by Team Reporter-Nate Gordon ’16

On Wednesday, February 19^th, Williston Boys Hockey (11-10-2) got back on track for playoff contention with a 7-2 road victory over Albany Academy (7-17-3). Junior forward Brandon Bork recorded a Hat-Trick and senior forward Max Willman added another two goals.

This is the team’s first win since January 27^th—a 5-1 win over Westminster. Since then, Williston has lost four of its five games and tied one against Northfield Mt. Hermon.

Against Albany, Bork put Williston on the board when he scored a power-play goal with just under two minutes remaining in the first period. Senior defenseman Seth Cupak and Willman had the assists on the goal. This was the first of three power-play goals in the game. Williston Head Coach Derek Cunha said after the game, “Offensively, I thought we did a good job of moving the puck today. As soon as we started moving the puck, we started seeing good results, that and our power-play was great today.”

Cunha credits the success on the power-play to “a lot more net presence than we’ve had in [previous games].

Albany had numerous opportunities, most of them off Williston turnovers, to take the lead in the first eighteen minutes, but was never able to get the advantage.

In the second period, Williston erupted with four goals. Willman gave the Wildcats a 2-0 lead almost seven minutes in. Junior forward Brandon Borges had the assist on the play.

Three minutes later, Willman scored his second of the game, a shorthanded goal. Twenty-two seconds later, junior forward Tyler Scroggins scored to give Williston a 4-0 lead. With 23 seconds remaining in the period, junior forward Rourke Ferguson gave Bork a great pass that he was able to tip into the goal for his second of the game.

Each team scored two goals in the third period. Williston took a 6-1 lead 9:24 into the final period when Cupak tipped a shot into the goal while screening Albany’s goaltender. Willman and Borges assisted the power-play goal. Bork completed his Hat-Trick with another power-play goal with just over 4:30 to play. Bork got the puck in the slot and rifled it past the Albany goalie. The goal was assisted by Scroggins and Borges

After the game, Bork said, “Me just going to the net, getting the puck, winning battles. We needed the win, so it was good to help the team out.”

With this win, the Wildcats stay in playoff contention with just two games remaining on the regular season schedule. On Friday, Williston will host its final home game of the season against Winchendon.