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9/15/04: Scrimmage Suffield @ SA No Score Kept
We began this year’s campaign with the traditional scrimmage against Suffield Academy. After only a few days practice for some of the players, we headed up past the airport eager to get a look at how we could come together. As usual, the event clearly showed some strengths as well as too many weaknesses. The first two quarters (of the six we played) were focused on getting some time for the most experienced players. Choate was clearly not hitting on all cylinders early but got their act together a little better as the period moved on. A balanced scoring attack and the ability to respond to take advantage of man-up opportunities kept the team together. As we rotated personnel through the remaining quarters a group of less experienced players made a nice showing, working hard the whole way through to develop as a team. It was a good day between two teams that will face each other soon.

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9/18/04: Williston Northampton @ PEA 16-5
Choate opened the regular season with a mini-tournament at Exeter. The team faced Williston in the first of its back-to-back games. Williston had come out of the previous game with Deerfield and faced a Choate team weary from 3 1/2 hours on a mid-bus in the pouring rain. Choate woke up quickly, though, and took early control. Co-caption David Guernsey ’05 scored within the first 40 seconds and was followed 30 seconds later by Jay Li ’07. 2 1/2 minutes into the period Co-captain Kevin Hawkins ’05 drew an ejection and converted to extend the Choate lead to 3-0. Williston got on the board before goals by Hawkins and John Dillon ’06 gave Choate a 5-1 lead at the end of the first period. In the second period, scoring by Tyler Ibbotson-Sindelar ’05, Jeremiah Bolinsky ’06, Dillon, and Hawkins extended the lead to 9-1 in the next 3 1/2 minutes. Williston added another before Dillon set the score at 10-2 at the half. With the game comfortably in hand, Choate moved players around and worked some new ideas. Second half scoring came from Hawkins, Ray Li ’08, Dillon, Guernsey, Albert Chen ‘06 and a penalty shot on a nicely drawn 4m by Bolinsky. Weston Haught ’06 had a fine day in cage with 4 saves and an assist in three periods in front of a defense that held Williston to only 16 shots in the game. Michael Marti ’07 got some good experience as well in the third period. He made two saves in his varsity keeping debut.

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9/18/04: Exeter @ PEA 4-12
Choate traveled a long way to play back-to-back games with perennial powerhouse Exeter as the second game. Overall Choate played well throughout but didn’t get the breaks on many close calls and was just outplayed by a solid Exeter squad. Despite getting of 8 shots in the first period, the team did not connect on any of them. Many were well chosen shots that just missed or were stopped with especially nice play by Exeter. In the same period, Choate let up three to trail 0-3 at the end of the first. In the first minute of the second period, Spencer Haught ’06 finally got us on the board. Play moved up and down with Choate still missing on some good chances and Exeter adding a couple before Tyler Ibbotson-Sindelar ’05 adding one to bring the score to 2-5. Good play by Exeter and some lapses by Choate allowed the score to go up to 2-7 by the half. In the third period, Co-captain David Guernsey ’05 added one early and was followed by Co-captain Kevin Hawkins ’05 with a SportsCenter-worthy shot from hole near the middle of the period to close the gap to 4-7. Exeter added one more and Choate trailed by four after three periods. In the fourth period of the second of two games in a row, Choate started to slip more often and let in 4 unanswered goals to lose with a final of 4-12. Weston Haught ’06 had a fine day in cage despite the score and made 8 saves. Overall, the team played well together and made some good preparations for games to come. It was a good day.

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9/20/04: Hopkins @ CRH 13-6
Choate had it’s home opener in a rare Monday game as the Boars welcomed Hopkins to the Larry Hart Pool. Choate showed that they were ready to play as they came out and scored 4 unanswered goals in the first half of the first period, two each by Tyler Ibbotson-Sindelar ’05 and John Dillon ’06. After that, Choate seemed to change gears a bit and slow things down. Despite a defense that would successfully defend all 5 of their man-down situations for the day, the offense slipped a notch. Choate led 4-0 at the end of the first and 8-1 at the half. Second period goals were scored by Jay Li ’07, Co-captain Kevin Hawkins ’05, Albert Chen ’06 and Spencer Haught ’06 for Choate and by James Hao for Hopkins. Hopkins opened the third period ready to take advantage of the mental lapses by Choate and some less experienced players. They added two goals early before Dillon and Co-captain David Guernsey took back the initiative to maintain the 7-goal margin at 10-3. One more Hopkins goal late in the period made the score at the end of the third 10-4. Choate continued to move players around and look for effective combinations. Li scored early in the period but a penalty shot awarded to Hopkins on Choate’s keeper, Weston Haught ’06, answered back. Hopkins added another on their next possession before Hawkins and Jeremiah Bolinsky ’06 made the final tallies. Weston Haught had a fine day in cage with 13 saves.

