MANCHESTER - Mitch Myers scored with 1:14 left to play to lift Trinity High of Manchester to a 2-1 win over Goffstown in the opening round of the Bauer Christmas Hockey Classic at JFK Coliseum on Wednesday.

It was one of four games played on Wednesday, the first of the four-day tournament that culminates with the championship game Saturday at 7 p.m.

The tournament continues with four games today. Merrimack plays Trinity of Manchester at 2 p.m., Spaulding of Rochester takes on Bedford at 4 p.m., Hanover plays Central at 6 p.m. and Manchester Memorial takes on Goffstown at 8 p.m.

Myers was set up beautifully by a nice pass from Josh Beaumont. Beaumont attracted some attention on the right side of the net and slid the puck to Myers, who was all alone on the left side.

Myers then made a few quick moves with the puck and beat Goffstown goalie Ben Genest (27 saves) for the winner.

"Josh Beaumont gave me a great pass between the defense's legs" Myers said. "In the second period, I tried doing a little deke and then going on my backhand, and it hit the post, so I decided to just go on my forehand, and it went in."

It was a quick change in momentum as just a couple minutes earlier the Grizzlies had a great chance to take the lead.

Connor Easton had a step on the Trinity defense when he got the puck in the offensive zone and got a good shot off, but Pioneer goalie Jacob Zimmerman (20 saves) used all 6 feet and 2 inches of his body to make the save. Zimmerman managed to get a toe on the puck and kick it clear of danger with 3:30 left to play.

"I was guessing where he was going," Zimmerman said. "He kind of made me go to the right, he shot to the left, and I just barely got it."

Wednesday's four matchups all pitted Division I teams against Division II squads. In the opener, Division II Spaulding beat Division I Hanover 3-0, and in the third game Div. I Memorial downed Div. II Merrimack 6-4 in a rematch of last year's title game won by the Tomahawks. Trinity is Division I, and Goffstown is Division II.

Trinity (2-2 Div. I, 3-2 overall) got on the board first against Goffstown with a goal by Kyle Valliere at 7:20 of the first period. Patrick Swanson and Myers were credited with assists on the goal.

The Grizzlies (2-2 Div. II, 2-3 overall) evened things up in the second period when Tyler Grinley scored at the 12:09 mark to make it 1-1. Nevin Houle and A.J. Potvin assisted on the score.

Earlier in the third period, Trinity had a two-man advantage for a minute, but Goffstown, backed by some good goaltending by Genest, managed to kill it off and keep it a tie game.

Spaulding 3, Hanover 0: Brent Phillips scored two goals and Derek Scott made 28 saves to preserve a shutout in a 3-0 win by the Red Raiders.

Spaulding (4-0 Div. II, 5-0 overall) got the offense going early with two goals in the first three minutes of the game. Ben Williams netted the first one at the 2:10 mark, and then Phillips got his first of the game 26 seconds later.

Zach Poisson and Zander Allen got the assists on the goal by Williams, and the Phillips goal was unassisted.

The second goal by Phillips came at the 13-minute mark of the third with the assist going to Allen.

James Montgomery finished with 30 saves for the Marauders (1-2-1 Div. I, 1-3-1 overall).

Memorial 6, Merrimack 4: The Crusaders (3-1 Div. I, 4-1 overall) exploded for four goals in the third period to beat the Tomahawks.

Brendan Sullivan paced the Memorial offense with a hat trick, two of which he scored in the decisive third period. Josh Roy had a hat trick for Merrimack (4-0 Div. II, 4-1 overall).

The Tomahawks beat the Crusaders in a shootout for the title last year.

Merrimack led 2-0 late in the second period before Memorial scored two quick goals to tie it up, 2-2, at the second intermission. The Crusaders took the lead twice in the third period only to have Merrimack come right back and tie it up.

Then it was Brady Sufat who scored the eventual game winner at the 10:31 mark. Bryan Syrene scored on a penalty shot later in the period for some insurance.

Brett Glendye finished with 38 saves in net for Merrimack and Aaron Nicolas made 17 stops for Memorial.

Central 5, Bedford 3: Devon Sprague broke a 3-3 tie with 1:43 to play and the Little Green added an empty-net goal to improve to 4-0 overall.

Kurt Mitchell scored twice for Bedford (3-2), which also received a goal from Chris Viola. Mitchell's second goal erased a 3-2 deficit with 9:56 to play.

Central had 21 saves from Ian Beliveau.

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Mark Quirk may be reached at mquirk@unionleader.com.