Bobwhites, Comets Set to Host Quarterfinal Games; Milton Goes on the Road
STAFF REPORTS
The 2021 Vermont high school hockey playoffs started over the weekend with the start of the playdown games. Three local teams will begin their postseason with games on Wednesday with the BFA-St. Albans boys and girls teams hosting a quarterfinal game and the Milton boys team traveling for their playdown game. Here are the previews of each game:
Division I Boys Hockey Quarterfinal
No. 10 Stowe (1-6-0) at No. 2 BFA-St. Albans (7-1-0)
Wednesday March 17 at 7:30 p.m.
Outlook: The Bobwhites will host Stowe during the quarterfinals on Wednesday at Collins Perley after the Raiders picked up their first win of the season in a 7-2 win over Spaulding in the playdown round. The Bobwhites’ one setback of the year came in a 2-0 loss against top-seeded Essex on February 20. Since then, BFA has won five in a row, while outscoring its opponents 20-4. BFA didn’t play Stowe during the regular season, but this will be a rematch from last year’s championship game, which the Bobwhites won 4-1 for their 19th title in program history. The Bobwhites have a lot of depth with three forward lines that can produce on any given night. The team is led by a trio of seniors in two-year captain Christian Vallee along with Colby Morin and Nathan Benoit. Along with the three captains, Matt Merrill, Sean Beauregard, Levi Webb, Collin Audy, Liam Wood and Aiden Savoy have all had strong seasons up front for the Bobwhites. Owen Benoit and Ethan Audy round out a defensive grouping with Nathan Benoit and Morin. Junior netminder Mike Telfer has been strong all season giving up just eight goals in eight games with three shutouts and he hasn’t given up more than two goals in a game this season.
Division II Boys Hockey Playdown
No. 11 Milton (1-3) at No. 6 Burr & Burton (5-3)
Wednesday March 17, TBD
Outlook: Even though this game is slated as a playdown round matchup, it is essentially acting as a quarterfinal. The winner of this game was lined up to play No. 3 Missisquoi in the quarterfinal round, but Missisquoi canceled the rest of its winter athletics last week and the brackets weren’t reseeded, so the winner of Milton/Burr & Burton will move on to the semifinals. Milton hasn’t played a game since February 24 in a 3-2 loss to top-seeded Harwood. The Yellow Jackets and Bulldogs faced off in the regular-season opener on February 13 with Burr & Burton coming away with an 8-6 win.
Missisquoi (4-1)
Season Canceled
All Missisquoi athletics were canceled last week, which was tough for the Thunderbirds who had their eyes set on a championship this season. They hadn’t played a game since February 27 when they battled in a loss to Div. I powerhouse Essex, 3-1, in their only loss of the season. In their other four games against Div. II opponents? The Thunderbirds were 4-0 while outscoring their opponents 21-5 and the smallest margin of victory was three goals. The Thunderbirds had the making of a championship contender, as they were to enter the tournament as the No. 3 seed. They had everything they needed to make a run at the title. They were led by 100-point man Hunter Mason along with linemates Ethan Messier and Carter Letourneau, who made up a formidable first line. Jackson Porter, Jake Benamin and Corbin Schreindorfer were a powerful second line that was producing as well. Along with a solid defense led by Steven King, Isaac Overton and Charlie Gates, Missisquoi had size, speed, good hands and excellent shots to make it tough for opponents to contend with along with the solid play in net by PJ Bouchard. There is no question that the Thunderbirds showed during their five games they were legitimate title contenders.
Division I Girls Hockey Quarterfinal
No. 6 Burlington/Colchester (3-3-1) at No. 3 BFA-St. Albans (4-1-2)
Wednesday March 17, 4:30 p.m.
Outlook: The Comets drew a tough opponent in the quarterfinal round with the Sealakers coming to town. BFA won the only matchup between these two teams, 3-1, on March 3. In that game. The Comets finished the regular season 0-1-2 against Essex in their three matchups, including an entertaining 0-0 draw in the season finale, and 4-0-0 against everyone else. Backstopped by senior goaltender Macie Boissonneault, BFA only gave up six goals in seven games this season with three of those goals coming in a 3-1 loss to Essex on February 23. The Comets came into the season very young with only two seniors on the team in Boissonneault and Chiara Skeels. The rest of the team is made up of seven juniors, 10 sophomores and three freshmen. The Comets have done a good job all season spreading the wealth around on the offensive side of the ice with 10 different players scoring their 19 goals on the year and 15 players recording points. Junior Sophie Zemianek led all players with nine points on the season with four goals and five assists. Sophomore Jodie Gratton (2 goals, 2 assists) and freshman Caroline Bliss (3 goals, 1 assist) both had four points. The Comets currently have 11 championships to their name (10 that are recognized by the VPA) and the road to No. 12 won’t be an easy one. They could have to go on the road to a solid Spaulding team in the semifinals before possibly meeting Essex for a fourth time this season if they both make it to the finals. In a year that was different than any other, seeing a potential BFA/Essex matchup with the championship on the line would bring a little normalcy into the world.
Division II Girls Hockey
Missisquoi (2-5)
Season Canceled
Without looking at the record, the Thunderbirds were looking like a team that could upset a lot of people when the playoffs started and going in as the No. 7 seed. They had a number of games slip away from them throughout the course of the season, including two games in the third period on the road against Hartford and Rutland. They were in every game they played and started to heat up in the last game they played on March 10 when they traveled to North Country/Lyndon and came away with a 3-1 win over the Kingdom Blades. Madison Conley made 42 saves in that game, as she was playing well throughout the course of the entire season. Bri Jarvis had a hat trick on that game, and the Thunderbirds came away with the win without Brianna Parent, who has been one of their best players over the past four years. They played quality competition all season long to set themselves up to make a strong run in the postseason and they had the makeup to do just that. This version of the Thunderbirds was reminiscent of the 2018-19 team that ended 6-14 during the regular season playing tough competition throughout the regular season before going on to win the championship. This was a well-balanced team that had a good mix of seniors and younger players that contributed on a nightly basis. The seniors on this team have seen a lot of success throughout their time with the program, as they went to the finals their freshmen year, won the championship as sophomores and made it to the semifinals last year as juniors. They were going into the postseason with all the momentum and had a real shot of repeating what they did in 2019.