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9/22/04: Greenwich HS A @ GHS 7-20
Choate went into its traditional early season game with Eastern powerhouse Greenwich short some bodies but with a good attitude. Greenwich came out swinging, though. The Cardinals scored three times in the first 1:15 of the period to show that they were in control. Spencer Haught ’06 got Choate on the board after that but it was clear that the home team was in control. Greenwich added three more before Co-captain David Guernsey ’05 took advantage of an outside opportunity half way through the first to make the score 2-6. That was it for the Boars for the remainder of the half. While Greenwich displayed superior experience in nearly all aspects of the game, Choate worked to improve as they played and to keep heart. They trailed at the end of the first 2-10 and 2-14 at the half. That lead would be extended to 2-16 early in the third before the Boars realized that they could take advantage of some personnel changes made by Greenwich and the team started to get back into their game. Another goal by Guernsey, a second from Haught and two from Co-captain Kevin Hawkins ’05 left Choate with a 6-19 deficit at the end of the third. Choate did show some nice play during the game, especially in the fourth period with some good work on man-down defense. John Dillon ’06 marked for the final time as Choate went down 7-20. Weston Haught ’06 made a valiant effort in cage but it was a long day. He had five saves.

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9/22/04: Greenwich HS JV @ GHS 2-19
A very young Choate JV squad made a tremendous effort in the face of superior experience, skill and speed. Many of the Choate players are just learning the game and should be proud of the positive attitude that they showed even while losing spectacularly. The Greenwich JV squad, now coached by former Choate coach Mike Simerman, schooled the Choate team, showing restraint even while winning by such a large margin. The value for Choate’s young players comes from the experience of seeing how the game can be played, even by young players. Choate trailed 0-18 at the end the third in a game that seemed to be singularly devoid of highlights to that time. In the fourth, though, David Bloys ’05 and Graham Murphy ’06 scored to avoid the shutout. Michael Marti ’07 played especially well in cage with 4 saves and a steal. After this, the team is sure to be better prepared for its next opponent, a league team of more comparable skills.

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9/24/04: Suffield @ CRH 12-10
Choate was prepared for a tough game today as a tough Suffield squad came to the Larry Hart pool. Though they were down a starter, the Boars were ready to do their best. In what would be an indication of the excellent play in cage by Weston Haught ’06, Choate defended an early man-down situation and sent the ball back down pool for a goal by John Dillon ’06. Both teams traded ejections as they learned the officials before Suffield tied the game at 1-1 half way through the first. Then the aggressive Suffield offense went ahead late in the period. Choate answered back with a man-up goal by Co-captain Kevin Hawkins and another goal by Dillon to give Choate a 3-2 lead at the end of the first. The second period started off aggressively with two goals by Suffield and one for Choate by Hawkins in the first minute and a half to tie the game 4-4. Despite a lot of positioning and effort, no more scoring came in the period and the half closed with the score knotted at 4. The third period got going fast with one more each from Hawkins and Dillon before Suffield responded to both. Suffield then scored their third unanswered goal to take a 6-7 lead at the end of the period. Choate knew that they had to come back but misfired early and gave Suffield a man-up goal to trail by two. Then the team took it up a notch. Hawkins, Jay Li ’07 and Dillon each scored in less than a minute and a half to take a 9-8 lead. Choate then weathered two ejections before Dillon added marked his 5th of the day to give Choate a 10-8 lead. Suffield is a talented squad and the Boars knew that things were not over. They were right as Suffield answered with 2 in less than a minute and ten seconds. With a minute and a half left, Choate had the ball in a tied game. Hawkins scored his 5th of the day with a beautiful backhand 8 seconds later. Choate got the ball back as Suffield continued to play off the bottom and Spencer Haught ’06 scored with :55 left. Choate was able to hold off Suffield for the final minute and won the game 12-10. Weston Haught had a great day in cage with 12 saves. The team came together to get the job done and should be proud of the effort despite the loss of an early-season starter.

