MANCHESTER, NH — As season-openers go, Manchester Central-Memorial’s 8-2 thrashing of Kingswood, Wednesday afternoon at the JFK Arena, was everything Coach Cassidy Lavigne could have hoped for.
“It was very nice to come out with that win,” said Lavigne, whose club notched just three victories in 2020-21, her rookie season behind the bench. “We’ve been working really hard the past few weeks. We have a lot of (returning players) this year and they played really well.”
Coriann Hoag had three goals and an assist to lead the offense for the Little Green. Senior Captain Lilly Tague-Bleau added two goals and three assists, while Jamie Webster also scored twice.
Central-Memorial goalie Danyela Poore made 12 saves and enjoyed a relatively stress-free game en route to the victory in net. The Little Green defensive corps, which includes two rookie skaters, were helped by some excellent backchecking by Tague-Bleau and other forwards.
At the other end of the ice, Kingswood goalie Ana Baurle did everything she could to keep her team in the game. Baurle was peppered with 36 shots, including 15 in the second period.
“We’ve been pretty consistent with our lines and I think that’s helped with our offensive game, as well,” said Lavigne. “I think the girls were just having fun.”
After the game, the celebration by Central-Memorial players was tempered by their concern for teammate Grace Demers. The senior assistant captain appeared to suffer a lower-body injury, early in the second period, when she took a hard spill in the corner. Demers had to be helped off the ice and was later brought to a local hospital for evaluation. The extent of the injury was not immediately known.
Central-Memorial got off to a flying start, jumping out to a 2-0 lead just 3:32 into the game. Webster scored the first goal of the season for the Little Green, assisted by Tague-Bleau. Hoag followed with an unassisted goal.
Recovering from the initial onslaught by Central-Memorial, Kingwood battled back and showed some firepower of their own. At the 8:53 mark, Karli Bennett took a feed from Kendra Blaisdell and beat Poor to cut the C-M lead to 2-1.
But that was as close as Kingswood would get. The Little Green kept the Knights pinned in their own zone for much of the period and broke the game open with two goals from Tague-Bleau and one each from Hoag and Sage Nicolay.
Kingswood answered with a goal on a brilliant three-quarters ice rush by Hailey Kelly. But by the time the puck was dropped to start the third period, Central-Memorial was in complete command, 6-2.
Hoag completed her hat trick and Webster scored her second to round out the scoring for C-M in the third.
Manchester Central-Memorial will be back in action on Tuesday, when they hit the road to take on Berlin-Gorham-Kennett. Kingswood returns to the ice Saturday night, when they play host to Keene-Mon-Fall Mountain.
