SPS 5 – Proctor Academy 2
January 21, 2025
Tedd Maloney Rink
Andover, New Hampshire
The St. Paul's School "Big Red" varsity boys hockey team defeated the Proctor Academy "Hornets" five – to – two for their tenth victory of the 2025 – 2026 winter athletic season. The "Big Red" scored one goal in the first period and two in each of the second and third periods of play. St. Paul's School goals were scored by James Buchan '27, Mitchell Smith '27, Anderson Kilbourne '26, Chay Simons '27, and Jaden Ficek '26.
Buchan's goal was a wrist shot from the offensive blue zone with a great net-front screen set by Jack Bentley '28. Smith's goal came off a Proctor Academy turnover in the neutral zone; Smith broke in on a two-on-one with Jack Bentley, and he fired the puck through the goalie on the stick side. Kilbourne scored the third "Big Red" goal, the game-winning goal, when he took a pass standing in the low slot from Quinn Brandell '26 out of the left corner, below the offensive goal line, and beat the "Hornet" netminder low to the stick side. In the third period, Chay Simons scored the all-important fourth goal of the game with five minutes and thirty seconds of play when he took a drop pass from captain, Harry Dermody '26. After receiving the drop pass, Simons fired a nice low shot on the Proctor net, and then he scored by collecting his own rebound and firing it past the "Hornet" netminder–beating him with a low shot that went inside the left post. Ficek iced the game for the "Big Red" with twenty-nine seconds left to play, with the Proctor Academy goalie pulled for an extra attacker. Right defenseman Quinn Brandell, blocked a Proctor point shot, collected the loose puck, and then made a good pass to Ficek, who was able to skate the puck through the neutral zone and secure another excellent Lakes Region Hockey Conference win.
St. Paul's School goaltender and assistant captain, Blake Truchon '26, put together another stellar performance in net by making several timely saves in the second and third periods to keep the pesky "Hornets" off the board at crucial moments in the game.
The "Big Red" varsity boys hockey team will play on Saturday, January 24th, in the Hockey Center on Gordon Rink at 6:00 pm when they take on the Vermont Academy "Wildcats."
