White River Junction
Reece Thompson also scored twice for the Canes, who improved to 2-0 with both wins against St. Johnsbury in a seven-day span. Hartford outshot the Hilltoppers, 34-15, and controlled play for almost all of the second half.
“We started off slow,” said Grant Whiteway, who is sharing Hartford’s head coaching duties this season with longtime skipper Bill Elberty. “In the second half, I think we got back to what we wanted to do offensively. It ended up working out.”
Hartford is coming off of two consecutive appearances in the now-defunct VPA Division III finals, losing both, including a 10-9 nailbiter last spring.
The program is 20-9 over that stretch and has largely remained intact since those championship defeats.
“I think we’re just showing teams more looks (this season), showing them who our threats are,” said Thompson, a junior midfielder. “We’re changing up our offense so we can give them a different look and move the ball around.”
Daley, Thompson and Adam Parker combined for 90 points last season, and Prior — whose season ended abruptly last year due to a knee injury — has transitioned to goaltending for his senior season.
“Kyle’s been working his tail off for us,” Whiteway said of Prior learning a new position. “He comes in, he takes shots every day, he’s really been working. You can see it now, see how much work he’s put in.”
Three quick strikes helped the Hurricanes pull away.
Thompson and junior Andrew Knight opened the scoring with back-to-back goals just seconds apart in the first quarter. Next, Thompson and sophomore Hunter Hutchinson each scored a goal just 24 seconds apart in the third quarter to trigger Hartford’s offensive blitz in the second half. Hutchinson later scored a goal with less than a second remaining in the third quarter, followed up by a score from Daley — off a feed from Thompson — 10 seconds into the fourth.
Daley scored his first of the game with 23 seconds left in the first quarter, finishing off a nifty pass from Thompson that found the senior attacker alone in front of St. Johnsbury’s net. The Canes led, 3-0, after one period but struggled to get its offense going in the second. The Hilltoppers eventually found the back of the net, beating Prior with 1:41 remaining before halftime.
“The ball was dying on our stick in the first half,” Whiteway said. “Our guy would dodge and hold onto it. In the second half, we were pushing it, getting it to the weak side. That’s kind of what we want to do.”
Hartford found its game again in the second half, scoring four goals in the third quarter and another five in the fourth to pull away.
“We just got to let our guys run through, other threats, to even out the field. I think that’s what we did,” Thompson said. “Some plays they were locking me off. I just stepped back and let the other guys do it who can score. It shows other teams that we’re well-rounded.”
St. Johnsbury, meanwhile, struggled to run its offense. It committed 14 turnovers, many in transition, and spent less than three minutes in the offensive half of the field after halftime.
Hartford outscored the Hilltoppers, 22-3, in its first two games this season. But Thompson admitted a season in D-II, even with many of the same opponents it faced the last few seasons in D-III, will be much more difficult.
“It’s going to be a lot different (this year),” Thompson said. “I don’t know how it’s going to be different, but if we go to a championship, it’s not going to be the same as it’s been.”
The Hurricanes are scheduled host Montpelier at 6:30 p.m. on Monday night back on the high school football field.
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.