2016-2017

(From the Stanstead College yearbook)

Senior Boys

While the individual talents of this year's group of young men were similar in many respects with players I have coached in previous years, they likely do not stand out as the most offensively skilled or talented in terms of productivity. Nevertheless, the widespread collective ability and character are what make this likely the most special of the teams I have ever coached.

As is meant by the old adage, "A pile of bricks is not a factory," the greatness in the value of this group has been the collective and the cementing and bonding they have achieved for the benefit of all. Whatever role each of the individual players assumed, their stake hold was pursued because of their responsibility to the team. The reward the team yielded was not often the trophy that is reserved only for the best on that given day, but was the satisfaction derived from their active engagement in the process.

This particular group of men understood that every member would benefit from their personal efforts and sacrifice, and far more than just themselves. They accepted the belief and challenge of pushing each other to improve each day was both a team goal and a necessity.

We have made it a habit to build upon our previous knowledge. We have tried to instill in each new player to this program a respect for those who have come before and ask that they stand tall on the shoulders of those players.

We improved. On paper, we won more than our share. We battled as well. Staying competitive with teams on our schedule we did not compare favorably with. Each of our most difficult lessons throughout the year drove us upwards, energizing us in the process. The ominous power of the lessons learned could be seen in our victory over Saint Mark's in the final of their tournament. Quite possibly more so, it was evident in overtime wins and losses in Minnesota against powerhouse teams and all-stars.

I have rarely been as proud of a group as I was with this group, and this statement echoes through successive years here at Stanstead College. I will miss this group of seniors. I regard this year as one of my greatest, as coach Thompson and I reached the 100-win milestone in just under the three years we have been together here at the school and in this program. The milestone is special only because it reminds me to look back on all the players who made it possible over this period. I thank them all for effort, their respect, and their commitment.

Prep Boys

The 16-17 season was one of exceptional growth for this program. The team grew in numbers and talent and consequently played a very challenging schedule against older players. Locally, the boys dominated the ETIAC and came through in the playoffs for the second straight year. However, the expanded schedule allowed the boys to travel to tournaments at Ulysse School, Academie St-Louis, Northwood and all the way to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Overall, our final record was 26-23-4, which is more than respectable considering the young age of our core players.

I would like to thank coach Vanasse and Coach Ouellet for their dedication to the program. It was a pleasure working with such good friends. The future is very bright for this group moving forward, as every player is potentially back next season.

My goal for all of you continues to be to provide a positive and dynamic environment for you to grow as athletes and young men. Many of you will have opportunities to move up the ladder if you work hard and continue to develop your skills. I look forward to future development and helping all of you achieve your full potential. Thanks to each and every one of you boys for giving us your best and making this year a very special one. Merci!

Bantam Boys

Mr. Rioux prepared a season of 13 games for the bantam/ intramural program this year, including the 2 first two 2-day trips for a bantam hockey team in Stanstead College. The team really benefited from these occasions to play hockey 1 and to face some very good teams.

We ended the season with 3 wins, 3 ties... and we lost the rest! Well, we only lost 7 games - it is not that bad, even if we don't like to lose. Some teams have played much more hockey than us in their young careers, so you can be proud of what you have accomplished this year.

The season began with 16 boys and 2 girls (good job, Maude and Julia!). I want to thank all the players on this incredible team for their effort during the games, practices, on and off the ice, and for their good behaviour all through the season, which contributes to the standards of Stanstead College. You are young players, but you are here to learn and to represent those standards.

(From the Stanstead College website, October 24th)

Varsity Hockey hits the road to begin 2016-27 season

With the Varsity Boys Hockey schedule now under way, this will be the first of many weekend write-ups to come. For the most part write-ups will focus on team success and progress, small standout stories and fun moments that occur from our travels. I hope you enjoy.