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2004 Cardinal Tournament at Greenwich HS
Sometimes there comes a time when something that seemed like a good idea suddenly doesn’t seem like that any more. Such was the case with the Cardinal Tournament this year. Choate was one of the first New England schools invited to the tournament when it first went back in 1992. In the years since then, whenever the schedule allowed, Choate has been pleased to go down to Greenwich and play in the tournament that has consistently showcased the best play in the Eastern league. Although Exeter was always at the tournament, the teams rarely met and didn’t consider games there to be part off the league. That changed a couple of years ago and was reaffirmed this year in a very narrow vote of the NE coaches association. While the style of refereeing is among a number of differences between the styles of play in the Eastern league and that in New England, New England teams, apparently hungry to get more league games chose to count them. Additionally, Choate, who was just about to enjoy the return of starter Tyler Ibbotson-Sindelar ‘05 from a wrist injury, found that they would not have Co-captain David Guernsey ’05 for the tournament due to an unavoidable scheduling conflict. Also, the team would have an especially demanding game schedule that would allow them to return to campus near midnight on Friday so that they could attend classes on Saturday before returning to play on Saturday afternoon. Against this background, the Choate squad headed to Greenwich on Friday afternoon.
10/1/04 Greenwich HS A @ GHS 4-19
There were few highlights as Choate faced Greenwich at Greenwich for the second time in a week and a half. Choate was out swum and outgunned as a very talented and experienced Greenwich that was out to open the 35th incarnation of their home tournament with a bang. The boars worked hard to keep up but trailed 0-5 at the end of the first. It was the final minute of the second before John Dillon ’06 got Choate on the board with an assist from Co-captain Kevin Hawkins ’05. Greenwich would retaliate 19 seconds later to close the half with a decisive 1-9 lead. At the start of the third period, Greenwich drew major fouls on Dillon and by 1:30 into the third period he was on the bench for the game. Greenwich continued to score effectively before Jay Li ’07 tallied near the middle of the period but the boars trailed 2-13. Hawkins got his own goal late in the period but Greenwich extended to a 3-15 lead by the end of the third. The large, partisan crowd loved it. One more goal by Li in the fourth would account for all of the scoring that Choate could muster as the team finished down 4-19. Despite the shelling, Weston Haught ’06 did some nice work in cage when he had the chance and marked 8 saves.
10/1/04 Suffield @ GHS 5-13
A week earlier Suffield had come to the Hart pool and walked away with a defeat after an exciting game that Choate contested short one of its starters. Despite the loss of a different starter for this game, the team was looking forward to the game. Unfortunately, three member of the 12-man traveling squad (two of them starters) lost focus in the break between games and had to be benched for the late night start. Suddenly the picture was different. We knew that Suffield was a good team and going at them with only 3 of our starting 6 field players was an uphill battle. The cost of losing the players was readily apparent. Choate gave up four unanswered goals in the first period. In the second, things seemed to be looking up when Tyler Ibbotson-Sindelar ’05 finally got Choate on the board. Suffield answered back with two. Then Spencer Haught ’06 and Ibbotson-Sindelar put two more in so that Choate trailed 3-6 at the half. Though they still felt in the game, the small crew available was hard pressed to keep up. In the third, Suffield added three and the boars trailed 3-9. Co-captain Kevin Hawkins ’05 scored early in the fourth before Suffield added another three. Spencer Haught added one more before the Boars gave up a final goal, man-down, with 10 seconds left. Weston Haught did a good job despite a shooting onslaught and made 12 saves. Choate lost 5-13.
10/2/04 Loomis Chaffee @ GHS 8-13
The dismal day on Friday set up a game with Loomis, who had lost to Exeter and Wilson HS. Despite getting back to campus at midnight on Friday and going to classes on Saturday morning before hopping back into the mid-bus to get back to Greenwich, Choate was still optimistic in facing their rival from up 91. Loomis came out strong and a physically and emotionally battered Choate worked to answer the call. Loomis marked first but Jeremiah Bolinsky ’06 answered back. Loomis responded with two goals in quick succession to put the pressure on Choate. Jay Li ’07 and Tyler Ibbotson-Sindelar ’05 took advantage of opportunities for Choate, though, and tied the game by the end of the first, 3-3. That was the end of the good news for Choate. In the second period, Loomis took control. They scored 6 unanswered goals in the second and Choate was out of the game with a 3-9 deficit at the half. In the third, the boars would give up another before Spencer Haught ’06 would add another goal for Choate. The deficit would extend to 4-13 before Choate was able to put some in on Loomis’ subs. Goals in the second half of the period by Ibbotson-Sindelar (2), Bolinsky and Hawkins put the final score at 8-13, which looks a lot better than it was. Weston Haught fought valiantly on a day when he had little support. He marked 6 saves. Choate will need to regroup before facing traditional rival Deerfield on Wednesday.

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10/6/04 Deerfield @ CRH 10-8
After a rough tournament last weekend, Choate was eager to get back in the swing of things this week. Games with Deerfield are always loaded and the green squad has had a good start to the season, so Choate anticipated a tough game. The Boars, however, had their full starting squad together for the first time in over two weeks, though, and was ready for action. The start, though, was rough. Deerfield came out swinging and scored twice in the first two minutes. Choate was playing well, though. They drew ejections in hole and moved well on offense. Unfortunately, the Boars were not finishing the well-chosen shots that they made. The team was doing everything well except for getting the ball into the cage. Shooting good opportunities high or into the posts was annoying, but Choate knew that there was plenty of time to play. Tyler Ibbotson-Sindelar scored first for Choate at nearly 5 minutes into the period to put Choate down 1-2. John Dillon ’06 scored 14 seconds later to tie the game. 45 seconds later, Choate drew it’s third ejection of the game but misfired. Co-captain David Guernsey ’05 kept after it and pushed the ball in. In 1:03, Choate had gone from down two goals to up by one and took a 3-2 lead into the period break. The second period started with another string off ejections that Choate could not take advantage of. Deerfield didn’t miss their first opportunity, though, and tied the game just after 2:00 into the second. Unwilling to let that stand, an extra effort 19 seconds later by Dillon gave Choate a lead that they would hold for the rest of the game. Spencer Haught ’06 added another to move the lead to 5-3. Deerfield came back with one before Jay Li ’06 scored with :48 left to give Choate a 6-4 lead at the half. Good defense by the Boars in hole was slowing a strong offensive attack by Deerfield. Deerfield came out for the third period ready to go after it. They scored within the first minute. Dillon answered back for Choate 25 seconds later and then again17 seconds after that. Deerfield would add one more before Dillon got his hat-trick for the period and Ibbotson-Sindelar added another to give Choate a 10-6 lead going into the 4th. The game was getting chippy late as some of the Deerfield players succumbed to frustration. Choate was not on its game either, though, and no one was able to capitalize. Deerfield did add two more but never really threatened as Choate walked away with a 10-8 victory and a nice opening to a new tear of this fine traditional rivalry. Weston Haught ’06 made a fine showing in cage with 13 saves, ten of them in the second half to give Choate the opening that it needed.

