This article was written by Nolan Lyford, a student in the journalism class here at U-32.
U-32 second seeded Raiders came out on top over number one seeded Mount Mansfield in the Vermont VPA D-II Boys State ice hockey championship in double overtime on Thursday night (3/09) at Gutterson Field House.
A historical win for the Raiders, to say the least, as MMU led the game 3-1 going into the third period in Thursday night’s game. Although that didn’t stop the Raiders from coming back and tying the game with a beautiful back door goal from U-32’s senior forward Tae Rossmassler, with less than 2 seconds left in the third period.
“It was one of the best feelings ever. I don’t remember exactly how I felt in the moment because it was all a blur, it was like I blacked out,” said senior forward Tae Rossmassler.
Tae helped the Raiders get over the hump and helped his team to tie it up and move into overtime.
Senior forward and captain of the Raiders, Hazen Stoufer also scored a goal in Thursday night’s championship game, making the score 3-2 seven minutes into the third period. Hazen was a key player throughout the playoffs. He single handedly had four goals in the semi final 4-2 win over number three seeded Hartford.
When I asked Hazen how he was feeling after the Raiders championship win over the Cougars, he was ecstatic: “To go from 0-21 my freshman year to 20-2 and winning the state championship my senior year is something I’ll remember the rest of my life.”
“To do this with 25 of my best friends is a dream come true,” said Hazen “These guys are my best friends, they’ve been through it all. The wins and the losses.”
As the U-32 boys were heading into overtime, Hazen said “I knew we had it in us to come out on top.”
The Raiders played 5-5 hockey for the first 8 minutes of overtime but neither team could get past goalies Duncan Mathies (U-32) and Declan Heeney (MMU).
As both teams were battling in the second overtime, U-32 senior defenseman, Shane Starr, took a holding penalty with 7:33 remaining in the overtime. But the Raiders had a different plan; instead of killing the penalty as they normally would in the regular season they played a more aggressive penalty kill. “We knew they had a weak power play,” Hazen said. “The Raiders had to play aggressive and put pressure on the Cougars.”
With just 6:43 left in the over time, senior forward Brenden Tedeschi blocked a shot from the MMU defenseman and went down on a breakaway. He faked a forehand and tucked it home on his backhand for the Raiders 7th championship win in program history.
This is the U-32 Raiders 11th Championship appearance and adds number seven in the win column. The last time the Raiders were at “the GUT” was back in 2015 when the Raiders played Stowe and fell short with a 3-1 loss over the Stowe Raiders.
Game Stats
Goals scored by: Sophomore Colton Warren, Senior Hazen Stoufer, Senior Tae Rossmassler, and Senior Brenen Tedeschi.
