BOBWHITES CLOSE SEASON WITH WIN OVER WOLVES

By John Bonnette

ST. ALBANS – Prior to BFA-St. Albans’ final regular season game, the St. Albans community honored head coach Toby Ducolon for his 32 years behind the BFA bench. The Bobwhite players then spent the next 45 minutes making sure their coach went out with a win as they controlled play and gutted out a 4-2 victory over South Burlington Wednesday night.

“To me it is a normal game all I really care about is winning a hockey game and hopefully being the second seed tomorrow when it comes out tomorrow,” BFA coach Toby Ducolon said. “I am more about the game than what happened but I will say this, we got the results we wanted.

“We have some nice seniors here and it is nice to solidify, I hope, the second seed.”

The Bobwhites used the energy of the pregame festivities to jump out early as Matt Merrill and Cam Piper combined to give BFA the early lead just 3:30 into the first period.

Merrill walked off the right boards and had his shot blocked in front but the puck bounced back to Piper at the right point. Piper drilled a low shot that bounced off a South Burlington defender into the slot, where Merrill pounced on the loose puck and slipped it into the open net for a 1-0 BFA lead.

“The (Blake) Truchon kid in net tonight (for South Burlington) is a good goaltender,” Ducolon said. “At times because he is so aggressive he is a little out of position and he gives you an open net but he is a very good goaltender and one of the reasons they kept it tight.

“That first goal was pretty much Merrill, just good speed and anticipation to a loose puck. It was a big goal for us to get us started.”

South Burlington coach Sean Jones also praised his goaltender for keeping the game close and praised BFA for the early jump they showed following the pregame ceremony.

“How could they not?  You have a guy like Toby that has been their backbone forever,” Jones said when asked if it felt like BFA had an extra step coming off the opening faceoff.  “These are the kind of guys that you do not need to get them up to play for much, so when you have something special like that going on tonight, we knew they were going to come out and give us everything BFA always gives us if not a little bit more because it was Toby’s night.” 

The Audy brothers would double the Bobwhite lead as they combined for a power play goal midway through the first period.

Ethan Audy scooped up a loose pick in the neutral zone and raced down the left side into the Wolves zone and all the way around the end boards before blasting a shot from the high slot. Truchon (38 saves) made a nice stop of the low shot but the rebound bounced right to Collin Audy in the low circle and he wasted no time finding the back of the net for a 2-0 BFA lead with 5:26 left in the first period.

”Both of those guys are now playing at a different level than they were a month ago,” Ducolon said of the Audys. “It is pretty obvious they are really focused, tuned in and are doing a great job for us. 

“It was a nice goal to get it done by both of them so it was great.”

The Wolves would slow the Bobwhites momentum late in the period, as Nick Kelly stripped Ethan Audy of the puck at the South Burlington blue line before racing in alone and beating BFA goaltender Michel Telfer (21 saves) with a nice deke for a shorthanded goal with 4:25 left in the opening period of play.

But BFA regained the two-goal lead early in the second period thanks to some great play in the offensive zone. The Bobwhites were buzzing around the Wolves zone as Truchon made three big saves in a row before Levi Webb picked up a puck to the left on the South Burlington net and circled behind the goal and found Liam Wood for a quick one-timer from the low slot to make it 3-1 with 10:31 left in the second period.

“That was a nice little set up,” Ducolon said of the goal. “It was nice to get a little bit of cushion there.”

South Burlington cut the lead to 3-2 before Webb would be awarded a goal after being tackled on a breakaway with just one second left in regulation to finish the scoring.

“As crazy as it sounds, to get that battle or that playoff feel in the third period was great,” Ducolon said. “If we had gone up 4-1, we can close that out fairly easy, but when it is 3-1 you can’t close it out and you need to get ready and have a competitive edge for next Tuesday and I think that did it.”

“I was happy with that hard 3-1 battle when you are winning but it can go the other way any minute and they get to 3-2 and you are really in a battle and it went very well for us.” 

The Bobwhites almost certainly will be the No. 2 seed and host Champlain Valley Union next Tuesday in the quarterfinals. Pairing will be announced Thursday morning.

“CVU is a lot like South Burlington, they have some goaltenders who are very good,” Ducolon said. “They are a low scoring team but they have some goalies who can keep them in a game or within striking distance. 

“We will not be doing anything special except rest and getting prepared to give it a shot on Tuesday.”

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