BOBWHITES FALL TO HORNETS IN ESSEX
By John Bonnette
ESSEX – Despite dominating at times throughout the game, the current No. 2 ranked BFA-St. Albans Bobwhites just could not buy a break, as they dropped another tough one to Essex, 3-1, Wednesday night in Essex.
This marked the second time in just two weeks that the Bobwhites (13-3) have lost to the Hornets by a 3-1 score. BFA will now need to win out to hold on to the No. 2 seed heading into the playoffs.
“We worked hard and we did some good things but we would have to be better to play against the top seeds,” BFA Coach Toby Ducolon said. “We worked hard and we did a lot of good things, but we did not get that break.”
Early on, the Bobwhites appeared ready to sting the Hornets as Aiden Savoy put BFA up 1-0 with just over four minutes left in the first period. BFA Captain Matt Merrill stripped Essex’s Braedon Hemenway of the puck at center ice and raced into the Hornet zone before slipping a pass to the low slot.
Collin Audy snapped a quick shot that Essex netminder Maxwell Foster (25 saves) made a nice stop on, but the rebound bounced to Savoy in the high slot and he wasted no time blasting a shot that beat Foster stick-side to give BFA a 1-0 lead.
“It was a nice goal and it was a nice shot and a nice patient look by Savoy,” Ducolon said. “It was great to get on the board first.”
Unfortunately for the Bobwhites, one mistake late in the period would erase an entire period of work. Essex’s Tobey Cram stole the puck from a BFA defender at center ice and raced down the left side before drilling a low shot that BFA goaltender Michel Telfer (28 saves) made the initial save on. But Telfer couldn’t control the rebound and Cram was able to tap the puck past him to knot the game at 1-1 with just 30 seconds left in the first period.
”When you have a nice first period and then all of a sudden you give up a goal in the last 30 or 40 seconds of a period, which you cannot do against Essex,” Ducolon said.
Essex would claim the lead late in the second off a strange play to the right of the BFA goal. Hemenway pulled the puck off the right boards and got the puck down to Justin Prim, who, from a tough angle somehow jammed the puck under Telfer to give the Hornets a 2-1 lead with 3:51 left in the second period.
“As good as Essex was in the first game, I thought we gave up some easier goals then we usually do,” Ducolon said. “That little trickle that went in (today) again we can’t give the better teams an easy goal and expect to win a game.”
Despite being down, the Bobwhites came out flying in the first five minutes of the third, outshooting Essex 10-0 in that span as Russell made several big saves – including robbing Sean Beauregard from the slot and having a shot by Audy ring off the crossbar.
“We did come out hard in the third and I thought we did some good stuff and had chances but we just didn’t finish,” Ducolon said. “We had some chances without a doubt and I think we got frustrated because we did not get rewarded.
“Four or five minutes we have pressure and didn’t get a goal.”
After a Bobwhite penalty for Interference, the Hornets extended their lead to 3-1 when Prim one-timed a pass from Cram past Telfer just as the penalty was about to expire.
“You can’t come down here and take a penalty and allow them to score,” Ducolon said. “We did a nice job (on the penalty kill) but then we allow them to score with eight seconds left and it’s defeating all of the hard work.”
The Bobwhite have just three regular season games left and if they can win them all will lock up the second overall seed and home ice through the semi-finals and a potential rematch with the Hornets.
“We have to finish the season, the last few games strong and then prepare for a quarterfinal,” Ducolon said. “I am not even worried about a semi-final yet because the quarterfinal will be a very hard game this year because all the teams are good.”
