Nashua Knights players celebrate their 4-1 win over Timberlane-Pelham on Tuesday in the Backyard Brawl holiday tourney at Conway Arena.(Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – They’re in the zamboni driver’s seat.

That’s where two straight wins in the Backyard Brawk Holiday Hockey Tournament at Conway Arena lands the Nashua North-South Knights, as they beat Timberlane-Pelham 4-1 on Tuesday.

Nashua has the maximum number of possible points, six, in winning both halves of both their games – they beat Merrimack-Hollis Brookline-Derryfield on Monday – and now just need a point out of a possible three in facing current second place team Alvirne-Milford in the tourney finale today at 1:40 p.m. at the Conway.

The Admirals currently have 4.5 points after rallying to tie MHBDS in dramatic fashion, 4-4 in the second game yesterday. They basically have to grab both halves vs. the Knights to win the title, certainly not impossible.

While winning a holiday tournament doesn’t count in the standings, it would give the new Nashua co-op a sense of confidence after starting the regular season 0-3, two of those late one-goal losses. Winning the first two games has certainly helped to that end with the team resuming its regular season Saturday at Trinity.

“It definitely is a big morale booster for us,” Knights forward Braeden Thyne said. “Starting off 0-3, there’s nothing worse than that. … We’re looking for this tournament to bring the momentum back to take into Trinity.”

They had some of that momentum yesterday, clinging to a 2-1 halftime lead (two 22:30 halves for each game) over Timberlane-Pelham before getting two goals in the second half to seal it.

“For sure, for us as a coaching staff, it’s more about the process and the little things,” Nashua co-coach Kieran Altieri said. “We focus a lot on what are the little things that get you to that ‘W’, we saw a lot of that (Monday), today not so much… You come in with expectations, and the second period was much better.”

Remember, the Owls were pasted 8-1 by Alvirne-Milford on Monday and yesterday it took just 53 seconds in for Nashua to get on the board on a goal by Jacoby Caisse off a 2-on-1 feed from Jack Russin-Morgan. Thomas Dratch fed the puck up the ice for the second assist.

They made it 2-0 seven minutes later on a goal by Brendan Doughty, assisted by Bryce Stuart, and it looked like there would be a rout. But that never happened as the Owls, who were outshot 33-7 in the first half, got a goal by Cole Rego (Arturo Saldarriaga, Emma Bonfiglio assists) with 8:44 left in the half.

As Altieri said, Nashua then dominated the second half, but Owls goalie Simon Hawkes was one tough nut to crack with a whopping 64 saves.

“That kid played phenomenally,” Altieri said. “He had a great day.He was catching a lot of pucks in the gut, but also making stops you didn’t expect.”

Finally, Brendan Skelley broke through, assisted by Doughty, with 5:19 left in the game. Jared Gauthier (Adam Roberge assist) got an empty netter with 1:54 left.

Meanwhile, Nashua goalie Brendon Reudt vonCollenberg did his part to preserve things with 14 saves.

“Overall, it’s a ‘W’,” Altieri said. “They did a lot better in the second period, and we move on. That (winning the title) would be nice, but for us it’s much more about what team shows up tomorrow.

“Is it the team that goes hard north-south, gets stops and starts, gets pucks deep and wins 50-50 battles? That’s big for us.”

The puck rolls far away from WarHawks goalie Liam Gagne after he makes the save on Alvirne-Milford’s Luke Green, who was bothered by MHBDS defenseman Tyler Allen (28) during Tuesday’s Backyard Brawl holiday tourney at Conway Arena. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

ALVIRNE-MILFORD 4, MHBDS 4

It was clearly a tale of two halves, the WarHawks leading 4-0 in the first half, 4-1 at halftime but outscored 3-0 in the second half. The Admirals’ Chris Bozza put one past a screened MHBDS netminder Liam Gagne with just 1:30 left to give A-M a split of the points, 1.5 for each team.

What changed?

“That second half, my players had fun,” Admirals coach Kathy Griswold said. “That’s what changed the most. When they have fun, they really do very well. They’re into it, they’re competitive, and at this level, being competitive is fun.”

The first half was way more fun for the WarHawks, who suffered a 5-2, zero point defeat vs. Nashua on Monday. But they bounced back with goals by Colin Hamlin, Felix Rattunde, Alex May and Bryson Smith. Will Farrell and Tyler Allen each had two assists, while others went to May and Hamlin.

“They kept pressing,” WarHawks coach Dan Belliveau said of the Admirals. “We need to work on tightening up defensively for sure. But overall I think we still played a heckuva game. … Maybe just the holiday break got to them a little bit. But you go to the first half and look at what some of these kids did, it was good stuff.”

A key may have been the Admirals getting a goal before the end of the half (3:19 left) by Brandon Hiltz, assisted by

Chris Bozza.

Then, in the second half, they did a good job of creating a ton of traffic in front of Gagne (25 saves). They got two 42 seconds apart by Dylan MacLeod and Brandon Ganas to cut things to 4-3 with just under 10 minutes to play. The game had changed.

“We’ve been working on driving the net, and having someone net-front, whether it’s low or high in the slot,” Griswold said, “and just making sure you’re there for those juicy opportunities. There’s a lot of good goalies in this league (Division II) and you’re not going to get it on the first shot.”

Meanwhile Admiral goalies Gavin Briand and Kian Corcoran combined for 38 stops. Another factor: the teams combined for a whopping 16 penalties.

But now the Admirals have a shot at a title. They’ll have to win both halves today to do it.

“We certainly want to close out 2025 on a win,” Griswold said.

STANDINGS:

1.Nashua North-South, 6. 2. Alvirne-Milford, 4.5. 3. MHBDS 1.5. 4. Timberlane-Pelham 0.

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

MHBDS vs. Timberlane Pelham, 12 p.m.; Nashua vs. Alvirne-Milford, 1:40 p.m.