MANCHESTER — The championship of the Bauer Christmas Hockey Classic sure seemed like more than just another game in a holiday tournament to the two teams involved on Thursday.

The field of eight teams saved the best for last with a game full of back-and-forth action that went all the way to a shootout before it was finally resolved.

In the end, it was Merrimack that pulled off the 2-1 victory over Memorial thanks to a goal in the fourth round by Chris Fortin and four huge saves by Brett Glendye to win the title at JFK Coliseum.

“It was a battle,” Merrimack coach Kurt Mithoefer said. “It was two great teams, both teams were deserving of being in this final.”

Neither scored over the first three rounds of the shootout. Then it was Fortin's turn, and he beat Memorial goalie Tyler Fay (32 saves) to the top right corner.

“Everything was going right,” Fortin said. “The goalie dropped and I put it in.”

Memorial's last chance rested on the shoulders of James Fournier, but he was denied by Glendye, who made 45 saves in the game and earned Most Valuable Player honors for the tournament.

“He came at me,” Glendye said. “I thought he was going to deke, but he shot. I just followed the puck.”

It was just one of many great saves by both goalies to keep it a 1-1 game after 50 minutes of play. Glendye came up huge twice in the final minutes for the Tomahawks (4-0), once with a sprawling stop on a shot by Patrick Curley, and then on a shot by Brady Bilodeau.

Bilodeau even started to raise his hand in celebration of a goal, but Glendye had denied the bid.

“When Brett's on, that's what we see,” Mithoefer said. “These kids don't quit.”

Fay was equally solid in net for the Crusaders (3-1), who lost in the tournament‘s title game last year to Hanover. In the second period, he stopped a two-on-none, and with time running down he stoned a great scoring bid by Fortin that would have given Merrimack the win.

The Crusaders got off to a quick start and took a 1-0 lead just 4:28 in when Matthew Tufts beat Glendye with a power-play goal.

It was the only time a puck would get by the Merrimack goalie, however.

Neither team scored in the second period and the Tomahawks didn't need much of the third to tie things up. Cal Lezama knotted the game 1-1 when he pick up a loose puck in the left faceoff circle and backhanded a shot by Fay just 2:32 into the frame.

That's the way the score remained until the shootout. Both goalies stopped the first three shots they faced before Fortin got the game winner and Glendye preserved the win.

Trinity 2, Central 1: The Pioneers of Manchester finished the tournament on a strong note, winning three in a row including a 2-1 victory against city rival Manchester Central.

Colby Fortin scored the game winner at the 1:24 mark of the third period for Trinity (3-1). Zach Boivin had the other Pioneer goal, which gave his team a 1-0 lead with 3:53 left in the second period.

That advantage didn't stand for long. Just nine seconds after Boivin put his team on top, Travis Chipman responded with a goal for the Little Green (2-2) to tie it up.

Jacob Zimmerman made 14 saves and Ryan Slatky added nine in net for the Pioneers. Rene Couture stopped 33 shots for Central.