Kieren Dervin’s hat trick powers SAC Saints to 10-3 victory over Stanstead College Spartans

December 5, 2024 · 0 Comments

Kieren Dervin’s four-point performance, including a hat trick in ten minutes, paced the St. Andrew’s College Saints to a decisive 10-3 win over the Stanstead College Spartans on Saturday afternoon at the La Brier Family Arena.

Luke Sinclair and Michael Dec contributed three points to the Saints’ balanced offensive attack against the reigning Canadian Prep School Hockey Alliance champions from Stanstead, QC.

Saints Head Coach David Manning praised Dervin’s strong game versus the CPSHA champs.

“Kieren is one of our top players. His speed creates so many opportunities and he scored three different ways this afternoon. He has a ton of talent and puts lots of pressure on defenders. His first goal was against a hot goalie.”

The Saints (20-3-1-0) opened strongly against the visitors from the Eastern Townships, but acrobatic Spartans’ goaltender Jacob Leblanc appeared to be up to the daunting task of confronting the prep school powerhouse from Aurora.

Leblanc held the home team scoreless with a series of spectacular saves and turned aside all fifteen SAC shots before Dervin scored his first of three with 1:36 remaining while killing off Finn Kearns’s hooking penalty.

Dervin’s unassisted shortie was initiated at centre ice when Spartans’ defenseman Dylan Orr blew a tire in the neutral zone due to the Ottawa native’s ferocious forechecking.

Dervin seized the puck, burst down the left wing, and buried a low wrist shot past Leblanc to put SAC on the scoreboard.

The Saints took control of the game in the second period by scoring four goals in thirteen minutes.

Sinclair initiated the offensive outburst 91 seconds into the middle frame. After Spartans’ defenseman Michel Myloserdnyy’s drew his third minor penalty of the game at 18:48, the forward from Glace Bay, NS, made the Stanstead College miscreant pay for his many on-ice misdeeds by banging home a rebound past Leblanc. Gao and Conor Dervin earned assists on the power play goal.

Four minutes later, Dervin tallied his second of the game when he finished a perfect pass from Aidan Lane by snapping the puck past Leblanc to give the Saints a 3-0 lead.

Spartans Captain Zackarie Michaud bulged the twine behind SAC goaltender Paolo Frasca 15 seconds into a Stanstead power play at 12:47, but the Saints responded quickly when Dervin finished off a beautiful three-way passing play only forty-five seconds after Michaud’s marker.

Initiating a 2-on-1, SAC’s leading scorer Michael Dec fed Lane on the breakout who fired a puck that Leblanc saved, but Dervin tapped home the rebound to complete his eruptive hat trick and restore the Saints’ three-goal lead.

SAC took a 5-1 lead heading into the second intermission when Cooper Bordeaux’s quick shot from the right point was deflected deftly by Austin Gao and knocked home by Bryson Morgan.

The penalty-filled final frame showcased the Saints’ penalty-killing prowess, especially when the Spartans enjoyed two consecutive 5-on-3 advantages. Sebastian Dell’Elce’s active stick at the top of the triangle and Frasca’s excellent goalkeeping frustrated the guests from Quebec.

Coach Manning was pleased by his special team’s performance.

“They worked together well and our stick work was quite good. Dell’Elce, as one of our veteran players, takes pride in his penalty-killing and took away a lot of scoring opportunities.”

However, as the teams returned to 5-on-5 hockey, Logan Foote narrowed the Spartans’ deficit to 5-2 when he jammed a rebound past Frasca at 13:49.

The Saints responded with a five-goal barrage in the final five minutes of the third period.

It commenced when Lucas Prud’homme snapped home his eleventh of the season to convert a centering pass from Sinclair with 4:47 left in the game. 33 seconds later, the speedy Jaxon Cover from the Cayman Islands found open space between two Spartans defenders and rifled one past Leblanc to make it 7-2 for the home side.

After Spartans’ forward Aaron Chipp slipped free between the circles and fired a puck past Frasca with 3:23 left in the chippy contest, the Saints responded with three more goals to create the margin of victory.

As the Spartans filled their penalty box due to a range of undisciplined infractions, including a kneeing major and game misconduct to Malcolm Nicholson, the Saints filled the Stanstead College net with power play goals.

Coach Manning thought his club’s power play was a key factor in the win.

“Our power play got us some very big goals. We punished them in the third period with a pair of power play goals.”

Oliver Turner’s masterful delay off the right point with the man-advantage allowed him to feather a pass to Dec who one-timed it from the left edge of the crease into an open net for his 21^st of the season to punish the Spartans, indeed.

Jake DiCapo made it 9-3 on SAC’s third power play goal when he banged home a rebound off a goalmouth scramble with 1:36 remaining. Sinclair closed the scoring with 59 seconds on the clock when he split the Stanstead defensemen and deked Leblanc to help the Saints lay a ten-spot on the pugnacious and truculent squad from Quebec.

On Sunday afternoon, SAC swept the weekend doubleheader by defeating the Spartans 7-4. Cover led the Saints with two goals in the matinee with Dec, Morgan, Lane, Dervin, and Sinclair chipping in one goal each to improve SAC’s overall record to 22-3-1-0 heading into a Prep Hockey Conference weekend matchup against Culver Academies in Indiana.

The Saints head home to host PHC powerhouse Shattuck St. Mary’s from Minnesota on Saturday, December 14 at 4 p.m. and Sunday, December 15 at noon at La Brier Family Arena.

By Jim Stewart