South Burlington Holds On For 3-2 Win Over Colchester

– December 28, 2011 – 8:38 pm

Scoring on power plays and killing power plays are two basic keys to winning hockey.

The South Burlington boys hockey team excelled at both Wednesday night.

The simple formula helped the Rebels top Colchester 3-2 in the opening game of the annual Beech Tournament at Leddy Park. The win extends South Burlington’s win streak to four games.

South Burlington (5-1) held a 2-1 lead in the second period but played a man short much of the time due to five penalties in the period. The defense was up to the task—even defending a couple minutes of playing two men down.

“Killing the 5 on 3 was huge—won us the game,” said South Burlington head coach Sean Jones. “It gave us a lot of energy coming off of it and it helped us focus.”

Colchester (2-3) tailled on the scoreboard first on a Ryan Francis goal nine minutes into the game. The lead would hold until 1:40 into the second period when Rebels forward Matt Leonard’s power play goal tied the game 1-1. Less than three minutes later, South Burlington took the lead off another power play goal—this time scored by Tommy Royer and assisted by Chris Rochford.

Royer finished with two goals and an assist for the Rebels. The junior’s second goal pushed the SBHS lead to 3-1.

“We have been moving the puck really well.” said Royer. “We’ve been doing a real good job of playing as a team, especially team defense. Our goalie played great tonight and Colchester is a good team—it was a pleasure to play them.”

Colchester cut the deficit to just one with three minutes left in the game on a Nate Frieberg goal, assisted by Jared Cayia and Devin Dessormeau.

Nathaniel Young stopped 24 shots for South Burlington. Colchester’s Josh Place finished with 19 saves.