Photo by Bill Croney, The Northfield News Northfield's Alex green had a goal in the Ice Marauders 6-1 victory at St. Johnsbury last- Wednesday night. Northfield out-shot the Hilltoppers 34-16 and improved the Marauder record to 5-2. The Northfield High Boy’s hockey team got an up close and personal look at the geography and weather of eastern Vermont in the span of just three days last week. Then just a few days later they got an up close and personal look at the effects of Vermont weather on the western side of the state.

The Ice Marauders split a pair of games as they lost to Brattleboro 5-1 after the long and arduous trek to the southern reaches of the state last Monday night and then bounced back on Wednesday night to defeat the St. Johnsbury Hilltoppers 6-1 up at St. Johnsbury. On Saturday their scheduled game in Middlebury was postponed because of the weather and travel conditions on the western side of the state.

On Wednesday night the Marauders got two goals each from Jacob Audet-Ricker and Daegan Goodman and single goal performances from Gabe Drown and Alex Green. St. Johnsbury’s Nathan was the only Hilltopper to sneak the puck past Ben Albury as the Northfield netminder racked up 14 saves for the Maroon and White. The Ice Marauders racked up an impressive 34-15 advantage in shots as they improved their record to 8-2.

The five to one loss at Brattleboro, however, was a different story.

Last Monday afternoon’s game got underway at 3 p.m.. The Northfield bus got there at about 2:45. “What an experience,” said Northfield coach Paul Clayton. “Three and a half hours down and Three and a half hours back. We had five minutes to dress and about eight minutes to warm up.

Talk about bus legs,” he said.

The bus legs showed early on. Brattleboro jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead early in the first period and then had to hold on as the Marauders came roaring back in the second and third periods.

The late stages of period number one were a harbinger of things to come. Northfield outshot the Colonels 17-4 in the first stanza but still trailed 3-0 after the first fifteen minutes.

Billy Whaley got the Ice Marauders on the board in the second period to close the gap to 3-1 but the Maroon and White’s defenseman’s goal would be the only marker on the board for Northfield on this long night.

After two periods the Marauders held a 32-20 advantage in shots but those don’t register on the scoreboard. “We got in a hole early and weren’t able to come back. We pressured them and did some good things in the last two periods but we couldn’t close the gap,” said coach Clayton. “We also didn’t get any breaks. We hit the crossbar and the post and just missed an open net. But It just wasn’t meant to be,” he added.

This game was a real character builder for the Ice Marauders but coach Clayton saw some good things despite the slow start. “We took some positives from it. We came on strong and played really well in the last two periods. We finished strong. And we are used to playing on the big sheet of ice at Kreitzberg. This place was a shoe box. So, given the difficulty of the trip, the lack of time to loosen up and the size of their rink I think we did well,” the coach said.

With the split last week, the Ice Marauders record stands at 8-2 midway through the season.