Most valuable players Sophie Zemianek of BFA-St. Albans and Evan Kurash of Woodstock secured their teams’ victories with game-winning goals during the return of the Rotary All Star Classic at Essex Skating Facility on Saturday.
The 36th senior classic wasn’t played in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Zemianek’s Austin Conference girls squad beat Harris 1-0. On the boys side, Kurash’s Harris team won a 4-3 contest.
Details from Saturday’s games:
Girls game
Zemianek produced the winner in dramatic fashion. The defenseman broke the stalemate with 40 seconds left in regulation on an Austin power play.
In net for Austin, Kelsan Carter of Essex made 12 saves and Spaulding’s Mattie Cetin posted 21 stops. For the Harris goalies, Grace Ferguson of the Champlain Valley/Mount Mansfield cooperative team tallied seven stops and Burlington/Colchester’s Olivia Dallamura totaled 13 saves.
Bria Dill was named the team MVP for Harris.
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Boys game
Kurash’s two goals included the winner at 11:50 of the second period while Essex’s Justin Prim and Burr and Burton’s Matt Grabher had the other tallies for Harris. Milton’s Cooper Goodrich and BBA’s Karter Noyes and Emmett Edward had assists.
In the Harris net, Essex’s Max Foster made five saves, Teddy Munson of Milton stopped 13 shots and Keaton Piconi of Woodstock turned by seven shots.
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For Austin, DaeHan McHugh of Rice and BFA’s Sean Beauregard and Aiden Savoy had the goals. Levi Webb of BFA and Jamison Mast of Spaulding picked up assists.
Eddie Hodde of Middlebury (nine saves), Jack Averill of CVU (eight saves), Mike Telfer of BFA (three saves) patrolled the Austin net.
McHugh was named the Austin MVP.
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This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Rotary All Star Classic: One-goal games highlight hockey doubleheader