The pieces were all in place for an upset in South Royalton. A bumper crowd who filled the gym even on a snowy Tuesday evening and made noise all game. A young, hungry White River Valley team with the game plan and fire to pull a stunner. Even a pregame light show casting multicolored spotlights around the gym as the Wildcat starters made their way to the floor to “Sirius” by The Alan Parsons Project, made famous as an intro song by the Michael Jordan-era Chicago Bulls.
But unbeaten Hartford, slowly but surely, turned down the noise and the lights on its way to a 69-45 win in head coach Mike Gaudette’s return to his former school, three years after his departure.
The Hurricanes, who’ve won all nine games of the season by double figures, spent much of the first half either trailing or narrowly ahead and led by just one with 10 seconds to go in the first half. Star guard Noah Danieli had the play of the game, drilling a deep three pointer with a foul on top to stretch the Hurricane lead to five with just a second to go in the half.
Energized out of the break, Hartford exploded for a 7-0 start in just over a minute to take a 37-25 lead, and the beatdown was on. The Hurricanes led 57-37 after three quarters before pulling starters a few minutes into the fourth quarter.
“We’ve started slow the past couple of games, and it’s a tough environment. It was loud, you know, we’re only 10 miles up the road so it’s a nice rivalry for us,” Gaudette said. “I like how we worked hard defensively tonight. We thought we could wear them down as the game went on and I think we did.”
Utilizing the signature 1-3-1 press that Gaudette says is taught at every level of the program, Hartford forced 42 turnovers and converted a number of them into breakout layups especially in the second half.
“What we try to do is gain extra possessions,” Gaudette said of his defensive plan. “And we have a lot of good athletes. They’ve been doing this for years with me … so when the kids come up, they all know how to run it.”
Energized by the crowd, White River Valley came out firing and led 7-3 early after breaking through the full-court pressure for a few easy layups. The lead grew as large as six for the Wildcats following a technical foul to the Hurricanes, but Hartford quickly pulled its way back into the game and led 13-12 after a frame despite shooting just 3-of-8 from the line.
The lead stretched to five but no further as White River Valley refused to be buried, turning six forced turnovers and six offensive rebounds into a pair of slim one-point advantages that had the building roaring. A pair of free throws restored the Hartford advantage late then after White River Valley committed its 11th turnover of the quarter, Danieli turned a panicked set into a crushing four-point play as a Wildcat defender clattered into him just after the release from high on the right wing.
“It did,” Gaudette said when asked if the play gave Hartford momentum going into the break. “We went into the locker room at halftime, there was no panic, we just knew we needed to shoot the ball.”
Three possessions to start the second half that didn’t make it inside the three-point line all turned to fastbreak layups for the Hurricanes, and as sharpshooter Noah Jenks got rolling with a couple of three pointers, the oxygen left what had been a fired-up building.
A few late technical fouls, discontent with officiating and some consolation buckets were all that was left as the Hurricanes eased out the win.
Danieli led all scorers with 24 points, including a perfect 7-of-7 from the line. Sporting a distinctive bleach-blonde buzzcut he’d reportedly installed just a few days prior, the senior was all over both ends of the game in a stellar two-way effort.
“Shot wasn’t falling, so we needed to work inside the paint a bit, find our big guys, hit some floaters, hit some tough layups, had to just adapt to the outside shot,” Danieli said of his team’s night.
Jordan Townsend-Barcomb finished with 12 points to lead the Wildcats, who fell to 2-3. A year after a dominant undefeated season ended in the semifinals, it’s rebuilding time in South Royalton, with just three seniors in the team’s rotation.
The night held special meaning to Gaudette, who led White River Valley to the Division 4 state championship game in his final season before heading 10 miles down the river to coach Hartford, in it being his return game and the special honoring of one of his former players.
Brayden Russ, who played for Gaudette as a freshman and graduated in 2025, was honored with a banner celebrating his passing of the 1,000 point mark in green and gold, and got a photo with both Gaudette and current White River Valley coach D.J. Craven on the court before the game as part of pregame festivities.
“The community was always great to me here, the kids were always great for me here, and it was great to see Brayden,” said Gaudette.
With the sentimental box ticked off, Gaudette now turns his attention to breaking his alma mater’s 97-year drought. The Hurricanes have reached the Barre Auditorium in each of the past two seasons, falling in the semifinals in 2025 and final in 2024, and look for a third trip to be the charm in 2026.
“We have the ability to,” said Gaudette of another Barre trip. “But we have a lot we gotta clean up. We have to be mentally stronger.”
Hartford travels to Burr and Burton on January 13th.