Bedford hockey shuts out Manchester Central to open tourney

MANCHESTER – The regular season may have started, but Bedford High School boys hockey coach Marty Myers still sees his team trying to figure some things out.

That’s one reason why the Bulldogs coach likes playing in the Bauer Christmas Hockey Classic.

Another is so that his younger players can get a taste of what it’s like to play at JFK Coliseum in Manchester.

While it took a while for Bedford to get going, the Bulldogs did enough early to cruise past Manchester Central 4-0 in the first game of the tournament Saturday afternoon.

“We got off to a little bit of a slow start as far as flow,” Myers said. “We got some goals, but I think both teams were a little unsteady on their feet. We took advantage of that.

“We needed this game just to play well. Although we’ve had two regular season games, we haven’t had a whole lot of time together as a team. That’s why we look forward to this tournament.”

Jake McDonough had a goal and two assists and goalies Eric Voloshin (11 saves) and Alec Lindberg (eight) combined on the shutout. Colin Voloshin also had two assists while Tyler Gamble, Chase Vaillancourt and Matt Giroux had a goal each.

“It’s nice to start off the tournament with a win,” McDonough said. “It was fun. Scoring is always fun, and when you can do it in a tournament when there are a lot of people here, it’s just better.”

Central goalie Keenan Alnahas stopped 38 shots and played well in net to keep the game from getting out of hand for the Little Green.

“Central did a good job holding us off,” Myers said. “That was a freshman goalie and he faced 30 or 40 shots. He did a good job keeping us out of the net. Give them credit, they played us well.”

The game was back-and-forth early, with each team getting chances, but the Bulldogs were able to capitalize on one to go up 1-0 at 3:40 of the first. With a Bedford player screening Alnahas, Gamble sent a shot over the goalie’s left shoulder into the short side of the net. The goal came moments after Alnahas had made a nice save on Gamble on a breakaway.

The Little Green had a couple of chances, including a power play opportunity when Bedford was called for too many on the ice, but Eric Voloshin was able to keep Central off the board with the help of some young defensemen, including Grant Lavigne and Nick Cannone.

With Central’s Zach McKenna off for elbowing, Vaillancourt made it 2-0 Bedford when Alnahas made a save, but was unable to cover up the puck. The junior was able to poke it into the net for a two-goal lead at 13:09 of the first that gave the Bulldogs momentum.

“We started to play better after that second goal,” McDonough said. “They slowed down a little, they started to get a little tired. We started to mesh as a team more in the second period.”

Bedford against wasted little time in the second, as McDonough scored at 3:09 to make it 3-0, and then assisted on the goal by Giroux at 6:58. The Bulldogs spent most of the period on Central’s end, and then kept the Little Green off the board in the third.

The Bulldogs will take on Goffstown at 2 p.m. on Sunday, while Central will face Hanover at noon.