Alvirne-Milford playerc celebrate their dramatic 3-2 win over the Nashua Knights that gave the Admirals the Backyard Brawl title on Wednesday. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Call it addition by subtraction.

The Backyard Brawl math was not lost Wednesday on Alvirne-Milford boys hockey coach Kathy Griswold, an electrical engineering major in college.

As a result the Admirals had a ball at the Brawl as champions with a dramatic 3-2 win over Nashua North-South at Conway Arena.

The way the tourney scoring works is you get a point for winning a half, and another for winning a game. She knew if the Admirals were able to break a 2-2 tie late in the tourney finale vs. the Knights, they could win the game and the tourney. If the game ended in a tie, it was Nashua’s title.

So she called time out with a couple of minutes left and told her players she was pulling goaltender Kian Corcoran for the extra skater, as if the team was trailing.

“I told them it doesn’t make sense normally in a 2-2 tie,” Griswold said. “But the way the point system works, the math means we have to pull the goalie and we have to win this or at least tie this period and win the game.

“It was ‘Guys, just trust me on this one. This is what we have to do.’ They were like ‘OK.'”

They bought in, especially Dylan MacLeod, whose backdoor goal with 1:15 left was the difference. He converted a perfect feed from Luke Green, and the Admirals survived the expected Knights onslaught in the final minute.

“I saw Luke rushing to the other side, kind of went past two defensemen back door and he got it to me and I tapped it in,” MacLeod said. “That’s why we pulled the goalie at the end so we could get that.”

Nashua came in with six points, compared to 4.5 for the Admirals. But a slow start that resulted in a goal by Bradon Hiltz just 1:24 in and then a 5-on-3 power play blast from Brandon Callahan three minutes later gave the Admirals an earl 2-0 lead and they enjoyed a 2-1 halftime lead.

“We expected them late in the game to pull their goalie, it wasn’t a big surprise,” Knights co-coach Jordan Sarracco said. “A little bit of a defensive letdown, and they came in hard and they wanted to win the tournament, and they came out there and they earned it.

“Not our best start, not our best finish.”

The Knights did,however, play very well in between as they eventually tied it up, first on a Connor Prunier goal, assisted by Brendon Doughty, midway through the first half, then on a Doughty goal six minutes into the second half. His goal came after he was left alone on the left side after skating around behind the net following an earlier shot and Brendan Skelley found him. Doughty one-timed the shot and Corcoran who was peppered all game with 41 saves, had no chance to make another. Knights goalie Anthony Venezia recovered from losing the puck under his glove for A-M’s first goal for 21 stops.

Who would have thought this is how it would all work out? Tuesday afternoon the Admirals were down 4-0 vs. Merrimack-HB-Derryfield, and a tourney title certainly didn’t look like it was in the cards. But they pulled out a 4-4 tie.

“We didn’t actually come in to win this tournament,” Griswold said. “This tournament was a chance to try some things that will help us down the line.

“But then we came back, and it became a distinct possibility that we could win this tournament and that became our goal. … I’m just so proud of this group.”

Now it’s back to the grind and three periods each of 15-minute regular season hockey. The Knights hope to get their first regular season win at Trinity Saturday after three one-goal losses before the tourney, and the Admirals at 1-2 host Bishop Brady-Merrimack Valley at Skate 3.

“There’s a lot of good that we’re going to take away from this,” Sarracco said. “We capitalized on getting pucks in deep, we capitalized on applying the pressure, and protecting our defensive zone. That’s our big takeaways and that’s what we know is going to win us hockey games.”

Emotionally, the Knights got a lift from the three days despite the ending. And obviously so did the Admirals.

“I think it’s pretty big,” MacLeod said. “Coming into it we had something to prove. We didn’t have the hottest start to the season, but now people will know we’re here to play.”

Exactly – just do the math.

Alvirne-Milford goalie Kian Corcoran gets set to pounce on the loose puck with Nashua North-South’s Thomas Dratch (13) bearing down along with Admirals’ Brandon Callahan (10) during Wednesday’s finals of the Backyard Brawl Holiday Tourney at Conway Arena. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

MHBDS 13, TIMBERLANE-PELHAM 2

Colin Hamlin had a hat trick plus an assist as Merrimack-Hollis Brookline-Derryfield rolled to collect three points and finish in third in the tourney standings with 4.5 points.

Alex May and Will Farrell had a pair of goals, while Will Farrell, Bryson Smith, Manny Pacheco, Quinn Garrity, Tyler Allen, Josh Kahn and Ben Hazard were among the other scorers.

May and Evan Bertrand had two assists each while others went to Allen, Alexander Permyakov, Hazard, Kahn, Garrity, and Austin Kovaliv. Elliott O’Brien had 16 saves for MHBDS, who host Dover on Saturday night at Manchester’s West Side Arena.