Coliseum for a regular-season contest.

Central prevailed in overtime, Concord made the finals later that season, and the Little Green followed the year after.

Yet, that hard-nosed coach seemed to soften a little bit this past season, though that hardly was a negative thing, said SNHU goalie Matt Courchesne.

“I thought he changed after his heart attack,” the sophomore said. “Before, I thought he was that hard-ass coach that, if you screw up, you’re skating. Then he had his heart attack. He appreciated life more, and he became that type of coach that you were good friends with.”

Some players may remember him that way, but as far as his legacy at SNHU, perhaps nothing tops the success he had against the school’s biggest rival.

Winless against St. A since the inception of the program, the Penmen finally broke through last season with a 4-3 win and have split the teams’ last four meetings.

The “godfather of the hockey program,” according to associate head coach Ken Hutchins, who takes over next year, LeClerc made hockey a marquee program at the school. More importantly, he closed the gap between SNHU and St. A, a Division II team rich in history that includes a past Hobey Baker winner, Hubie McDonough.

“We had a couple beers up the road,” Hutchins said of the coaches’ modest celebration following the first win. “I would like to think that first breakthrough game was from the hard work and implementing the tactical systems he knows so well.

“But we could feel it coming. Of course, we were jumping for joy and had a great time on the ice, but when we calmed down, it was business as usual, like, ‘That wasn’t a fluke, and let’s continue trying to improve the program.’”

Gone but still here That progression continues next year without LeClerc, but it’s not as if he won’t be there at all. Retiring to spend more time with his seven grandchildren, he told Polak, “’Chip, I’m going to be at a lot of practices anyway,’” and those that know him don’t doubt it.

Though he never claimed a title while with the Penmen, if they were to win it next season, which LeClerc said he’s confident could happen, he said he’ll be just as happy for them as if he was still behind the bench.

“When we got into the locker room after losing 4-3 in overtime (in LeClerc’s final game), Rene walked into the locker room, and he gave the speech that he thought it was going to be the fairy-tale ending and it wasn’t, but we gave everything that we could,” said Courchesne, who made 47 saves in the loss.

“He started tearing up, and that’s when you can see it in the players,” he continued. “It sent chills right through my body, just knowing that he was emotional, and that his heart was in the game.”

Surely, that’s were it will stay.

Little things propel CHS turnaround

Hooksett Editor — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 18:54:00 GMT

BY MATT STOUT

MANCHESTER – There isn’t anything flashy about the way the Manchester Central boys hockey team is winning.

Contrary to how Hollywood likes to portray a team’s complete turnaround on the ice, the Little Green aren’t using a variation of the “knuckle puck,” they’re not resorting to fighting a la the Charlestown Chiefs nor are they preparing for the Russians in an Olympic semifinal game.

It’s about basic, fundamental hockey and doing the little things to win games.

And, basically, it’s working.

With a 2-1 win over rival Manchester Memorial on Saturday, Jan. 13 – a game in which defense and a short-handed goal proved the difference at JFK Memorial Coliseum – Central claimed its third straight win and fourth in five games, evened its record at 4-4 and matched its win total from all of last season.

In beating the Crusaders, which had already knocked them around in 6-2 and 6-1 defeats this winter, the Little Green proved they weren’t going to set any scoring records, but they did hold a clinic for blocking pucks and killing penalties.

Whistled nine times for infractions, Central killed off six of Memorial’s seven power plays, including two 5-on-3 situations and a four-minute Crusader advantage in which Jeff Monk scored the game-winner on an unassisted short-handed goal with 9:16 to play in the third. Good defensive zone coverage, though, is just one of the “fundamental things” Central coach Randy Manni has emphasized in practice. Now he’ll have to include a lesson on sustaining momentum.

“This is going to be a big boost for us,” said junior defenseman and Hooksett native Brendan Keenan, who added that the victory is Central’s first over Memorial in the regular season since he’s been there. “They’re … the second-best team in the state, and we just beat them. So if we just keep doing what we’re doing the rest of the season, I think we can surprise a lot of teams and do some damage.”

They already have. Since beating a winless Trinity squad before the holiday break, Central has downed a contender in Salem, 3-1 on Jan. 6, and helped extend a five-game slide for a Londonderry team with a 3-2 victory on Jan. 10.

Meanwhile, the winning streak has shifted the focus from a 1-4 start to its main goal of a playoff berth. With a lighter schedule on deck, the magic number of six wins should be in reach. But as well as Central is playing right now, there are concerns.

Having enough scoring is one. Throwing out a 12-1 loss to Bishop Guertin, the Little Green still have netted just 14 goals to their opponents’ 21, and with goalie David Rivard’s decision to quit the team over the weekend, they only have one goalie on the roster – Hooksett native Jared Cox.

The junior said he’s well aware he’ll need to stay healthy as well as good, but neither has been a problem thus far. Cox has held three of his last four opponents to two or fewer goals, and was rarely out of position in turning aside 18 shots against Memorial.

“For me, finding the puck (is what I’ve worked on), when people are in front of me and screening me,” he said. “But for everyone, (it’s been) just doing the basic things that hockey players need to do to win games.” Now there’s a script worth following.

Game notes

Junior Greg Tebbetts scored Central’s first goal against Memorial, burying a rebound off Brandon Michaud’s shot for a power play score with 6:30 to play in the first. Memorial tied it up early in the third with a power play goal of its own when Cameron Coulombe deflected Kyle Kienia’s shot past Cox 4:23 into the period ... Memorial goalie Matt Flynn made 19 saves in the loss ... Central coach Manni is a 1991 Memorial grad and was part of two state-title winning teams in 1989 and ’91.