After splitting games with Bridgton Academy last weekend the Varsity Boys travelled to Lake Placid to take on the Huskies of Northwood School. As the bus began to make the climb up to Lake Placid, it was clear that the weather was taking a turn, and by the time we reached our hotel we were dealing with some pretty white slushy snow. Although most were unprepared for the beginning of winter, Lake Placid in the winter is a place where you almost welcome cold and snow. After a quick pre-game meal, it was off to the rink for our first game.

By weekend’s end, the scoreboard read in favour of the home side by scores of 6-2 and 5-0. The younger Spartan team was forced to learn how to play quality defence against a top-end opponent. Despite the scores, the team showed a willingness to play a defensive game and block shots and do their best to limit a potent Huskies offence. Over the course of the year the lessons learned in these two games should be invaluable in helping to teach defensive importance through game play.

The Spartans will play their first home games of the season this coming weekend as they face off against Academie St-Louis on Saturday and welcome Seacoast Prep to the Pat Burns arena for the first time in school history.

(From the Stanstead College website, October 31st)

VB Hockey: Down early but not out

This weekend marked the first home weekend for the varsity boys hockey team. This year's extremely competitive schedule will see the team play a road-heavy schedule, so home ice advantages will be few and far between.

This year's team features six Europeans, as well as players who call PEI, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario and Colorado home. A diverse and young team, the Spartans fell behidn quickly in both games, but continued to work and focus. Steady pressure lead to numerous scoring opportunities on Saturday's match against Academie Saint-Louis, although it took hte Spartans a number of attempts. But as soon as they found the back of the net once, the flood games opened and the scoring continued. After the full sixty minutes Stanstead skated away with a commanding 8-1 win.

On Sunday afternoon, the Spartans welcomed a second group of Spartans from Seacoast Prep, a new program that hails from Exeter, New Hampshire. An older and very hard-working Seacoast team finished the first and second period with leads, but finally in the third period the hometown Spartans capitalized on three power plays to pull away. Final score 6-4 Stanstead. All in all, this was a good fast hockey games, chippy at times but full of energy.

With the two wins, the team has a 3-3 record. Next weekend the team will fly to Minnesota to participate in the CCM Invitational Tournament in New Hope. On Friday night, at 7:30 the Spartans will take on Shattuck St. Mary’s for the first time in school history.

(From the Record, November 8th)

Pipers win Nicholas Gilkinson Hockey Tournament

(...) The Pipers and Stanstead College Prep team skated to a 2-2 tie in their second game. Jeremy Gagnon opened the scoring for the Spartans in the second period. Blais converted on a nice passing play from Schoolcraft and Cedric Fauteux to even the score 5:13 in the third period. Zack Poulin put hte Spartans back ahead with a power play marker two minutes later. Bryer Smith tied the game up with 2:50 remaining after taking a nice backhand saucer pass from Enrick Jutras Plante. (...)

(From HS Elite Hockey, November 16th)

Putting the "International" in the IIT

Talk about your early wake-cup call.

At about 1:00 am Thursday, the hockey team from Stanstead College was loaded on to a bus to make the 100-mile trip to Montreal, where the team caught an early flight to Minneapolis. There they cleared customs, gathered their gear and took another bus to New Hope Arena, where they were on the ice id-afternoon, practicing for this weekend’s CCM International Invitational Tournament.

Stanstead is a town of about 3000 that sits on the Canada-Vermont border, and Stanstead College has been around since 1872, when it was founded by a group of Wesleyan ministers. Today it has about 200 students, and 20 or so years ago they decided to get serious about developing a hockey program, according to assistant coach Matt Thompson, who also teachers in the school’s Humanities department.

“We began actually recruiting for hockey about 20 years ago,” Thompson said, “And it really ramped up about seven or eight years ago when we built our new arena.”

The Spartans play in Pat Burns Arena, which opened in 2011 and is named for Pat Burns, the former NHL coach who lived in nearby Sherbrooke for many years. “It’s a state-of-the-art facility for a prep school,” Thompson said.

