Photo by ANDREW SYLVIA Merrimack's Dominic Carezza fires a shot during Thursday's win.

MANCHESTER – There were plenty of goals to go around on Wednesday for Merrimack, who easily dispatched Kingswood at West Side Arena, 8-1.

The Tomahawks got first-period goals from junior Dominic Carezza, senior Zach Stimeling and senior Kai Schimp, with Schimp and Stimeling adding additional goals alongside scores from freshman Owen Minor as well as brothers Jason and Ryan DeBeaucort.

According to Merrimack coach Dan Belliveau, each goal for the brothers was the first in their respective high school careers, with the only thing making Jason’s goal more special was seeing his freshman sibling put away the contest’s final goal after things were well in hand.

“(Jason) has a really good shot, and for whatever reason until now, the hockey gods haven’t allowed him to put one in the back of the net,” said Belliveau of the Merrimack junior.

“Jason has been a real contributor to our program over the years. He’s playing awesome hockey; he’s had some injuries but he’s battled through them. (Tonight) was good to see.”

Evan Roy had a hat trick of helpers for the Tomahawks, with Kyle Dunn and Andrew Frothingham adding two assists and Owen also providing one assist.

Merrimack also the battle in the faceoff dot, 34-11 and outshot Kingwood, 37-12.

In net, junior Ben Hardy kept the shutout going for almost 36 minutes until Kingswood freshman William Danais snook past a squeaker for the Knights’ only goal of the contest.

“Kingswood in year’s past has always given us a great game and has beaten us on occasions. (Danais) beat both of our defensemen and they battled all the way, so kudos to them,” said Belliveau.

Merrimack (12-4-1) now has one regular season game left, a Friday tilt on the seacoast against second-ranked Oyster River.

That matchup will certainly serve as a barometer for the post-season, but if Wednesday is any indication, Merrimack will be confident.

“We want to be playing our game from goaltender to defense to forwards,” said Belliveau. “We are just playing one game at a time, but if we can continue to play our game, we think we can beat anyone in the league if we play like that.”

Kingswood (7-11-0) finishes their regular season sitting in the 13th and final berth for the NHIAA Division II Tournament, but they could lose that spot if Lebanon-Stevens-Mount Royal can defeat top-ranked Keene, which was set to start later on Wednesday night.

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