MANCHESTER, N.H. – There were two sets of kings at JFK Coliseum on Wednesday night, but only one could claim the crown.
In a 3-1 decision, the Manchester Kings defeated the visiting Nashua South/Pelham Kings in Division I NHIAA action.
Gavin Asimakoupoulos opened the scoring for Nashua South/Pelham nine minutes into the first period, but Cameron Provencher evened things up for Manchester just seconds before the intermission with an extra poke past the pads of goaltender Andrew Croteau.
Frank Tessier gave Manchester the lead near the end of the second period with an unassisted goal, capitalizing on a defensive zone steal that turned into a fast break opportunity at the other end. Lukas Tafe got the final goal of the contest on an empty net tap-in after the visitors could not make the most of their extra skater.
Both teams combined for seven penalties in the first frame, part of an overall effort that Manchester head coach Jeremy Baker called “sloppy” and less cohesive than their pre-season results.
“We played ten minutes shorthanded (in the first period) and we’re not deep enough to play shorthanded like that, especially against good teams,” said Baker.
Cam Velez made his first varsity start for Manchester, finishing with 25 saves overall.
“He was great, he made the saves he needed to make, we just need to clean things up in front of him,” said Baker.
On the other bench, the defeat was also an early season learning experience.
“Overall, we’re happy with the game, not happy with the outcome definitely,” said South/Pelham Head Coach Jordan Sarracco. “We thought we played hard, we thought we played fast and physical. We put a lot of pressure on them, we forced a lot of turnovers. But we didn’t capitalize on our opportunities and they did, Manchester played a good hockey game.”
Manchester (1-0) hits the ice next on Saturday at Bishop Brady/Merrimack Valley/Concord Christian Academy while Nashua South/Pelham (0-1) also has a Saturday road contest against Salem.