As might be expected, the team’s roster is heavy with players from Quebec and Ontario, but it also has a substantial international flavor, with three Swedes, two Finns, a Russian and a team captain, Liam Stagg, from Colorado Springs, Colorado.

“Every single kid on the roster was recruited to be at Stanstead,” Thompson said. “There’s no one on the roster who just showed up. We recruit across most of North America and while we don’t go to Europe, word about us gets around in kid’s social groups, or they hear about us from their advisers.”

The team began practice right after school began in September, but didn’t play its first game until Oct. 15th. They are currently 3-3-0 on the season, including a pair of losses to another IIT team – Northwood School of Lake Placid, NY. Their leading scorer with four goals and five points is Axel Arned, a junior from Vaxjo, Sweden. Another Swede, senior Buster Larsson, is 6-foot-4, 192 pounds and was recently listed on NHL Central Scouting’s “Players to Watch” list.

(From the Stanstead College website, November 18th)

VB Hockey: 2016-17 MPHL Debut

Last Thursday night after classes were finished and November break had begun, the varsity boys hockey team travelled to Burlington, Vermont for their first MPHL weekend. All 10 MPHL teams were present.

The MPHL is a league that stretches from Stanstead all the way to Chicago, Illinois. The newest member of the league is Bishop's College School from nearby Lennoxville, Quebec. BCS joins the Spartans in the Bowers Division, which should help revive a great rivalry between the two schools.

A long weekend which saw the Spartans play five games against teams from the Malloy Division got off to a rough start, as an uninspired effort resulted in a 6-1 loss to Lake Forest Academy. Later Friday, the Spartans responded with a 5-1 win against St. Francis. This win helped turn the ship, and slowly the team started to look better but never fully found their stride despite three more victories against Gilmour Academy, Loyola Academy and Shady Side Academy. With some help from other teams, the Spartans left Vermont in a tie for first with Ridley College.

The MPHL portion of the schedule will resume the first week of December with the Bowers divisional weekend here at Stanstead College.

Starting tomorrow the Pat Burns Arena will play host to Northwood School, KUA, Ulysse and the hometown Spartans. The showcase event will see all teams play two games.

(From the Stanstead College website, December 19th)

VB Hockey win Barber tournament

Every September we welcome a new group of students who always complement the returning students. With students from all walks of life, some local and many from far away, campus becomes a home away from home for 10 months. In September of 2013, Ethan Rist from Wausau, Wisconsin, joined our Grade 11 class. A great kid who, wiht our help, has become a wonderful young man.

This past weekend, the team travelled to compete in the 46th Annual William Barber Tournament at St. Mark's School in Southborough, MA. Following our Friday night 5-0 win against Worcester Academy, Ethan, who is studying nearby, addressed this year's team. As Ethan said, he would do anything to be able to relive his Stanstead experience, anything to be able to sit on the bus after a game with his friends. Ethan will forever be a friend to Stanstead College, Stanstead hockey and myself. Our program helped turn him into a man and guide him to success. To me Ethan Rist, Class of 2015, represents all the good we do here.

How much impact Ethan's message had is hard to say, but there is no questioning that we responded with two qualities games on Saturday. In the morning match-up, we beat host school St. Mark's 4-3 in overtime. Down 3-1 late in the game, the duo of Buster Larsson and Eric Johansson made the difference.

In the final against Kent Hills School, our early jump was rewarded, but complacency erased any progress. In the end we won 5-4, Captain Liam Stagg accepted the William Barber Tournament Trophy.

And so began our journeys home to places all across the globe. Winning is a wonderful thing, but knowing the positive impact someone like Ethan had at our school is also a win. Congrats to our team on a hard-fought tournament win, Merry Christmas, and see you all in the new year.

(From la Tribune, December 30th)

(From the Stanstead College website, January 10th)

VB Hockey: Not pretty but at the top

Last Thursday morning, the Stanstead College Spartans traveled to St. Catharines, Ontario to play in the MPHL's second crossover weekend.

