Manchester Central scores late to beat Bedford at Bauer hockey tournament

MANCHESTER – For 40 minutes, the Manchester Central High School boys hockey team was playing average hockey.

In the final five minutes of Wednesday’s game against Bedford, the Little Green woke up.

Devon Sprague scored the game-winning goal with 1:43 to play and Austin Sprague added an empty net goal to give Central a 5-3 win over the Bulldogs in the first day of action at the Bauer Christmas Hockey Classic at JFK Coliseum.

Parker Anderson, Cole Anderson (assist) and Tyler Stratton (assist) also had goals for Central, as the Little Green played what coach Brian Stone called a sloppy game.

“It was sloppy in the defensive zone,” Stone said. “Too long of shifts, and no real flow got going. We played hard-nosed hockey in the last five minutes and score a couple of goals there. We hung in there. We didn’t do anything overpowering. It was an average hockey game, I felt, for us.”

Bedford got two goals from Kurt Mitchel, including a shorthanded goal that tied the game 3-3 with 9:56 left in the game. Chris Viola also scored while freshman Alec Lindberg made 23 saves.

“I was happy with the way we played,” Bedford coach Marty Myers said. “At times, they carried the play, but at times, we carried the play. We wanted a good game. This is Central’s home arena. It’s a smaller rink than what we normally play on over at Saint Anselm. I thought we did a pretty good job.”

Viola put Bedford on the board first, tipping a rebound past Central goalie Tyler Cornellier just 3:47 into the game.

Central battled back, getting goals from Stratton and Cole Anderson to take a 2-1 lead at the end of the first. Parker Anderson’s shorthanded goal put the Little Green up 3-1 midway through the second period, but Mitchel answered 31 seconds later to keep it a one-goal game.

“You’ve got to respond, when you score a goal, or more importantly, when they score a goal,” Myers said. “We want a quick response.”

The game got sloppy in the third, as the teams combined for three penalties in a 30-second span. With Central on a 4-on-3 advantage, Mitchel tied the game at 3, giving the Bulldogs new life.

Bedford had a power play right after the goal, but the Little Green killed it off and found a way to get the game-winner late.