Nashua North-Souhegan's Chase McBride lifts the puck past Alvirne-Milford goalie Kian Corcoran on a breakaway during the second half their Backyard Brawl tourney contest at Conway Arena. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – It’s pretty settled that a Nashua co-op hockey team will win the Backyard Brawl at Conway Arena.

But which one?

That will be decided today when Nashua High School North-Souhegan will take on Merrimack at 2:40 p.m. in the tourney’s final game.

The Saber-Titans and Kings of Nashua South-Pelham go into the day of the event tied with 5.5 points, each getting a full three points Thursday with the North-Souhegan 7-1 win over Alvirne Milford and Nashua South-Pelham’s 4-1 triumph over tourney host Hollis Brookline Derryfield.

The thing is, the Kings are guaranteed to finish with 8.5 points as they get a forfeit since the Monadnock co-op pulled out of the tourney before it began. Thus North-Souhegan needs to win both 20 minute halves vs. the Tomahawks, and then rely on tiebreakers. The first is goals allowed, and then the next is goal differential. NS has outscored the opposition 12-3 in its two games; the Kings 6-2 in theirs. You do the math.

The Kings, who broke a 1-1 second half tie with three straight goals, two by Cam Cooke (one an empty netter) and the other by Braedyn Thyne, will certainly be the biggest Tomahawk fans today.

“We’ll see what happens between Merrimack and North and see how it shakes out,” Kings coach Jordan Sarracco said. “But obviously we’re hoping Merrimack gives North a run for their money and we can walk away winning the tournament.”

“This would be awesome,” Kings senior captain Ryan Arneson said. “I know this team hasn’t won this tournament since 2017 (dating back to its days as the Conway Holiday Tourney), so I know our guys are out here doing their absolute best to compete to try to bring this home, try to bring the morale back up for the regular season. This would mean a lot for us.”

The HBDS Warriors had four breakaways on Kings goalie Noah Soule (18 saves) in the first eight minutes or so of the second half, and converted on the first one, a goal by Charlie Dee 13 seconds into the half. But that was it.

“We had our chances, we had our chances,” Warriors coach Joel Sanborn. “Four breakaways, you’ve got to capitalize on those opportunities. This year we’re not as deep as we’ve been, so they’ve got to put them in the net when they get the chance.”

NORTH-SOUHEGAN 7, ALVIRNE-MILFORD 1

The Saber-Titans led 3-0 at the half and were never really threatened.

They got their scoring from the usual suspects: Hat tricks each by Jacob Landry – he has seven goals in the tourney and also had an assist yesterday – and Chase McBride. Callen Cullity added a goal and an assist.

“Our goal this week was to come in here, work hard and get better,” Saber-Titans coach Chris Zarlenga said. “Obviously you want to win every time you step on the ice. This is a short-term goal on the way to longer ones.

“Today we came out flying and kept it up both halves, which is what you want, right?”

Alvirne-Milford’s lone goal, coming with 12:08 left in the second half, was by Alex May.

The Admirals got three points from the first Monadnock forfeit on Wednesday, but of course that meant another day without a game, so perhaps the layoff hurt?

“We were on the ice (Wednesday) night,” A-M coach Dave Thibeault said. “It just comes down to their top line was really good. We didn’t match that intensity, and put that on me as a coach.

“We’re looking at it as a positive as we do seem them again in the regular season (Feb. 5). We’ll learn from it.”

ONE OTHER GAME TODAY

The first game of the day will be at 1 p.m. when Alvirne-Milford (3 points) take on HBDS (0.5 points). Then the Saber-Titans and Tomahawks (3.5 points), idle yesterday, will finish the event off and decide a champion.