Wildcats Win in Final Seconds
#2 Vermont traveled to neutral site Winchendon School (MA) to face off against #6 St. George’s School (RI) for a 12:30 pm match up. Blanka Skodova earned the start in net, her 21st of the season.
St. George’s came out strong scoring in the first minute of the game Vermont responded less than two minutes later when Kristyna Kaltounkova ‘20 skated the puck into the zone and beat the goalie under her glove. The Dragons capped off the scoring in the first with four minutes left.
Vermont was able to tie it up a minute into the second when Jaz Creamer ‘21 passed to Chloe Aurard ‘18 who tipped it to Kaltounkova who beat the goalie for the second time. The remainder of the period both teams battled.
The third period was also a battle. Both teams had a couple of scoring opportunities, but the goalies were able to push them away. Aurard finally broke the tie with 11.6 seconds left in the game. Kaltounkova picked up the puck in the neutral zone and skated into the offensive zone on a 2 on 1 with Aurard. She passed the puck across to Aurard, who slipped the puck by the St. George’s goalie.
Aurard’s goal secured the Wildcats berth to their first ever NEPSAC Division II Championship game. Skodova finished the afternoon with 14 saves. The Wildcats will travel to Worcester Ice Center on Sunday, March 4th, for the championship at 1:00 pm against the #1 seed, Rivers School, who beat #4 Worcester Academy 5-3.
Vermont Academy is a coed college preparatory boarding and day school in southern Vermont, serving grades 9-12 plus a postgraduate year.
