BOBWHITES CAP WILD WEEK WITH CHAMPIONSHIP OVER RIVAL HORNETS
Story by Ben Kaufmann
Photos by Gregory J. Lamoureux and Ben Kaufmann
County Courier
BURLINGTON: For the second time in the most unusual five-day span, BFA-St. Albans celebrated a Division I boys’ hockey championship. This time, after the final that almost never happened, it was finally official. Goals from Christian Vallee, Levi Webb, and Owen Benoit propelled the Bobwhites to a 3-2 win over rival Essex and gave St. Albans its 20th championship.
No. 1 Essex (7-1) nearly missed its chance to try keeping No. 2 BFA (9-1) from winning its second straight championship. The Hornets were exposed to COVID-19 in last Wednesday’s quarterfinal win over Colchester and had to quarantine for a week, then produce negative COVID tests in order to play. The only reason the Hornets didn’t have to forfeit a semifinal against Woodstock is the Wasps had their own COVID issues and forfeited before Essex had the chance to. Wednesday around 2:00 PM, two hours before its deadline to produce negative tests, the Hornets confirmed they would be able to play against BFA.
In all the confusion, BFA had been led to believe there was no way Essex would be able to take the ice Wednesday and thus treated Saturday’s semifinal win over No. 3 CVU as the championship. After celebrating a title win, the Bobwhites learned there was still a chance the Hornets would be ready for Wednesday after all.
“It was hard for Essex to go through what they went through. It was extremely hard on us for the mess that we had to go through this weekend,” said BFA coach Toby Ducolon. “For these guys to get it back together mentally and physically and then be able to come out and perform on Wednesday night, it’s outstanding.”
Ducolon’s players echoed the same message: BFA needed to regroup, stay focused and get ready to meet its next challenge.
“It was tough,” said Bobwhite goalie Mike Telfer, who collected four shutouts over just eight regular-season games and stopped 20 shots Wednesday. “We just had to keep a strong mindset, recover and stay resilient. This group has all those things.”
“It’s been a roller coaster the last week and a half, but we stayed resilient,” said senior captain Christian Vallee.
That resiliency paid off. The same Hornet team which ran through its regular season undefeated and without ever conceding more than a goal in a game had one significant disadvantage coming in to Wednesday: they hadn’t been allowed to practice in the last week.
The Bobwhites took advantage of any bit of rust Essex needed to shake off. The Hornets picked up a penalty just 11 seconds after the opening whistle and it wasn’t long before Vallee took a pass from Benoit just inside the blue line and whipped in a high shot to put BFA up 1-0 just 24 seconds into the contest.
“I think that was the first shift. I just saw some open space in the middle, (Sean) Beauregard had a good screen in front and I saw the top corner and buried it,” Vallee said, crediting the useful positioning of Beauregard and Aiden Savoy in front of the Hornet goal.
BFA got back on the power-play with just over five minutes gone in the first period. Levi Webb took a vicious push to the head which knocked his helmet off, but got the last laugh soon after. Webb nearly poked in the rebound of a Matt Merrill shot and missed, but got another chance off another Merrill shot seconds later and this time put it in even as he was knocked to the ground to give BFA a 2-0 lead with 8:57 still left in the first.
“Well I whiffed the first one there,” Webb laughed after the game. “Came back to my feet and kicked it forward and put it in.”
The start against an Essex team that hadn’t yielded much to anyone all year, including in a 2-0 win over the Bobwhites on February 20th, was ideal for BFA. With Essex likely to start a little sloppy after six days off the ice, BFA needed to pounce.
“That’s why the start was very important,” Ducolon said. “We were fortunate enough to bury the two in the first period and then we really buckled down. We played some really good, solid defense.”
The Hornets bounced back well in the second. After a fairly unsuccessful power-play in the first period, Essex went to work on its next try after a BFA penalty six minutes into the second. The Hornets forced four saves from Telfer on that power-play alone, good for half of the eight he made in that period.
The first Essex goal didn’t come on the power-play officially, but may as well have. Essex continued to get shots throughout its next, and final, two-minute advantage. This time around, the shots were mostly errant but one bounced so firmly off the boards behind the goal that it came right back to Andrew Forcier,who punched it in to cut BFA’s lead to 2-1 entering the third period. That goal came just three seconds after the expiration of BFA’s penalty and with 4:29 left in the second.
The Bobwhites got the insurance they badly needed late in the third period, once again on the power-play (Essex committed just three penalties Wednesday and BFA scored on each power-play). Benoit fired a pass to Colby Morin but Morin’s shot just missed the goal. The two decided to switch places seconds later with Morin collecting a pass from Vallee and finding Benoit for a blistering wrist-shot, once again with help from a Beauregard screen, and a 3-1 BFA lead with 4:31 left in regulation. That goal made it less problematic when Essex senior Tobias Martin deflected a slapshot into the Bobwhite goal with 23 seconds left. Essex had one late chance stalled by an offsides call and Vallee won the ensuing faceoff with seven seconds left to cement BFA’s second title in as many years.
Telfer and the three goalscorers deserve plenty of credit for Wednesday’s triumph, but it was a genuine shared effort. So many Bobwhites had flashes of brilliance, usually in the name of defense since BFA played with the lead for all but 24 seconds against the Hornets. At one point or another, forwards Beauregard, Collin Audy, Thomas Wilbur, Merrill, Dan Rafferty, Gavin Fraties, Liam Wood, and Savoy all made a defensive play when BFA needed it.
“I thought the guys did a great job putting themselves in a position to win a hockey game. We talked about it, they did exactly that and then they executed in the end,” Ducolon said.
“You don’t win a state final without executing. You can work hard, but you’ve got to execute in the last game. They did exactly that, so my hat’s off to the guys.”
For those regularly tasked with protecting the Bobwhite goal, Wednesday was a showcase. The Bobwhite defense was nearly flawless. Benoit possessed the puck masterfully each time BFA needed a few seconds to breathe. Ethan Audy blocked multiple shots and was pivotal in holding off the final Hornet push. Nathan Benoit provided an intimidating presence in front of Telfer, who rarely faced a quality shot when either Benoit was on the ice. Morin stopped one of Essex’s best scoring chances in the first period and was a constant two-way threat. Cam Johnson and Ezra Lanfear both rose to each challenge Essex provided Wednesday. Throw in the selfless efforts of BFA’s forwards and even a great team was going to have a tough time taking the Bobwhite’s trophy away.
“That’s not an easy task,” Ducolon said, “I thought it was great, to finish with your last game, maybe your best game is hard to do. But this probably was. This probably was our best overall game.”
“It’s a great night overall for the green and gold for sure. I’m very proud.”
BFA graduates just three seniors from this title squad, but it’s a big three. Morin, Nathan Benoit, and Vallee will all exit the Bobwhite program as back-to-back champions when they graduate this spring. Despite the caliber of players leaving, the small number means BFA returns a lot of weapons in players like Merrill, Webb, Owen Benoit, Telfer, and plenty more. With all the firepower due back at Collins Perley next season, it’s hard not to think of what might be.
“We’re feeling good. Back-to-back and our eyes are on next year already,” Telfer said. “We’re just going to celebrate it and get ready to go.”
Wednsday’s game was the 20th postseason meeting between BFA and Essex, and the eighth championship game. With the victory, BFA evens the head-to-head championship tally at four games apiece. The two schools have now combined to win the last seven Division I boys’ hockey championships in Vermont- and if Telfer has his way, next year will make it eight in a row.
