Big Red fightback to claim victory against the Mustangs

1/29/2024

On Wednesday afternoon, the “Pelicans” played host to the Milton Academy “Mustangs” in an

early evening (5:30) contest. The two teams met twenty-three days earlier when they faced off

with one another in game one at the Tabor Academy, “Joshua Weeks” New Year’s Invitational.

On that day, the “Mustangs” skated off the ice with a 4 - 1 victory and moved on to win the

championship the following afternoon. With the disappointment of the loss of that game against

Milton in the back of the St. Paul’s School varsity boys hockey team’s mind, they were

determined to put forth a better effort and play a more complete “team game.” To the “Big

Red’s” credit, they played arguably their best game of the year and left the “Hockey Center” with

a 3 - 2 victory.

A major highlight of the game included the team’s resilience. After falling behind 1 - 0 two

minutes into the game, they found their defensive game and tightened up their team defense on

line rushes against goaltenders Treva Murphy ̕25 (Manchester, NH) and Blake Truchon ̕26

(South Burlington, VT). Murphy was the starter for the contest, but at the midway point of the

first period he caught an edge and incurred a freakish lower body injury. Truchon came into the

contest cold and put together an excellent performance, making a sparkling save on a two on one

situation in the closing minutes of the game. In the second period and the “Pelicans” down by a

score of 2 - 0, Lino Viau ̕24 (Los Angeles, CA) found the back of the net when he drove the net

hard and put a rebound goal in, off of a Matt Vohra ̕25 (Valley, NS) shot from the right side of

the rink. Michael O’ Brien ̕25 (Bedford, NS) tied the game for the “Big Red” when he took a

pass from Anderson Kilbourne ̕26 (Duxbury, MA) from below the goal line to the slot and fired

a shot to the upper corner of the Milton net. The next few minutes saw both teams skating

furiously up and down the ice to get their team’s “go ahead goal.” Sixth Former, AJ True

(Manchester, NH) “handed” his teammates the lead they were so desperately looking for when

he knocked in the rebound of a Pat Cooley̕25 (Rutland, VT) shot from the hash marks. This was

a “karma” game for the “Big Red.” Over the course of the 2023 - 2024 varsity boys hockey

season, they experienced a number of odd and mysterious in-game calls by referees that tested

their resilience—this evening the “hockey gods” looked upon them favorably!

The “Big Red” skaters will hit the road on Friday afternoon after classes and head southwest to

take on the Northfield Mt. Hermon “Hoggers” at 6:30pm in the lovely confines of McCollum

Arena.

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