RICE POWER PLAY GOALS DOOM BOBWHITES
By John Bonnette
ST. ALBANS – With the top two teams in Division I Boy’s Hockey set to clash Wednesday night, everyone expected a battle and a battle is what they got. Rice used two power play goals to slip past Bellows Free Academy, 2-1, in a penalty filled affair in St. Albans.
“We were happy with our effort,” BFA Coach Toby Ducolon said. “I thought we got caught up a little bit with the emotion and took some penalties that we should not have taken and that put us in a tough spot.
“Did we fight through it? Yes and no. We gave up two power play goals and killed a few very hard ones but when you give a good team two power play goals you are not going to come out on top. It was a great test for the beginning of February.”
The two teams combined for a total of 13 penalties with Rice (11-0) going 2-for-7 with the man advantage and BFA (10-2) going 0-for-5.
“More penalties than I am sure that either Toby or I would like but it was just battle, battle, battle. Both teams working real hard right to the end,” Rice Coach Jerry Tarrant said. “That is a hard-working team, they never quit and we knew that coming in. Anytime you come to St. Albans it is a great environment to play high school hockey.”
“We know their team is always going to work hard and we feel fortunate to get out of here with a 2-1 win.”
Ducolon agreed with Tarrant, adding that two of the top teams in Div. I share a lot of common traits.
“We are a lot alike, great goaltending, solid defense, three good lines and it would be a great game five-on-five,” Ducolon said. “That was fun, it was a great contest and battle. Before the game we said we have to be battle ready or battle tested and that is exactly what we just did.”
On Wednesday, Rice opened the scoring when they jumped on the Bobwhites halfway through the first period as Mackenzie Owens notched Rice’s goal just six seconds into the Green Knights’ first power play of the game.
The man advantage started with a faceoff to the right of the BFA goal and Rice’s Dae Han McHugh won the draw back to Jackman Hickey at the right point. BFA netminder Michel Telfer (25 saves) had the puck bounce off his chest on Hickey’s blast and the rebound bounced into the low slot where Owens wasted no time drilling it over Telfer’s blocker to make it 1-0 with 8:33 left in the fist.
“Toby is a student of the game and he has been watching and knows what we work on,” Tarrant said. “So, we said let’s keep it simple we get a shot through and get a rebound and that is exactly what we did.”
Telfer would have to be sharp all period long as the Bobwhites took two consecutive penalties, forcing him to make eleven first period stops, including a huge glove save to rob Garrett Micciche with 3:57 left in the period to keep it to just a one goal game after the first intermission.
“Telfer I thought was outstanding,” Ducolon said. “He makes the initial stop – did he give a rebound? Maybe, maybe not, but the problem is we are putting us in a situation we should not be in. You can blame a goaltender on any shot or any goal but somebody up front either missed something or a defenseman missed something usually.”
“We need to put ourselves in a position to win, not take the penalties, especially against good teams.”
After weathering an early Green Knight attack to start the second period BFA would finally pull even with 6:26 left in the first thanks to a great individual shorthanded effort by Bobwhite Captain Matt Merrill.
Merrill stripped the puck from Rice’s Jackson Strong at center ice and then raced in alone on Green Knight goalie Andrew Libby (16 saves). Then In a scene eerily similar of the goal that sent BFA to the finals in overtime back in 2020, Libby appeared to make the initial save but the puck squeaked under him to knot the score at 1-1.
“The only thing different was you could see this one but it was lot like it (the 2020 semifinal game winner),” Ducolon said. “He (Libby) had it, he is a really good goaltender and I think it just trickled in through a leg at the very end. But it did resemble a little bit of how it went in the net delayed and it was a great effort by Merrill. It was definitely a big lift for us emotional and the kid made the save kind of partially and then it just snuck behind him.”
“He (Merrill) gets the job done with effort, his game is effort and hard work. He is not going to come in and snap it under the bar. He is going to do it, just like he does everything else, with effort and speed.”
But the Green Knights would answer right back just 41 seconds later with its second power play goal of the night. Telfer made a huge pad save on Jacob Chan just inside the left post but the rebound caromed over to Hickey, who easily deposited it in the open side of the net for a 2-1 Rice lead with 5:45 left in the second period.
“We have been that way all year. We are pretty good at responding and the boys on the bench say that’s alright and get right back at it,” Tarrant said. “It happened against Essex last game and we find a way to bounce back against good teams. It is particularly nice and that (BFA) is a good hockey team.”
Instead of trading goals, the teams spent the rest of the second and part of the third period trading penalties combining for five penalties in the final five minutes of the second period. In total the teams combined for 26 minutes of penalties on the evening.
“That would be a really fun game five-on-five and our chances would be better,” Ducolon said. “Their top five guys are very dangerous like Essex. We have done a great job of staying out of the box the last two weeks and even longer but we got in a little bit of trouble tonight. Maybe because we were a little more excited for a big game that we had not been in yet.”
“But it is the correct thing to happen, you lose because you take too many penalties.”
As the Bobwhites head into the final month of the regular season, a rematch against Rice looms either with a potential makeup game to be rescheduled from earlier this year or at Gutterson Fieldhouse in March.
“I think they (Rice) skate extremely well,” Ducolon said. “We would have to have an extremely great game, we would have to have excellent goaltending and we have to improve the next 30 days.
“We have to go from February 2 until March 2 and if we do I think it would be a contest against them on a large ice surface, but if we stay the same it could be a long night on a big surface because that team can get up and go.”