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10/6/04 Deerfield JV at CRH JV 6-9
After the exciting varsity game, The Choate JV squad took the pool to face Deerfield’s JV. Choate was able to use early speed and good response to open a 5-0 lead in the first period. Ray Li ’08 scored the first two, Konrad Kopczynski ‘07 added two more and Alex Oumarbaev ’07 tallied the 5th of the period. Choate seemed comfortably in control. As Coach Mike Velez cycled players through be get everyone into the game, Deerfield was able to take advantages off some mis-matches in speed and some players still learning the game to close the gap to 5-4 at the half. The third period was hard fought but to little advantage to either side for most of the game. In the last :45 of the game, however, Deerfield was able to scored but Li responded and Choate took a 6-5 lead into the period break. Choate never got back into the groove, though. The team struggled with missed opportunities and passes that fell short of their mark. Deerfield would put in four unanswered goals in the 4th to take the game 6-9. One of the highlights of the day was the fine play in cage by Michael Marti ’07 who made 14 saves. It was a good early effort by a young and upcoming Choate squad.

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10/9/04 Andover at CRH 18-6
After a good outing on Wednesday, Choate was eager to see if they could keep things together. The Boars came out today ready to play. They controlled the game and, despite some trouble finishing their shots, were in command from the start. 35 seconds into the game, Co-captain Kevin Hawkins ’05 drew and converted a penalty shot to get Choate on the board first. Spencer Haught ’06 followed a minute and a half later. Andover drew an ejection at just over three minutes in and converted the man-up to get on the board. That was when Choate went to work. Choate drew an ejection and Haught converted. Tyler Ibbotson-Sindelar ’05 followed and John Dillon ’06 ended the period with two to give Choate a 6-1 lead. In the second, Choate seemed to lose it’s footing a bit. Andover was able to draw three ejections on the Boars and convert two of them to close within three, 6-3, by the middle of the period. Albert Chen ’06 answered back with one and the lead had narrowed to 7-3 at the half. Choate was confident, however, that they could improve their shooting and take command. Early in the third, the teams traded man-up goals (Dillon scoring for Choate) so that the score was 8-4 with 5:24 left. Jay Li ’07 netted one before Andover made its run. Andover marked two nice goals to close to within three. Haught and Dillon added one each to open things up near the end of the period and Choate led 11-6 going into the final period. Choate managed a scoring spree in the final period as they continued to be able to break on the visitors. Goals by (in order) Hawkins, Dillon, Li (man-up), Hawkins, Hawkins (hat-trick for the period), Haught and Dillon split things wide open. Choate ended the game with an 18-6 victory. Choate’s strong defensive effort meant that Weston Haught ’06 had only 5 saves in the strong team effort.

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10/9/04 Andover JV at CRH JV 6-3
Choate had started off strong on Wednesday but been unable to maintain the effort. Today would be the opposite. The young Boars got off to something of a slow start but got things together as the game went on. Choate gave up one goal half way through the first and, while they played good defense, could not convert good opportunities at Andover’s cage. Early in the second, Ray Li ’08 got the home team on the board. After that the teams traded man-up opportunities but to no avail. Both sides were working for good positions only to lose the shots at the end. The score was tied 1-1 at the half. In the third period, the back and forth continued for most of the first half of the period. Finally Nick Kent ’06 scored to give Choate its first lead of the game. That was followed by Carlin Yuen’s strong conversion of a man-up opportunity to extend that lead. Late in the period, Andover would capitalize on a drawn ejection to close the gap to 3-2 at the end of the third. Choate’s JV was looking for their first win, though, and we fired up for the final period. Choate killed an Andover man-up and turned things around with a goal at the other end by Li. Ray Li added another a couple of trips down the pool later. Konrad Kopczynski ’07 took advantage of another Andover ejection by scoring with just under two minutes remaining. Andover responded the next trip down the pool but that ended the scoring for the game. Michael Marti ’06 did an excellent job in cage with 7 saves. The whole Choate team contributed to the win, from Jack Lo’s great steal to Graham Murphy’s strong defense and every one in between.

