On Thursday, December 19th, the St. Paul's School boys varsity hockey team traveled to Avon Old Farms School to participate in the 41st Annual Avon Christmas Classic. In game one, the Millville skaters took on the Trinity-Pawling "Pride" from Pawling, New York. Trinity-Pawling jumped on the board first, scoring the first goal of the game a little less than nine minutes into the first half; all games at the Avon Old Farms School Christmas Classic are two twenty-five-minute halves.

Sixth Former Pat Cooley (Rutland, VT) tied the game for the "Big Red" with six minutes left in the half when he knocked home an indirect pass to the front of the "Pride" net from Fifth Former Gavin Code (Littleton, CO). A minute later, the St. Paul's School skaters had a defensive zone breakdown, and Trinity-Pawling scored their second goal of the game off a shot from the right side of the high slot. Then, with three and a half minutes left to play in the first half, Trinity-Pawling scored their third goal of the game, and the "Big Red" were never able to make the game an even score.

Cooley '25 scored his second goal of the game six minutes into the second half to bring the score to two-to-three when he buried a rebound opportunity coming off a Mitchell Smith '26 (Thunder Bay, ON) shot. However, Trinity-Pawling capitalized on their only power play attempt to make the score four-to-three in their favor, and the Millville skaters would not score another goal for the remaining time of play. Blake Truchon '26 (South Burlington, VT) was the hard-luck loser in the net for the "Big Red," as he made several incredible saves early in the contest and was aggressive in challenging the Trinity-Pawling shooters all game long.
 
SPS looks to get refocused quickly as they take on the Tabor Academy "Seawolves" for game two of the Avon Old Farms "Christmas Classic" on Friday, December 20th, at 11:00 a.m. at the Koeppel Center on the Trinity College campus in Hartford, Connecticut. Friday will be a big day of hockey for the "Big Red," as they will also play the host team, Avon Old Farms School, on the Avon campus at 9:00 p.m. on the John T. Gardner Rink for their third game of the tournament and second game of the day.  The tournament wraps up Saturday with one more game--time and opponent will be determined after play on Friday.