The coaches for the new Nashua North-South co-op hockey team, from left, Jordan Sarracco, Chris Zarlenga, Kieran Altieri and Jason Andersen, along with Nashua Athletic Director Lisa Gingras, meet with players and their parents at Conway Arena, the first formal meeting of the new team. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – The media room at Conway Arena one early evening this past week was full of kids and parents.

And hockey coach Jordan Sarracco had a very important message for the group of players that will form the Nashua High School North-South hockey team next winter.

“You guys have a chance to leave your mark on history for all of Nashua,” he said. “You have that opportunity right now.”

And that was the theme as for the first time since the winter of 2004, there will be one unified Nashua hockey team, and this was their first off-ice get together. Nashua athletic director Lisa Gingras and school/district officials felt the time was right to petition the NHIAA to merge North and South, ending the co-ops with Souhegan and Pelham, respectively. Last month the final approval, which was pretty much expected, was granted by the NHIAA Executive Council.

As Gingras told the group, “Moving forward, hockey in Nashua is going to be very different.”

That also includes the creation of the Souhegan-North-South girls hockey tri-op, also set to play at Conway Arena this winter. News of that being official drew applause from the room. Souhegan is the lead school with that team, and Gingras said that there are three boy-girl doubleheaders on the 2025-26 schedule.

For the boys, the next step for Gingras was figuring out the coaching and knowing the North and South staffs had a great relationship, Gingras felt the continuity and rewarding hard work was important so all four coaches were retained – South-Pelham’s Sarracco and the former North-Souhegan head man Chris Zarlenga, plus their assistants, Jason Andersen (South) and Kieran Altieri (North). All spoke at the meeting, and the parents/players who weren’t familiar with them were able to meet and greet.

As Andersen said, for Nashua hockey, “It’s a fresh start for everyone. I’m excited for what this merger means for the city of Nashua. … It’s exciting now to be a part of this and watch these kids make their own history in Nashua.”

And that’s important as one can probably count on one hand the number of times since the split Nashua teams have qualified for the Division I tournament.

“As all of you know, things are going to be a little different this year,” Sarracco said. “You have to be ready Day #1. Both programs haven’t been successful. We’re looking to change that.”

The theme was going over off-season/dry land conditioning – the program is teaming up with a local gym for summer workout time – as well as playing in summer hockey leagues.

“It’s very, very important,” Sarracco said. “We can’t spend from Dec. 1 (first day of practice) to Dec. 16 getting in shape. The season starts now.”

No name yet has been chosen for the team although three have been suggested: Nashua Storm, Nashua Knights, Nashua No’reasters.

What’s in a name? What’s in a title? The coaches don’t seem to mind who is the head coach, etc. Basically, it’s four co-coaches.

“For me, there doesn’t need to be a title,” Sarracco said. “I don’t need to be head coach, assistant coach, just call me whatever you want. I’m just happy to be part of the program. I know the four of us will be able to divide that up and give these kids exactly what they need, and the support that they deserve.”

“It’s June, we’re going to see how things go,” Zarlenga said. “We all seem to have the same mindset on how to manage things. We’re just going to see how things go.”

Zarlenga said when Gingras told them they’d all be staying with the new co-op, it was great news.

“It was more just a relief, we’d all been pushing for this for so long,” Zarlenga said. “It was a good affirmation. Stats show and data shows if you want to have a good program, you have to have good coaching support. To be successful, there are certain things you have to do, and having the right staff is one of them.”

“We’re psyched,” Altieri said. “This is exactly what we were hoping for. We all love the programs. All four of us are committed to the guys in the program. A lot of teams across the state have three on staff, or four on staff, volunteers, etc. I think it’s the way to go.”

Sarracco said it’s a chance to merge different philosophies.

“There’s no one is better than the other,” he said. “It’s taking a little bit from everybody and putting it all together.

Meanwhile, it will be merging two teams of players that were friendly off the ice but certainly intense rivals on it.

“All of us pretty much grew up together,” said South’s Brendon Doughty. “It (was) a fierce rivalry when we played each other. We go back and forth, big hits, big goals, big celebrations in front of other people. But I think we need to put our best foot forward, be a big family. We need to come join over the summer, and just get ready for the season.”

Doughty said he’s been waiting for this since news of the possibility broke in late January.

“I was excited when I heard about it,” he said. “When it was finalized it made me even more happy.”

“We had the rivalry, but we’re going to put it away this season and come up big,” North’s Callen Cullity said.

“Yes, there’s a rivalry there, a history, but a lot of these guys grew up playing together,” Sarracco said. “I think anybody that’s been to the Battle of the Bridge or the Senior Night games, they see it. They play hard on the ice, and then afterwards, it’s pictures together.

“They’ve known each other since they were young kids. This is just an opportunity to to continue playing and growing in a sport that they love.”

Zarlenga said “You’re one team now, you’re Nashua. I think that’s a really big help to rally around the team and the community in the city you’re in. We kind of talked about it, high school hockey’s really special.”

The team will use the summer to bond. Some will play with the summer league team in Hooksett. “That’s very good bonding, so we’re hoping to get some more guys, too,” Doughty said. “But I think it’s just getting to know each other, everybody, whether it’s how they play hockey or personality wise. Just the different characters that we’re going to have on the team I’m really excited about.”

They’ve done it before with other schools, but this is different. This is all Nashua. History.

“We do the Alumni Game before the season every year, and it’s all the Nashua guys, and they all talk about how they won and were so good back in the day,” Doughty said. “As long as we carry that theme on when we’re winning and we’re a good team, I can’t see it going bad at all.”

He was also glad to see all four coaches return.

“I was really excited,” Doughty said. “There’s definitely different coaching styles from all four of the coaches. So I’m really excited to see how that meshes together.

“I’m just excited for the season. What they said in there just made me even more excited to play some hockey.”