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10/12/04 Canterbury V @ CRH JV 6-12
After a strong finish to the Andover game on Saturday, Choate’s JV team was optimistic in facing the challenge by the Canterbury varsity squad in an unusual Tuesday game. A big crew of young Boars was already warmed up and ready to play when it seemed that Canterbury might not show up. The visitors did, however, if a bit late and brought a physical presence that overshadowed the mostly novice Choate JV team. Canterbury started things off working well in the hole. They would score four times in the first period. The Choate boys were able to draw a number of ejections (though spread across the Canterbury squad) and a penalty throw but they were unable to convert. Things continued that way into the second period, where Canterbury added two more before Choate got on the board. At nearly three minutes into the second, Konrad Kopczynski ’07 got frustrated on perimeter and put up a nice shot that sailed into the cage. Less than two minutes later, he did the same thing again and closed the gap to 2-6. Canterbury answered back with one and Choate trailed 2-7 at the half. Although Choate continued to draw fouls effectively, bad passing meant that they often turned the ball over almost immediately and almost never mounted an effective man-up attack. In the third Kopczynski managed two more goals but Canterbury continued to score. Choate trailed 4-11 with all of the team’s scoring by Kopczynski. In the fourth, Alex Oumarbaev ’07 added two more goals and the team let up only one so that the final score had the Boars down 6-12. It was a good effort by the young team in facing the older, more experienced varsity squad. Michael Marti had a nice game in cage with 10 saves.

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10/13/04: Northfield Mount Hermon @ NMH 9-10
Despite the long ride up to Northfield, Choate arrived confident and ready to play. There was some apprehension when one of the Northfield coaches announced that the school had not been able to find an unaffiliated referee so that he, an NMH coach, would be calling the game with an NMH girls coach who was not experienced as a referee. Choate had no option but to make the best of it. Choate scored early with two goals by John Dillon ’06 but NMH responded to each. The visiting squad was busy trying to work out what was and was not going to be called and the opening period ended in a 2-2 tie. Choate was also knocked by losing a player , Jay Li, early in the game when he was poked in the eye while being tackled by two NMH players. Choate took the lead early in the second on a goal by Jeremiah Bolinsky ’06 before NMH responded to tie things up. By then, however, Choate thought that they had a handle on the officiating and started to execute more effectively. Goals by Co-captain Kevin Hawkins ’05, Bolinsky, Dillon and Tyler Ibbotson-Sindelar ’05 established control while holding NMH to one more. Choate led 7-4 at the half. A physical game was brewing, but Choate kept trying to play through it all. NMH scored early in the third but Co-captain David Guernsey ’05 and Ibbotson-Sindelar each added one to extend the lead to 9-5 going into the last period. As the time ticked away (unmarked by malfunctioning shot clocks) in the final period, the NMH team became increasingly frustrated and physical. Choate thought they had things in control when, midway through the period, it seemed that NMH could not commit a foul. NMH would score 5 unanswered goals in the final 3:44. Choate tried to keep playing but expected calls did not come. Though they had adapted early, the rules of the game seemed to change near the end and Choate could not respond to all that would be allowed to the home team. It was a disappointing day.

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10/19/04 : Loomis Chaffee @ CRH 9-7
Choate knew that there was a lot on the line as the team played host to Loomis in the usual Tuesday meeting between the squads. Choate had been soundly defeated by Loomis earlier in the season at the Cardinal Tournament so they were well aware of the ability of the Pelican squad. At the same time, though, they also knew that the foray out of league in the opening weekend of October had been a bad time for the Boars and they were ready to play for pride. Both squads came out working. Choate got on the board first with a nice goal by Tyler Ibbotson-Sindelar ’05 with 5:16 left in the first. Loomis was able to draw an ejection a minute later, though, and capitalized on the opportunity to tie the game. Choate answered about a minute later with a goal by Jay Li ’07 before Loomis once again tied things up. The score was 2-2 at the end of the first. The teams worked for position in the second but the defensive stand put up by each side held the other down until at almost four minutes into the period, Spencer Haught ’06 broke the tie. The teams continued to work at both ends but Choate once more got the upper hand and John Dillon ’06 extended the Choate lead to two and the Boars took a 4-2 advantage into the halftime break. Choate felt good about their play but knew that Loomis was far from out of it. Early in the third, Choate was able to convert a man-up opportunity with a nice shot by Haught to extend the lead to 5-2. Loomis came roaring back, however and netted an emphatic goal on the next possession. Choate extended again on another goal by Dillon and Loomis again responded. Dillon scored again for Choate with just over 2:00 remaining and Loomis responded again. Choate took a 7-5 lead into the final period break. The fourth period saw Choate come out with a strong defense but the Boars seemed unable to miss both the posts and the keeper with their shooting. As a result, the teams worked back and forth through the first three minutes with neither side able to take advantage of the opportunities. Then Loomis was able to cut the lead to one with 3:54 remaining. Shortly after that, however, Choate was able to take advantage of another Loomis ejection and return the lead to two on a nice net by Dillon. In the final minute, Dillon was able to cap off an exceptional day with Choate’s ninth goal with 45 seconds remaining. Loomis did manage a nice break with :12 left on the clock but it was not enough. Choate took the game 9-7. John Dillon had an especially strong day for the Boars and was often on the end of some successful team play that utilized the whole squad’s efforts. Weston Haught ’06 played wonderfully for the Boars in cage with 10 saves. It was a good outing but the Boars still have plenty of work to do this season. They next head to face a strong Hotchkiss team at Parents’ Weekend in Lakeville, always a challenging assignment.

