Where were you for Hockey Night in Nashua this winter?

There have been two, and they’ve been spectacular.

Think about it it. Nashua North-Souhegan and South-Pelham played each other twice this season, and the two games were decided with 15 seconds and 3.9 seconds left in overtime and regulation, respectively.

It doesn’t get much better than that.

The problem is, these two teams save their best for each other. Against the rest of Division I, they’re not doing so well.

“Obviously very even teams,” North-Souhegan coach Bill Kotsifas said after his team lost Wednesday thanks to a goal by the Kings’ Peter Gamache in the final seconds of regulation. “These games come down to one goal at the end, both of them. Less than 20 seconds.”

The atmosphere, even with limited attendance due to pandemic restrictions, was electric for both games, a sign that hockey matters here despite the two teams going into the weekend with a combined 7-26-1 mark.

“It was exciting, crowd, I thought we were going to have our game of the year,” Kotsifas said.

Both teams’ problems are pretty clear. They’ve struggled on defense. The Saber-Titans have skilled offensive players (Will Dodge, Chase McBride, etc.) and South-Pelham’s Peter Gamache has seven goals just this week alone.

That and a consistent forecheck, and some more size. And yes, goaltending. That last factor is an ingredient for plenty of high school teams and is still the most important factor, but even good goalies need help.

Nashua South-Pelham’s Peter Gamache sees he’s slipped the puck past North-Souhegan goalie Zach Veilleux into the far corner of the net for the game-winner in Wednesday night’s city clash at Conway Arena. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

“We’re not as a defense-first team as I want us to be,” Kotsifas said.

You could see these teams go at it 10 times. It’s when they have to play solid Division I programs that they just simply haven’t been able to compete. As Kings coach Jordan Sarracco said, “That’s high school hockey.”

And he’s right. They just need to bottle up Wednesday night and let everyone experience it more often. After the game, the Kings skated around, and honored their seniors, a pretty touching moment of just how much the game, the experience, and the team feeling meant to each kid. It was really something to see, and they came off the ice to a big group of cheering student fans.

The sport with the two Nashua public schools needs more of this. The Kings a few years ago had a big moment in making the tournament, and the Saber-Titans did it two years ago and last year picked up a tourney win.

“You know, great hockey game all the way through,” Sarracco said. “North-Souhegan played phenomenal, and we came out on the plus side.”

The game of hockey in Nashua came out on the plus side, period, twice. The Saber -Titans win a game with 15 seconds left, the Kings with 3.9.

“You can’t,” Sarracco said, “write it up any better than that.”

No, we can’t. We’d just love to be able to write it more often.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.