The Vermont Academy boys' hockey team defeated Lakes Region Conference rival Brewster Academy 7-3 on Wednesday afternoon at Choukas Arena in front of a solid crowd. 

 

Vermont (4-0-0 overall, 1-0-0 Lakes Region) got a hat trick from forward Robbie Ferreira '18 (Salem, NH) and hat trick of first time goal scorers, all defensemen. Jake Meikle '18 (Toronto, ONT) lead the way with two goals while Hayden Dalton '17 (Bakersfield, CA) and Karl-Antoine Girard '18 (Sherbrooke, Que) each scored one but all three scored their first goals in a Vermont Academy jersey.

 

Junior Brandon McDonald '18 (Santa Clarita, CA) continued his recent hot streak in net, stopping 19 of 22 shots to pick up his second victory of the season.

After an entertaining back and forth first 11:00 minutes Girard was able to break the scoreless tie with an assist from Tanner Dalton '17 (Bakersfield, CA).   Ferreira would add a second goal just 39 seconds later to put the score at 2-0. Meikle would add to the scoring trend with 47 seconds left in the period to bring the score to 3-0 at the end of the first period.

 

Vermont would pick up right where they left off in the first period finding the back of the net twice in the first seven minutes. Meikle would pick up his second goal and Hayden Dalton would pick up his first goal at Vermont Academy in his two years.

Brewster would fight back scoring three unanswered goals to reduce the gap to 5-3. Brewster's William Brochu would score twice and Cole Moore once. That would be as close as they would get to the Wildcats as they would add two more goals before the end of the second period.

Ferreira would score the last two goals of the night to earn his hat trick and give the Wildcats a 7-3 in to the dressing room at the completion of the second period.

 

Vermont would come out to find the back of the net more but was stonewalled by Brewster goaltender Joe Benedetto. Benedetto would stop 19 shots in the third period alone and 36 of 43 shots on the afternoon. Vermont's Bradon McDonald '18 (Santa Clarita, CA) recorded the win for the Wildcats stopping 19 of 22 shots on the night.

Vermont will return to action on Saturday when it hosts Kimball Union Academy at 6:30 pm at Choukas Arena in more strong Lakes Region rivalry action.