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10/23/04 Hotchkiss JV at HS 5-17
Choate’s JV squad played the first round at Hotchkiss’ parents’ weekend and despite some determined play, the young boars were clearly overmatched. Hotchkiss scored first just 16 seconds into the game. Choate was able to answer two minutes later with a goal by Graham Murphy ’06 but that was the last time that it would be close. Hotchkiss’ size advantage coupled with a dramatic edge in speed and experience meant that the Bearcats were in the driver seat from the beginning. Choate had enough to do in figuring out the competition that the added challenge of adapting to the way the calls were coming was too much. An aggressive Hotchkiss team simply overrode the Choate squad. In the first, Hotchkiss scored 3 more times, one on a man advantage, to take a 4-1 lead into the period break. While Choate killed a man-down early, Hotchkiss took advantage of another and then added three more to lead 8-1 at the half. Hotchkiss would add three more in the first two minutes of the third before Konrad Kopczynski ’07 would get Choate on the board again. Choate would be ejected twice in the final 40 seconds of the period and give up one more goals to trail 2-13 at the end of the third. That was when familiarity with the official would really pay off for the Hotchkiss team and Choate’s eagerness for a goal would hold them back. Including the final 40 seconds of the third and the fourth period, Choate was called for 8 ejections (11 on the game). Hotchkiss was not called for a major until there were only 19 seconds remaining in the game. While Kopczynski tallied twice in the period, Hotchkiss added 4 and won in a commanding fashion. The final score was 5-17. Michael Marti ’07 made a good effort in cage despite a rough day. He had 7 saves.

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10/23/04 Hotchkiss @ HS 8-10 (overtime)
After the drubbing of their JV squad, the varsity hoped to be able to shake off the long bus ride and long wait to put together a better performance. The team played and defended well but they shot so poorly that it was miraculous that it was as close as it was. It was an ill omen when the Boars drew a penalty throw just 12 seconds into the game but failed to convert. They would then draw two ejections and not be able to convert either one. In spite of that, Choate did get on the board first with a goal by John Dillon ’06 at just over 2:00 into the game. Tyler Ibbotson-Sindelar ’05 would capitalize on another Hotchkiss ejection four minutes later to gain a two-goal advantage. Hotchkiss would take advantage of a Choate ejection only seconds later to make the score 2-1 at the end of the first. Choate came out early in the second with a nice goal by Spencer Haught ’06. Then Choate would take two more ejections, killing the first but giving up a score with 4:09 remaining. The ejection fest continued, with Choate finally converting another with a goal by Jay Li ’07. Hotchkiss would answer back, though with a natural goal and another man-up goal to tie the game at the half-time break. Early in the third, Hotchkiss would take their first lead of the game. They would score a natural goal and then capitalize on two more Choate ejections to extend their lead to 7-4 at the end of the third. Choate looked to be behind but didn’t feel out of it yet. Early in the fourth, Dillon scored for Choate. Choate killed an ejection and then Dillon converted the next man-up to close the gap to one. Choate killed another man-up and Co-captain Kevin Hawkins ’05 made the extra effort to tie the game just before the mid-period point. With 3:38 remaining, the game was starting over. Choate drew its second penalty shot of the game and this time it was converted by Dillon to give Choate a 1-goal lead. Both teams were in high gear, making the effort at both ends. With :56 left, Hotchkiss came back and scored to tie the game. Choate would kill yet another ejection to keep the game tied but neither team was able to convert the chances that they had and the game went into overtime. Each side was down a player to three ejections and Choate’s loss of Hawkins changed the team’s approach. In the overtime, Choate was unable to net the ball despite some very good looks and Hotchkiss would mark once in each of the 3:00 overtime periods. Choate came up short and lost the game 8-10. Weston Haught ’06 made a fine showing in cage with 7 saves. Choate’s defense was able to stop the Hotchkiss attack often before it really got going.The game saw an astonishing 20 ejections spread over 12 players. Unfortunately, the Boars only shot 17% today and you can’t beat a good team like that. Hopefully Choate will still be in the running for the end of season play-offs.

