Alvirne-Milford's Cedrik Beaulieu topples over Merrimack goalie James Brew during Saturday's Division II contest at Skate 3 Arena in Tyngsborough, Mass. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

TYNGSBOROUGH, Mass. – There is no doubt that the Merrimack High School boys hockey team is worthy of the Division II No. 1 seed going into next week’s state tournament.

“These kids have some heart,” Tomahawks coach Dan Belliveau said after his team squeaked out a 1-0 win over Alvirne-Milford at Skate 3 Arena. “And not just in the games, they work hard in the practices. … We may not win every race to the puck, but we’re trying like heck to win that race to the puck.”

They were able to win a few races yesterday, especially since the Admirals were hit with a 10 – yes, 10 – penalties. The 15-2-1 Tomahawks did manage an unassisted power play goal by Will Farrell exactly two minutes into the third period for the game’s only score.

“Most of them which I thought weren’t penalties,” Alvirne-Milford coach Dave Thibeault said, his team ending the regular season at 9-7-2. “It was very one-sided. Some of the most horrible reffing I’ve ever seen. I’ve just got to be blunt and honest.”

The penalty fest the Admirals suffered did a couple of things: Gave the ‘Hawks all those power plays, and that in turn limited the Admirals’ offense as the shots on goal (34-16) were lopsided as well.

Trent Scarbro was superb with 33 stops, but Farrell finally broke through. Scarbro had made a diving stop, got up, stopped Farrell who was to the goalie’s left. Farrell then tried again, and the puck deflected off Scarbro’s back and into the net.

“You could see we had tried, we put a lot of shots on Scarbro, what a good goalie he is,” Belliveau said. “The one thing I said to the kids in between periods was let’s start taking shots from different angles. Will, after a couple of tries from in front …”

Meanwhile, Merrimack’s James Brew – who transferred from Milford for this school year – got the shutout with 16 stops, including one point blank in the final minute.

“You look at James Brew, and the way he’s been playing, man,” Belliveau said. “When the kids see that, it’s great.”

Meanwhile Alvirne-Milford certainly had to be thrilled with the job Scarbro did.

“Trent had a great game, man,” Thibeault said. “I thought the kids played well. The nice thing is, the seeding had already taken place, we already knew what the seeding was. It was a good battle, a 1-0 game. Nothing to complain about (on his team).”

The Admirals likely will be No. 6 and go to Winnacunnet to face the No.3 Warriors in next Saturday’s quarterfinals, but again, that’s not official. The official pairings come out on Monday.

“I like our team,” Thibeault said. “I think we are a team built for the playoffs. The games we’ve lost have been pretty much one-goal games.”

Merrimack made the finals a year ago, bowing to Dover, and you can bet the ‘Hawks are hungry for another chance. However, they’ll have to do it without leading scorer Eliot Medlock, his season done after a recent second game disqualification. Players like Farrell and Conor Dunn have picked up the slack.

“We’ve got four seniors here who are really anchoring us down,” Belliveau said. “It’s always tough when you get that kind of goal production walk out the door. All season long, though, we’ve gotten production from across the board. They don’t have the total that (Medlock) might have had, but they realize they have to believe in one another, and that’s the way it’s going to work.”

And work is what the Tomahawks are all about.

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