St. Paul’s School 4 — Tilton School 2

In the second to last regular season game of the 2023 - 2024 varsity boys hockey season, the “Big Red” played host to Lakes Region Hockey Conference opponent the Tilton School “Rams.” Today’s late afternoon game, 5:00 pm start, had a lot of implications for the young “Pelicans” and “Rams” - a win for either team would give them a third or fourth place finish in the Lakes Region regular season standings; a loss would most likely relegate them to fifth place and the consolation bracket for the Lakes Region end-of-the-season tournament.

The “Big Red” took advantage of their home ice early when Michael O’Brien ̕25 (Bedford, NS) opened the scoring twenty seconds into the game. O’Brien took a redirected Christian Yi ̕24 (Lake Forest, CA) shot from the right point off a Tilton defender’s stick on the left side of the net, and buried the puck into the upper corner of the “Ram” net. After O’Brien’s goal, the contest remained scoreless for the remainder of the period. Each team enjoyed several good scoring opportunities, but they both played responsible defensive hockey.

Eight minutes into the second period, Fin Kilbourne ̕27 (Duxbury, MA) scored the “Pelicans” second goal of the game when Tommy Humphreys ̕25 (West Simsbury, CT) picked off a “D - D” pass and drew the Tilton defender and goalie to the right side of the rink and then he moved the puck back to Kilbourne on his left side—who was left uncovered by the Tilton defense. The “Third Former” then deposited the puck safely into the empty net. Kilbourne’s goal was the sole goal of the period. Blake Truchon ̕26 (South Burlington, VT), the St. Paul’s School goaltender made several key stops in the middle period to keep the “Rams” at bay and give his team positive momentum heading into the third period.

Ninety seconds into the third period, Quinn Brandell ̕26 (Plattsburgh, NY) took a Matt Vohra ̕25 (Valley, NS) pass from the right corner of the offensive zone to the high slot and then fired a “wicked wrister” past the Tilton goalie to give the home a solid three goal lead. Humphreys would get in on the offensive action three minutes later when he broke in on a “two versus one” with linemate Jack Stadheim ̕24 (Lyme, NH). Stadheim, a left shot, coming down the right side of the rink fired a hard shot at the Tilton goaltender that generated a rebound to his left side and Humphreys was “johnny-on-the-spot” to deposit the rebound into the back of the net to give the “Big Red” a commanding four goal lead. The “Rams” would not go quietly, however; they scored two goals in a span of two minutes to show the “Pelicans” they would compete until the last second of regulation. After Tilton’s two quick goals, St. Paul’s School called a necessary time-out. The team reoriented their focus and for the last eleven minutes of game, they played responsible and structurally sound hockey that enabled them to limit Tilton’s offensive chances and dash any of their aspirations of securing a position in the championship playoff bracket this afternoon.

With today’s win the “Big Red” will qualify for the championship playoff bracket and finish no lower than fourth place in the regular season standings. There is a chance that Tilton can still make the championship bracket and St. Paul’s can finish in third place, but those two scenarios are out of both teams hands—they will be watching the results of other league matchups early next week.

Tomorrow night, is the last regular season home game against Holderness School for the Form of 2024 in the Hockey Center on Gordon Ice. The game will start at 6:00 pm and official recognition of the seniors will be at 5:45 pm. We hope to see you in the hockey center for what we all hope will be a special night.