by Nate Gordon ’16

Williston Boys Varsity Hockey picked up its first win in a 6-3 victory over Académie St. Louis in a scrimmage at Lossone Arena.

The Wildcats entered the third period with a 3-2 lead. After a goal from Académie St. Louis tied the game 6 minutes in, Williston responded by scoring three unanswered goals. Senior Max Willman scored two of those goals, which were part of his four-goal effort.

As Willman says, “It was definitely exciting in my first game here at Williston. Definitely felt good to get a W for the boys.”

After jumping out to 1-0 lead six minutes into the game with a goal from Willman, Académie St. Louis responded with two goals in the last four minutes of the period. In the second half of the first period, the Wildcats looked sloppy with two turnovers leading to the two goals.

Before the second period, Coach Cunha told his team that they couldn’t hit the panic button. He told the team that the goal was to win the period.

“You win this period, at minimum we go into the third period with a tie game. You go into the third period with a tie game, you win the third period, you win the hockey game” said Cunha.

Tie the game is exactly what the team did just 29 seconds into the second period. Senior forward Phil Angelo scored the goal. He also assisted two of Willman’s goals. This was Angelo’s first game back after missing all of last season with a knee injury suffered during football season.

Angelo said, “It felt real good, it felt crazy. The energy at the beginning, I couldn’t believe I was back skating. It felt like I had never left. When I got out there I was a little rusty. I had to get my nerves out and get my legs going again.”

Ultimately it was the Wildcats’ speed that wore Académie St. Louis down. St. Louis’ coach also said that his team was not consistent enough to win the hockey game. “If we had had more consistency through three periods, we would’ve had a better result,” he said.

Junior forward Brandon Bork scored Williston’s fifth goal with just under three minutes left in the game and junior forward Rourke Ferguson assisted both Angelo’s and Bork’s goals.

The Wildcats killed a very early penalty when senior Seth Cupak was sent to the box for interference just six seconds into the contest.

Star forward Brandon Borges did not play in today’s game due to a thumb injury. Injuries are something Coach Cunha addressed prior to the game. “We’re going to have injuries throughout the year, it’s going to happen. But we adjust, we roll, we continue to go.”

As Coach Cunha says, “This is a very good starting point for where we need to go as team…[But] we’re only scratching the surface for what we can do as a group.”

The team’s first regular season game is next Saturday, November 23 at Canterbury.