WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Colby Boyce is a goaltender who prefers action, and he got plenty of it during a legendary performance Tuesday night in the VPA Division II quarterfinals at Wendell A. Barwood Arena.
The freshman made 43 saves in the Hurricanes’ 2-1 victory over Lyndon Institute, with nearly half of them posted during a dizzying third period.
“I don’t know,” Boyce said of the late barrage. “I was a little nervous, but I was also, it made me kind of pumped up about it. I like it when they just keep on peppering you with shots, so I think it gave me a little more confidence, honestly.”
The standout netminder for No. 4 Hartford (15-6-1) has inspired confidence in his coach as well.
“I can’t say enough good things about Colby,” said Hartford’s 22nd year coach, Todd Bebeau. “We’re seeing things that I’ve never seen from a goaltender that’s played for me before. This kid is a freshman, and he stood on his head. He had 20-plus saves in the third period. He’s just an amazing athlete. He kept us in it, and we were able to make that one big play and that was the difference-maker.”
The Hurricanes’ lock-down effort on defense set up the offensive heroics of Jacob Dwinell, who scored the unassisted game-winner on a breakaway with 1:15 left in the contest.
“This place was electric tonight,” Bebeau said. “This is why kids play athletics, right? This environment, just a high-intensity playoff atmosphere, and for us to put that winner in late, this is what memories are made of.”
The standing-room crowd at WABA was electrified when Colston Allen scored the game’s first goal with 4:24 left in the opening period.
The junior, who was assisted by Kyle Hamilton and AJ DeBois, skated a puck away from action near the Vikings’ net, then shot a quick turnaround from the left dot past goalie Conlon St. John (25 saves).
The No. 5 Vikings (14-7-1) countered in the second period when Jacob Montgomery scored on assists from Daniel Lanoue and Duncan D’Olimpio with 3:48 remaining.
The visitors’ breakthrough came after Hartford killed three overlapping penalties. The second period also saw the Canes come up empty on three breakaway attempts by Hamilton, James McReynolds and DeBois.
LI’s lone penalty came in the first period and was successfully killed like all three of Hartford’s.
The visitors kept the puck in the Canes’ end for the majority of the third period, but Dwinell picked it up at mid-ice and charged toward the LI goal, launching himself into the glass in celebration after beating St. John.
The Canes split with LI during the regular season, with each team winning on the road. Both teams finished with the same record and number of index points, but the Canes won the tiebreaker by virtue of a better winning percentage against common opponents.
Home wasn’t significant during the regular season, but it seemed to be on Tuesday evening.
“I think (home ice was a factor) tonight,” Bebeau said. “It allowed us to dictate the line changes. We had a game plan against their skilled line, and we kept their best player from scoring.”
The Canes’ coach reflected on the excitement of Tuesday’s finish after walking out of a celebratory locker room.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “One of the things I talked about with the kids, is that there’s going to be two different scripts written tonight. One is we had a good season, we played hard, we just didn’t do enough or we refused to have our season end, we’re going to make a big play and we’re going to move onto the final four, so our story continues.”
Hartford will play either No. 1 Harwood or No. 8 Missisquoi in the semifinals, which will be played on Saturday, according to Bebeau.
Notes: Freshman Ozzie DeFelice is out for the season following an ACL/MCL tear suffered during Saturday’s first-round victory over U-32. … The Hurricanes have scored 52 goals and given up 31 en route to seven shutouts thus far.
… HHS reached the semis in 2014 and 2017 and its last state title was in 2009.