White River Junction
The Hurricanes were stymied by Lyndon goalie Herman Troeng, a Swedish exchange student, in the early going. The Canes had a combined 44 shots on goal in the first and second periods but trailed, 1-0, through the first before scratching across a pair of goals in the second to lead, 2-1, into the third. After finally taking a lead in front of the home crowd, top-seeded Hartford flexed its muscles in the third period with four straight goals to pull away.
“We had to solve their goaltender,” Hartford coach Todd Bebeau said. “He played out of his mind.” Troeng finished with 58 saves.
The Canes’ top line of Tyler Hamilton, Ben Rouillard and Jordy Allard once again provided the scoring bulk with all six goals and five assists. The Vikings early lead was nullified on Hamilton’s goal early in the second period, assisted by Patrick McGlone. Rouillard then put Hartford in front for good, scoring on a feed from Allard with four seconds left to play in the second.
Allard scored a pair to start the action in the third period. Rouillard and Hamilton capped the scoring with a goal each. Rouillard finished with a team-high three assists. McGlone and Hamilton also had third-period assists.
Starting Hartford goaltender Richie Morrill played well into the third period and had 20 saves. Matt Libuda added six saves in six minutes of action.
Hartford (16-4-1) will host North Country (15-5) in the semifinals on Tuesday night at 6 p.m.
Kimball Union 2, Dexter 1
Brookline, Mass.
Woodstock 1, Brattleboro 0 (ot)
Woodstock
No. 2 Woodstock will host No. 3 Missisquoi in the semifinals at 5:30 p.m. on Monday. The teams split two games this season with the Wasps winning, 4-2, at Missisquoi on Jan. 21 before the Thunderbirds returned the favor with a 4-1 victory at the Woodstock on Feb. 25.
Bridgit Black made 18 saves for Woodstock.
Stevens 71, Belmont 64
Claremont
Leading the foul shooters was Noah Spaulding, who corralled 11 of 12.
The win sends the Cardinals to Southern New Hampshire University for a 6 p.m. game on Wednesday against the Berlin-Hopkinton winner.
Stevens began taking control of the game in the third quarter. Leading 26-23 at the half the Cardinals put up 20 points in the third quarter and took a 46-36 advantage into the final eight minutes.
Belmont never stopped charging and got the lead slashed to five points late in the game, but each time they had to foul to stop the clock they fouled Spaulding who made four free throws in the last 32 seconds to ice the game.
Stevens finished with four players in double figures led by the O’Brien brothers as Nick O’Brien had 20 and Zach 17. Spaulding added 16 and Parker Smith 12.
— Poody Walsh
Arlington 52, South Royalton 45
Arlington, Vt.
Arlington led, 37-29, heading into the fourth quarter and built the lead to 11 points early in the final stanza. The Royals didn’t go quietly though, as senior Nicholas Howe led a comeback attempt that had SoRo within two points with less than a minute to play. The Eagles proved clutch from the free throw line in the closing seconds to just hang on for the victory.
Nicholas Howe finished with 28 points, including 18 of the Royals’ 24 points in the second half. SoRo will graduate Howe, Dalton McDougall, Stephen Paige, Jayson Perron and Andy Moore.
Girls Basketball
Sharon 39, Blue Mountain 32
Sharon
Sharon scored 26 points in the second half to pull away. Mallory Lloyd led the attack with 16 points. Eliza Masteller added 10 points and Jocelyn Johnson had seven. The Phoenix appear to have locked up the No. 8 seed and look to host the No. 9 seed Mid Vermont Christian on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Sharon started the season 1-7 but have now gone won eight of their last 12 to finish the regular season at 9-11. Lloyd, Johnson, Grace Dorman and Anyata Hamilton are the Phoenix seniors.
Woodstock 50, Springfield 39
Woodstock
Woodstock led, 22-18, at halftime and then outscored the visitors, 13-1, in the third quarter to take control. Madison Schultz had 17 points to pace the Wasps. Loretta Blakeney and Mariah Luce each had 10 points. Natalie Stevens added eight points.
Fair Haven Wins Title
Barre, Vt.
Ninth-seeded Windsor beat No. 8 Brattleboro in the opening round, winning best-of-seven in six games. No. 7 seed Hartford also picked up a win in the first round, topping No. 10 seed Oxbow by four games to two. Both would lose in five games in the quarterfinals, with Windsor falling to top-seeded Fair Haven and Hartford falling to No. 2 seed South Burlington.
The Slaters took a quick 2-0 lead in the state championship match, winning by scores of 232-186 and 177-145. South Burlington won three of the next four to setup a winner-take-all final game. Fair Haven won the state title with a 196-178 victory in the seventh game.
New England Championships
Roxbury, Mass.
Merchant finished 13th in the girls shot put with a toss of 38 feet, one inch. Lowe took 15th in the boys 300 meter dash (37.26 seconds). Lowe then anchored the Hartford boys 4×400 relay team to a 15th place finish. Also on the relay team was Lucas Benson, Callum Brittain and Riley Kehoe.
Izzy Giesing set a Vermont high school record as she finished 14th in the 1,000 meter run with a time of 3:00.91. The Oxbow girls 4×400 team of Claire Cook, Emily Carson, Tyrus Rosten and Giesing finished 20th. The Olympians boys 4×400 meter relay team of Brennan Kimball, Willy Moreno, Jarret Rock and Jon Puffer finished 16th.
Oxbow also had a 21st place finish by Jon Puffer in the 600 meters, a 24th place finish by Rosten in the 1,000 meters and Leanne Burgess in 31st in the 3,200 meters. The Olympians also sent a pair of 4×800 meter relay teams to the event. The girls (Burgess, Cassidy Pryer, Cook and Giesing) finished 27th and the boys (Moreno, Calvin Cook, William Douglas and Puffer) finished 26th.