On February 19^th, the St. Paul's School boys' varsity hockey team hosted the Dexter School from Brookline, Massachusetts, in the Hockey Center on Gordon Rink for a 4:30 PM puck drop. Dexter School, the top-ranked team in the New England Prep School Ice Hockey Association, arrived in Concord with an 18-2-1 record. The "Big Red," with a record of 10-15-1 and three games left in their regular season, playing strong team hockey over the last four weeks, earned their biggest win against Dexter School by playing an opportunistic and tight-checking game. At the center of the "Big Red" victory was goalie Blake Truchon '26 (South Burlington, VT). Truchon, a member of the "Delphian" club, stopped 46 of 47 Dexter shots, thwarted several breakaways throughout the game, and made some wonderful saves on multiple point-blank Dexter scoring opportunities when the Millville defensive structure broke down.
 
After a fast, up-and-down-the-ice, scoreless first period, Dexter scored the game's first goal a little over a minute and a half into the second period when they converted on a four-on-three line rush. The "Big Red" skaters stayed focused and battled all over the rink to try to even the game at one goal apiece. Over the course of the next fifteen minutes of play, both teams were whistled for several penalties, and with two minutes left in the second period, Coach Harff, in an attempt to catch "lightning in a bottle," called a time-out to take advantage of a four-on-three power play—and he did. After the time-out, St. Paul's School scored their first goal off the stick of defensive stalwart Chay Simons '27 (Atlanta, GA). Simons took a beautiful cross-ice pass from Anderson Kilbourne '26 (Dexter, MA) when the creative forward entered the offensive zone on the right side of the rink after receiving a pass from Harry Dermody '26 (Bedford, NH) in the neutral zone. Kilbourne found Simons on the left side of the rink just above the face-off circle, and as he collected the Kilbourne pass, Dermody continued toward the Dexter net to establish a net-front presence. With Dermody at the net front, Simons rifled his first goal of the season into the upper corner on the short side past the Dexter netminder. Simons's goal gave the "Big Red" tremendous energy as both teams headed into their respective locker rooms for intermission.
 
In the third period, Dexter elevated the speed and physicality of their game, determined to score the game's next goal. The "Big Red" skaters responded to the elevated intensity by increasing their determination and commitment to team checking. When the St. Paul's School team defense started to bend, Truchon was there to make the big save and slow down the momentum of the visiting team. With five minutes left to play, captain Matt Vohra '25 (Valley, NS) scored the biggest goal of his "Big Red" hockey career when he took a pass from Gavin Code '26 (Littleton, CO) just inside the defensive blue line, which originated from the lower right portion of the right face-off circle in the defensive zone. Vohra received Code's pass, split the Dexter defenseman through the middle of the rink, and raced through the neutral zone with both defenders trying to catch the "Isthmian" sniper. Vohra barreled into the offensive zone with two defenders on his back, crossed over into the slot, skated between the hash marks of the offensive zone face-off circles, and lasered a snapshot to the upper corner to give his team a 2-1 lead. Vohra's goal sent the St. Paul's School students in attendance into a frenzy.

With less than a minute to play in the game and the Dexter goalie on the bench for an extra attacker, assistant captain Avery Ferraris '25 (Pawling, NY) went to work with his puck protection skills. Ferraris kept the puck along the half boards on the left side of the defensive zone, frustrating the visitors as they pressed to win the puck back to create the game-tying goal. Kilbourne, supporting Ferraris in his quest to "salt the time" away, took a pass from Ferraris at the top of the left face-off circle, and the Duxbury native flipped the puck out into the neutral zone behind the Dexter defense to a streaking Harry Dermody. The Delphian forward collected the puck behind the Dexter defense and fired it into the net to give St. Paul's School a 3-1 lead and seal a great team win with ten seconds to play in regulation.
 
The St. Paul's School boys varsity hockey team is back in action on Friday night, February 21^st, against the Tilton School "Rams" for their "senior night" at the Hockey Center on Gordon Rink for a 6:45 PM face-off.