TIGER SENIOR SKATER Eyon Tembreull celebrates his first-period goal vs. visiting Rutland on Saturday night.
Independent photo/Steve James

MIDDLEBURY — Consistent defense and opportunistic offense sent the Middlebury Union High School boys’ hockey team past visiting Rutland on Saturday night, 4-1.

The Tigers improved to 2-0 heading into a game at Colchester this coming Saturday, to be followed next week by their annual holiday tournament at the Memorial Sports Center, with games on Dec. 27 and 28. They will play Brookline, Mass., on that Wednesday, with the Thursday game’s time and foe depending on that result.

Against the 0-2-1 Raiders, MUHS took charge with first-period goals from Toby Draper, an unassisted gem, and Eyon Tembreull, on a rebound of a shot by defender Iver Anderson. Landon Kean, on a pretty pass from Quinn Collins, made it 3-0 in the second period, and Jake Kadar added an empty-netter.

In all, MUHS outshot RHS, 24-16. Coach Jordan Stearns said he thought the Tigers played with more consistent poise and energy than they did in their opening 8-4 win at U-32on Dec. 9, noting they cut the penalties down from nine vs. U-32 to two on Saturday. Stearns also note that more often than not, his skaters vs RHS came away with the puck in scrums along the boards.

“The effort from the bell tonight was awesome. It was really great, way better than last week. We had a hard week of practice, and I think it showed tonight,” Stearns said. “We won a lot of those 50-50 battles.”

LANDON KEAN GOT plenty of mustard on this shot at the Rutland goal on Saturday night in Middlebury, but RHS goalie David Pelach was up to the task.
Independent photo/Steve James

He was also happy with the defensive work of his back line in front of senior goalie Casey Calzini, who made 15 saves and allowed only Cameron Rider’s third-period power-play goal to elude him.

Stearns noted his defensive rotation includes several seniors: Anderson, Kadar and Eliot Heminway all logged plenty of ice time, along with younger players. He said they moved the puck well as well as kept the Rutland attackers on the perimeter and controlling the occasional rebound.

“We’ve got a little bit of an older group,” he said. “They held their composure really well, too. That’s something we’ve been working on a lot. For those guys it’s not just throwing the puck up the ice. It’s regrouping. We possess the puck really well in the defensive zone, which allows us to break the puck out and get into the neutral zone with possession.”

Stearns did say, as one might expect early in the season, the Tigers’ attack showed a bit less consistency, but still offered stretches of dangerous offensive zone time and effective puck movement, particularly late in the first and early in the second periods.

TIGER JUNIOR LANDON Kean raps the puck into the net after taking a feed from Quinn Collins during the Tigers’ Saturday night win over Rutland.
Independent photo/Steve James

One reason was the coaching staff juggled personnel, Stearns said, and he expects more cohesion moving forward.

“These were fresh lines tonight, lines we haven’t had together yet this year,” Stearns said. “We tried something new tonight, and it seemed to work well. They had a lot of chemistry working the puck up out of the zone, too. And once they got in the offensive zone they were finding each other pretty well. We’ve just got to work on creating possession once we create that turnover in the offensive zone. That will come with time.”

Early on the Tigers established an edge in play, but each team had chances in the opening minutes. In the fourth minute Kean and Collins broke in two-one-one, and Kean slipped the puck to his right to Collins for a one-timer, but Rutland goalie David Pelach slid to deny it. About a minute later Calzini kicked away a contested backhander from the slot.

Draper gave MUHS the lead with a coast-to-coast rush at 7:16 as a power play was winding down. Draper burst down the left side past RHS skaters, beat the last defender inside the Rutland blue line, cut to the middle, and from close range beat Pelach with a low forehand shot into the right side of the net.

After Calzini stopped another backhander from the slot, this one from Riley Rodrigues, the Tigers made it 2-0 at 9:46 with Tembreull’s goal. Anderson, at the left point, fired low into a knot of players at the near post. Pelach made the save, but the puck bounced out front to the waiting Tembreull, who made no mistake with a quick one-timer.

THE TIGER DEFENSE took care of business in front of goalie Casey Calzini against visiting Rutland on Saturday night. Here Iver Anderson marks RHS skater Riley Rodrigues, while Quinn Collins (21) also patrols the slot.
Independent photo/Steve James

The Tigers early in the second period had their best stretch of sustained pressure, with Pelach holding them at bay. But the RHS goalie had no chance on the third Tiger goal at 7:36.

Anderson went deep into the zone to win the puck and sent it to Collins in the right circle, and Collins quickly relayed to Kean at the top of the crease for the tap-in.

Later in the period it looked like Draper would have a chance at another breakaway, but RHS defender Colin Rider, a step behind, dove and swiped the puck away cleanly just as Draper entered the Rutland zone.

Pelach made a couple more saves early in the third, and later the Tigers were assessed their first two penalties of the game. On the second, Cameron Rider got the puck along the left boards, moved between the top of the circles and found the lower right corner through traffic at 11:56.

RUTLAND GOALIE DAVID Pelach denies junior MUHS forward Quinn Collins during Saturday night’s game at the Memorial Sports Center.
Independent photo/Steve James

Rutland pulled its goalie with a little more than a minute to go, and Kadar picked up the puck at center ice and hit the empty net from long range to make it 4-1 with 30 seconds left. Heminway earned an assist for breaking up the RHS clear.

Stearns is happy with the team’s progress in the early going. He also noted the Tigers have a tougher schedule this year: They will play a number of games vs. Division I teams before they participate in the D-II playoffs, a challenge he believes will only help them compete in their own division.

“I’m really impressed with where we’re at right now, two games into the season. The goal is to continue to build, to continue to get better,” Stearns said. “I think we can do some serious damage. As long as we’re playing hard, playing well, I think when it comes to the end of the season and we’re firing on all cylinders, I think we can be pretty successful in the postseason.”

EYON TEMBREULL, WITH inside position on the Rutland defense, makes no mistake on this rebound of a shot from the point by teammate Iver Anderson.
Independent photo/Steve James