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10/27/04 Williston @ CRH 15-6
Choate welcomed Williston Northampton to the Larry Hart pool for a rematch of what was Choate’s first game of the season. Choate was victorious in the first contest but knew that a proud and well-coached Williston team had been playing better of late. With that in mind, the Boars came out ready to play. Choate drew its first ejection just 20 seconds into the game and Spencer Haught ’06 made it count. In a first period that would see 6 major fouls, the ability to capitalize on the advantage and defend the man-down was key. Choate would successfully defend a man-down the next trip down the pool and draw another only moments later to take a 2-0 lead on a goal by Tyler Ibbotson-Sindelar ’05. Choate would be able to kill two more man-up opportunities for Williston and add a goal by John Dillon ’06 and two by Co-captain Kevin Hawkins ’05 to take a commanding 5-0 lead by 5 minutes into the game. A minute later, Williston would get on the board with a nice goal before Choate would draw a penalty shot with only 3 seconds remaining. Ibbotson-Sindelar would convert the opportunity to give Choate a 6-1 lead at the end of the first. The Boars had some confidence because they seemed to be playing well and goalkeeper Weston Haught ’06 was having a spectacular day. Williston had no interest in folding though. They came out in the second period and scored early. Choate was able to answer back, however, with a nice goal by Hawkins only 13 seconds later. Then the teams started trading kick-outs but neither side seemed able to capitalize. Finally Choate took advantage with a nice goal by Ibbotson-Sindelar. After that, however, Choate seemed to lose focus with an 8-2 lead. The team blew opportunities and was out of position coming back. The result was two 4m shots awarded to Williston. Weston Haught made a spectacular stop on the first but gave up the second. The half ended with Choate ahead by a score of 8-3. The ejection continued into the third period and Williston was eventually able to capitalize with 2:27 remaining in the period to narrow the margin to 8-4. Choate answered back with another goal by Dillon before he picked up his third kick of the day. Williston scored on the man-up on Dillon’s ejection but then Choate seemed to wake up. Goals by Hawkins and Co-captain David Guernsey ’05 and a man-up goal by Spencer Haught, all within the last minute and a half, re-established an effective offense for Choate and they held a 12-5 lead at the end of the third. Ejections would continue into the final period with Choate taking advantage of two opportunities with goals by Spencer Haught and Ibbotson-Sindelar. Tyler would add another goal in the final minute before Williston would mark the final goals of the game. The final score was 15-6. A good defensive effort, even in the face of some refs who didn’t like what they saw, was anchored by the aforementioned excellent play by Weston Haught with 10 saves. All told, there were 20 major fouls on the day, 9 to Choate and 11 to Williston.

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10/27/04 Williston JV @ CRH JV 9-6
Choate’s Junior Varsity squad has had a rough go recently, facing some older and more experienced opponents. They were eager to change the momentum as they headed into their final home game of the year and the team got things going in grand style. Early on, Choate was able to get things going using superior speed and sound ball handling skills. Alex Oumarbaev ‘07scored twice just 15 seconds apart to get the Boars on the board just before the middle of the first period. Oumarbaev would be ejected only seconds later, though, and allow Williston to mark one. Choate found its stride after that, however, with two goals by Konrad Kopczynski ’07 and a third (period hat-trick) by Oumarbaev to give Choate a 5-1 lead at the end of the first. The second period saw both team focus on defense. Choate could not convert a man-up opportunity and Williston did on its next possession to narrow the margin to three but that was all the scoring that was managed in the second. Choate led 5-2 at the half. In the third, the teams worked back and forth but neither team seemed to be able to really pull things together. Graham Murphy ’06 put in a goal for Choate but that was the only entry on the game log. Choate led 6-2 heading into the fourth. In the final period, Williston found its footing and Choate committed a series of defensive miscues. Williston would score twice to close the gap to two. Choate was able to respond with a man-up goal by Ray Li’08 but the tired Boars were making too many mistakes. Seconds later, the Williston team would answer with its own man-up goal. Williston drew an ejection the next time down the pool and, though Choate successfully defended the Williston effort, a careless toss back to the keeper went through Michael Marti’s hands and Choate scored on itself to close the margin to a 1 goal game with only 2:27 remaining. Choate seemed to come back together at the end, though. Carlin Yuen ’06 made an impressive full pool drive and was able to cap things off with a goal. Seconds later, Choate would draw a penalty shot and Li would convert it to make the final score 9-6 and give the JV Boars their second win of the season. Michael Marti ’07 had perhaps his best outing in cage yet with 7 saves and strong play in too many man-down situations.

