Trinity boys hockey scores late to knock off Manchester Memorial

GOFFSTOWN – The Trinity High School boys hockey team rang in the new year by earning its first regular-season victory Tuesday night at Sullivan Arena. The Pioneers edged Queen City rival Manchester Memorial, 4-3, thanks to a late goal from Vinnie Barbuzzi.

Barbuzzi corralled the puck in the right circle after it squirted out to him following a scrum in front of the Memorial net. The senior defenseman followed up with a shot that found the back of the net through traffic with 1:59 left to break a 3-3 tie.

“Sometimes you stay too far back and sometimes you go too far forward,” Trinity coach Mike Connell said. “(Barbuzzi) showed some patience there. It didn’t seem to me that me he hesitated … that’s what you’ve got to do. You’ve got to just throw it to the net and hopefully it goes in.”

The Crusaders (0-3) pulled goaltender Lauren Calnan for an extra skater with about 1:45 left to play but couldn’t tally the equalizer. Connell was happy his players stuck to trying to defend Memorial’s final attack and doing their respective jobs instead of looking for an empty-net goal.

Trinity (1-3) took a brief 3-2 lead with 4:19 left when T.J. Fell scored from close range but the Crusaders answered with a goal from Jared Chandonnet 12 seconds later.

“It was a battle right to the end,” Memorial coach Mark Putney said.

Pioneers senior Tyler Chipman broke a 1-1 tie 1:16 into the second period when he scored on the power play. The forward had his initial shot blocked by Memorial’s Rickie Beauparlant but collected the puck and went top shelf on Calnan on his next try.

Trinity had the chance to extend its advantage when it went on a five-minute power play 5:05 into the second period after Memorial’s Justin Cooperider was called for boarding. Instead, the Pioneers gave up a goal and could not score one of its own during the advantage.

Memorial received a shorthanded tally from captain Eric Langley 6:10 into the second and killed off the penalty. Langley skated down the left boards on a breakaway and found the top right corner of the Trinity net to tie the score at 2-2.

Trinity peppered Calnan (18 saves) with six shots on goal during its five-minute man advantage but the Crusaders senior stood tall.

“Anytime you can kill off a five-minute penalty, it’s a benefit and I thought we got a little boost from it,” Putney said.

Memorial found the back of the net with one of its 12 shots on goal over the final 8:27 of the first period to knot the score at 1-1 entering the second frame. Beauparlant collected his own rebound in the crease and launched a shot by Trinity netminder Ethan Messner (16 saves) with 1:29 left in the opening stanza.

Pioneers freshman Marc L’Heureux opened the game’s scoring 6:16 into the contest when he put home a rebound goal following a shot by classmate Declan Clougherty.

“(Being) 1-0 in 2017 is not so bad,” Connell said. “We’ll hopefully build off it.”