Nashua South-Pelham's Broden Landsteiner, left, battles North-Souhegan's Connor O'Neil in front of Kings goalie Noah Soule duirng Friday's Backyard Brawl Holiday Tourney at Conway Arena. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – They feel a call to win the Brawl.

You could tell the Nashua High School South-Pelham boys hockey team was aware of the tournament point system in the last minue-plus of their 4-0 win over city rival Nashua North-Souhegan on Day 2 of the Backyard Brawl Holiday Tournament at Conway Arena on Friday.

The Kings, rather than keep attacking, played keep-away with the puck, similar to a penalty kill. Why? They had only outscored the Saber-Titans 1-0 in the second half, and didn’t want to give up any of the three points they could earn by winning both halves and the game overall.

“Yes, they were definitely aware,” Kings coach Jordan Sarracco said, smiling.

It all seems to work out out, as the only two teams that can possibly win the tournament will meet in the final game of the three-day event tonight at 7 at Conway, as it will be the defending champion Kings vs. Merrimack-Hollis Brookline-Derryfield.

MBHDS beat Alvirne-Milford 5-2 yesterday and also won all three points, thus they have 4.5 points going into tonight’s finale while the Kings have 6. Just winning the game outright will not be enough for MBHDS. The WarHawks, who tied North-Souhegan on Thursday 3-3 for 1.5 points, will need to win both halves tonight and get all three points to win the title.

“It’s a championship game, we want to go through there, we want to win the whole thing,” Sarracco said. “We don’t want to win it by just winning one period or anything like that. We want to win the whole game, win the whole thing.”

The Kings survived three Saber-Titan power plays in the first period, got a strange shorthanded goal to start and led 3-0 after the first half. On the Saber-Titans first power play, the Kings’ Andrew Byrne shot the puck at Saber-Titan starting goalie Dylan O’Neil and while O’Neil thought he had it it trickled in without almost anyone even knowing at 5:06 for a 1-0 lead.

“We had some real good penalty kills to start us off,” Sarracco said. “I’m not sure what happened on that goal, but we’ll take it. And that pressure, that forecheck, we’ll take that all day. …

“We capitalized on our opportunities, that’s all we can ask for.”

Up 1-0, the Kings got their other first half goals by Brian Keefe, assisted by Dan Byrne four minutes later and Gavin Asimakopulos with 55 seconds left in the half, knocking in the rebound of an initial shot by Adam Roberge. David Ramalho also had an assist.

The only goal by either team came at 5:50 when Braedyn Thyne converted Brendan Doughty’s perfect centering pass, beating North-Souhegan second half goalie Anthony Venezia on a bang-bang goal. Ramahlo got his second assist as well.

By game’s end the Saber-Titans, skating essentially just two lines, seemed tired. But that wasn’t, in their coach’s mind, why they lost.

“It wasn’t fatigue, it was just zero effort,” an annoyed Chris Zarlenga said. “Just a total lack of effort. Lost every 50-50 puck, and did not show up. … A team that doesn’t have their identity figured out.”

The other thing the tourney’s defending champions have going for them is that in 95 minutes of hockey – the halves were smartly cut by tourney officials at least to 22:30 from the first day’s arduous 25 – South-Pelham has given up just one goal.

“We’re playing strong ‘D’ right now,” Sarracco said. “We’re relying on three guys right now that have really stepped up to the plate. They’re doing everything we can as for.”

That would be Broden Landsteiner, Thine and Dan Byrne. They made life a little easier for netminder Noah Soule, who only had to make 11 saves, none too difficult. Odds are he’ll be back in their tonight with a title on the line.

MHBDS 5, ALVIRNE-MILFORD 2

The WarHawks got two goals each from Ben Hazard and Alex Gertz, plus two assists each from Caleb May and Jackson Woods. They led 3-1 at halftime and outscored the Admirals 2-1 in the second half to earn all three points.

Ryan Warrington got their final goal, assisted by Keoni Monte. Jonny Turner got the win in goal.

“He played a helluva game, and defensively, we’re in a good spot,” WarHawks coach Dan Belliveau said. “And we kind of had an objective to get more than three goals today – it’s funny, even in the regular season we’ve been scoring three goals (in each game). … And vs. South(-Pelham) could be for the championship.”

For Alvirne-Milford, Brandon Callahan had a goal and Bryce Larco had a goal and an assist. Brandan Ganas also had an assist. Ari Scarbro had 32 saves.

“After a sub-par effort in the first game of the tournament, we came out and played a much better game today,” Admirals coach Jason Dango said. “Even though it was a loss it was a game we can build on.”

TOURNEY STANDINGS

1. Nashua South-Pelham, 6.0. 2. MHBDS 4.5. 3. Nashua North-Souhegan 1.5. 4. Alvirne-Milford 0.0.