BOBWHITES SOAR PAST RUTLAND
By ANTHONY LABOR JR.
ST. ALBANS – The BFA-St. Albans boys hockey team recognized its nine senior players on its roster as well as its senior manager and mascot before their Pink the Rink game on Saturday, which is a doubleheader with them and the girls hockey team in an effort to raise money in the fight against cancer. The Bobwhites also had assistant coach Bill O’Neil, who is a cancer survivor himself and was recently inducted into the Vermont Sports Hall of Fame as part of their 2022 class.
On a night where the team recognized Mike Telfer, Levi Webb, Sean Beauregard, Collin Audy, Matt Merrill, Ezra Lanfear, Darik Gregoire, Cam Piper, Gavin Fraties, Aiden Savoy and manager William Magnan and “Birdman” Zack Smith, it was fitting on a night that recognized the seniors, they played a big part of the game on the scoresheet. They accounted for 12 of BFA’s 15 points, as they came away with a definitive 6-1 win over the Raiders.
Savoy finished the game with a hat trick, while Beauregard added four assists. Collin Audy (one goal two assists), Merrill (one goal) and Lanfear (one assist) all scored for the senior class. Telfer finished the game with 18 saves.
Junior Parker Gagne tallied a goal, while fellow juniors Ethan Audy and Liam Wood picked up an assist each.
“I thought it was a good effort from everyone out there today, but you did see a special effort out of the seniors tonight,” said BFA coach Toby Duculon. “It was nice to see a lot of seniors on the scoresheets.
“This is one of the biggest senior classes we have had in at least the last four or five years,” he added. “There are a lot of guys with a lot of experience, so I was very happy for them tonight with the effort they had and the results they got.”
Savoy got the scoring started early in the first period for the Bobwhites. Collin Audy picked up the loose puck behind the net and sent a pass out front to an open Savoy who fired a shot into the net for the 1-0 lead. Collin Audy picked up a goal late in the first on assists from Beauregard and Lanfear.
The Bobwhites broke things open in the second period behind a pair of goals for Savoy and a goal from Merrill to make it a 5-1 game heading into the third period.
Gagne scored a couple of minutes into the third to make it a 6-1 game and the Bobwhites shut down the Raiders from there.
“I thought we played well from the start tonight, didn’t have any let downs and didn’t have any major mistakes,” said Duculon. “It was a good solid effort with good energy throughout the entire game.”
The Bobwhites improved to 14-3 with the win and will try to secure at least the No. 2 seed in the Div. I playoffs when they host South Burlington on Wednesday. The Bobwhites topped South Burlington 3-0 in the first meeting of the season.
“If we can come out on Wednesday like we did tonight, I think we will be in good shape,” said Duculon. “South Burlington is a solid team, but I’m just focused on us and what we can do and if we can duplicate what we did tonight, we should be good.”
