St. Paul's School varsity boys' hockey team hosted the defending New England Prep School Ice Hockey Champions, Kimball Union Academy Wildcats, at 6:30 in the Hockey Center on Gordon Rink. The "Big Red" were excited for this game, and it showed. St. Paul's School jumped out to an early one-nothing lead in the first period of play when Sixth Form Captain Matt Vohra (Valley NS) made a nice low-to-high pass to left-shot defenseman Colin O'Leary '27 (Winthrop, MA), who fired a shot to the front of the net that was deflected by Delphian club member Harry Dermody '26 (Bedford, NH) past the Kimball Union goalie thirty seconds into the game. Four minutes later, the "Wildcats" responded with a goal of their own on a nice three-on-two rush play to even the game at one apiece. For the next eight minutes of the period, both teams skated furiously up and down the ice, trying to generate offense for their respective teams. Dermody '26 struck again with a little less than six minutes to play in the period when he collected a puck from behind the Kimball Union Academy net and fired it from behind the goal line on the short side by the Kimball keeper for the final goal of the first period.
 
In the second period, with six minutes to play, Dermody '26 completed the "hat trick" when he snuck in on a two-on-one break from the left side of the rink and wired a puck to the upper corner of the net past the Kimball Union goaltender, giving the "Big Red" a three-to-one lead and a lot of momentum heading into the intermission. Dermody's goal was the first "hat trick" of the season, and all of the "Paulies" in the stands, especially the Delphian club members, were ecstatic to see the resident of Middle House give the home team a two-goal lead with eighteen minutes to play.
 
In the third period, the "Big Red" found the elusive fourth goal of the game three minutes into play when Old Hundred club member Mitchell Smith '27 (Thunder Bay, ON) broke free down the right wing and lasered a puck to the upper corner of the far side, sending the Millville faithful into a frenzy. Then the reigning New England Champions showed why they are one of the top teams in New England; they went to work on their forecheck and forced the "Big Red" to take four penalties, scoring three power-play goals on their four attempts to tie the game at four. In the overtime period, the referee whistled St. Paul's School for another penalty, but the "boys of winter" rallied, killed, and thwarted the vaunted KUA power play. Treva Murphy '25 (Manchester, NH) and Blake Truchon '26 (South Burlington, VT) split time in the net. The Old Hundred and Delphian representatives were spectacular, each making several great stops.
 
The "Big Red" have to get right back at it tomorrow afternoon, as they have another tough Lakes Region matchup against the Proctor Academy "Hornets" at 4:30 on the Proctor campus in the Teddy Maloney rink. Proctor did not have a game tonight, so they will be poised and ready to take on the "Big Red." We hope to see you in Andover on Saturday afternoon, as the St. Paul's School varsity boys' hockey team has been playing fast, exciting hockey.