Going into our first game we were looking to avenge a previous 5-1 loss to Lake Forest Academy. A sloppy game from start to finish, with little structure but lots of speed, resulted in the Spartans showing a little more team skill and coming out with the 4-2 victory.

The result was a good start to the weekend, but the way we played still left some questions and room for improvement heading into our second game. After jumping out to an early large lead on Friday night against Shady Side Academy, complacency set in and very quickly we found ourselves back in a tight game. Shady Side never quit, and pushed us right to the end. We certainly bent but didn't quite break, winning 7-5 and finishing Friday with tow wins and without yet playing our best hockey.

The final two games saw the Spartans defeat St. Francis and Loyola Academy for a 5-0 weekend. Although not always pretty at times and lacking focus at others, we remained good enough to ensure we didn't let any points slip away.

Any time we travel to the Greater Toronto area, the games always have a special interest for me. My family is all from the area and come out tu spport the Spartans. Parents, grandparents, aunt and uncle, cousins and extended family filled a section of the rink game in and game out. They are proud of our team, they enjoy watching the games but also simply getting to know the players and seeing how well they act on and off the ice.

This is what makes me so proud to come home with our team. From the moment we arrive until the minute we leave, the behaviour of our players and the respect they show to all is admirable and the Spartan way. Whether it be helping me and my wife with our son on the bus, speaking to my grandfather, aunt or uncle, or their behaviour in a pretty chaotic hotel full of energetic younger hockey players, the Spartans acted with class and left a good impression with all.

This coming weekend the Spartans head into New England for two tough games. First, in Washington, Connecticut, we will play the defending NEPSAC champions from the Gunnery School, followed by a game at Middlebury College on Sunday against Albany Academy.

(From the Stanstead College website, January 24th)

VB Hockey: Ongoing ice lessons

(From the Clarion, February edition)

Northwood tourney

It was Friday afternoon when the Prep Boys and the Varsity Girl’s hockey teams loaded up onto the bus for the four hour trip down to Lake Placid New York. The two teams were headed down for the annual Northwood School tournament taking place at the Olympic center, home of the Miracle on Ice, arguably the greatest sporting event in the past half century. The two teams went straight to bed as they both played the next day; the Prep Boys at 7:30 am!

It was a very cold morning Saturday morning when the boys left the hotel for their 7:30 match up against Nichols School. The game was very much back and forth and with 1 minute left the Spartans found themselves down a goal. The goalie was pulled and the extra skater put on. This time it paid off. With under three seconds left Kyle Morin potted the game tying goal; the game ended and the final score was a 3-3 tie. (…)

The Prep Boys had a second game that day however the girls did not. The Spartans started off very well against an older and highly skilled Kuper team. We scored right off within the first 5 minutes of the game. It stayed this way for a while until Kuper scored to tie the game. A short while after Kuper came down on a 2-1, Andrew Bouchard was our only man back and as he attempted to point to the second person he caught an edge and fell over backwards leaving us without no one back and two of them coming down full speed, they scored. They scored another 8 unanswered goals and that was the end of the game, a 10-1 loss. (…)

The girls would be playing the host school Northwood in a semi-final match up and the prep boys got to face up against BCS, a team that they had lost to 5-1 earlier in the second.

When the Prep Boys hit the ice, you could tell that we were in for one heck of a game. The action went back and forth all of the first half, however BCS had managed to pot one goal and Stanstead none. Early into the second half of the game BCS got a fortunate bounce and were sent in on a breakaway on which they scored. The Spartans were now down 2-0. However, neither team took their foot off of the pedal. The Spartans battled on bombarding three posts in the next 5 minutes before finally scoring their first of the game. Stanstead continued hitting goalpost after goalpost until the game finally ended, Stanstead had lost 2-1.

(From the Record, March 21st)

(From L'avenir de l'Érable, July 19th)