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10/30/04 Northfield Mount Hermon @ CRH (Parents Weekend) 9-2
When NMH hosted the Boars 17 days ago, the game was contentious and the outcome was disputed. Nonetheless, NMH won the game with 5 unanswered goals in the final half of the final period. Choate felt that the officiating had changed, NMH reasoned that Choate had just gotten tired and couldn’t keep up. With that background, each team had something to prove at the Hart pool today. Choate was coming off the tiring demands of Parents weekend, the late date of which meant that the boys in the blue and gold had gone over 8 weeks of practices and classes without a break. NMH arrived at the pool early and appeared eager to get the game going. From the start, Choate seemed to be controlling the offensive and defensive ends of the pool but couldn’t finish things off. Aggressive play by NMH’s keeper had the Boars struggling to find the right shooting distance. Choate blew some fine opportunities and each team failed to convert man-up opportunities in the first. Finally, Spencer Haught ’06 opened the scoring with :55 remaining to give Choate the 1-0 lead they would carry in to the half. Early in the second, NMH tied things up. The tie held for most of the period, despite more man-up opportunities for each side. Both ends were working hard but neither seemed to be able to put much together. With :35 remaining in the half, Co-captain Kevin Hawkins ’05 broke the tie and put Choate up 2-1. At the half, the Boars felt that they had been playing a stronger game than the scoreboard indicated and that, while NMH was clearly playing a solid game, it was Choate itself that was responsible for its troubles. Coming out for the third, Choate knew that it was time to pull things together. Just over a minute into the third period, Choate finally converted a drawn ejection with a nice goal by Tyler Ibbotson-Sindelar ’05. Two minutes later, at 3:52, Hawkins added another nice mark. At 1:24, Co-captain David Guernsey ’05 added another for Choate and Hawkins made his third for the day with :16 remaining to give Choate a strong 6-1 lead at the end of the third. Choate knew that NMH would feel that they had something to prove, though. They felt that they could capitalize on a tired Choate squad so they would not be giving up. Despite this, the Boars continued to control the pool. Guernsey was completely effective in denying shots to NMH’s hole man. When NMH tried to counter and pull in other defenders, each Choate player stepped up to the task. Weston Haught ’06 was having another great game in cage in which he would eventually make 7 saves on the 18 shots that NMH took. In the final period, with each team having something to prove, it was the Boars that would score first. Ibbotson-Sindelar would convert another man-up opportunity to extend the margin to 6. Choate would be able to kill two quick man-down situations with strong team defense before Ibbotson-Sindelar would add his third man-up goal of the game and change the score to 8-1. Another score by Ibbotson-Sindelar a minute later gave Choate a commanding 9-1 lead halfway through the final period. This time, though, the lead would hold. Choate would give up one more goal with 2:30 left on a nice turn by the hole man, but overall the Boars were in command. As for the tired muscles that the team might have felt, don’t tell that to the poor NMH player who executed a nice steal but was then caught from behind by both Guernsey and John Dillon ’06 with 1:30 left. A special acknowledgement goes out to Choate’s seniors who played in their final home game today – Co-captain David Guernsey, Co-captain Kevin Hawkins, Tyler Ibbotson-Sindelar and David Bloys. They guided this year’s squad to an undefeated home season. They team has some real challenges ahead but looks forward to getting some rest to get ready.

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11/3/04 Loomis Chaffee @ LC 10-15
Choate traveled to Loomis today to play the rubber match of the three game series that the two teams had on the books. Choate had lost the first game at the Cardinal Tournament but rebounded later in October to take a game with Loomis at the Hart pool. So today when the Boars went to the Hedges pool at Loomis, the teams were ready to see how the rivalry played out. Whether it was the post-long weekend doldrums or just being tired after a long night of watching election returns, The Boars just came out flat. Loomis scored first but Choate answered back only 14 seconds later with a nice goal by Tyler Ibbotson-Sindelar ’05. It looked like we might have a game. Then, Choate seemed to lose focus and Loomis came back and outplayed the visiting squad with good fundamentals. Choate gave up three quick goals before converting a man-up opportunity with a shot by Co-captain Kevin Hawkins ’05. Choate would give up two more goals before the end of the period and trail 2-6 at the first break. In the second, Loomis scored two more times and Spencer Haught ’06 added another and Choate was down but not out with a score of 3-8 at the half. Choate scored first in the third with another goal by Haught but Loomis quickly responded with two of its own. John Dillon ’06, who had been uncharacteristically quiet for the last game and a half, got things going later in the period with two goals in 26 seconds to close the margin to 4, 6-10, at the end of the third. Choate was far from being in control, however, and Loomis came out with three quick goals in the fourth before Choate could answer. Goals by Hawkins and Haught made a dent but Loomis would answer. Co-captain David Guernsey ’05 tallied one with under 2:00 remaining but that was answered as well. The final goal of the game was by Hawkins with 20 seconds remaining to bring the final score to a disappointing 10-15 in favor of Loomis. Weston Haught ’06 had a long day in the cage for Choate and the team’s whole defensive scheme seemed to fall apart at times. While Choate was plagued by careless mistakes, Loomis executed well and played a game of strong fundamentals.

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11/6/04 Deerfield @ DA 10-8
Choate headed up to archrival Deerfield on a beautiful day to close out the regular season. The Boars were looking for a long-sought road win to cap off the season a week in advance of the traditional Choate-Deerfield meeting. Both teams were fired up and knew that play-off seeding was on the line. Deerfield, seeking to avenge a loss to Choate earlier in the season, came out swinging. They took a 0-1 lead only 7 seconds into the game. It took Choate another minute and a half to get on the board. Co-captain Kevin Hawkins ‘05 converted to tie the game. It would remain that way for most of the rest of the period until Deerfield scored again with 34 seconds left. Choate went into the period break trailing 1-2. Early in the second, Hawkins would tie things up. Choate’s defense clamped down and a goal by Spencer Haught ’06 and another, the third, by Hawkins gave Choate a 4-2 lead at the half. The Boars knew that they were far from out of the woods, though. In the third, Hawkins tallied again to extend the lead to three. Deerfield responded a minute later. Hawkins, a one-man wrecking crew, added another and John Dillon ’06 put in one of his own in the next minute to re-establish control. Deerfield answered with two of its own to close the deficit back to two goals. With 1:42 remaining in the period, Haught got on the board again and Choate took an 8-5 lead into the final period. Both teams worked for advantage early in the fourth but neither really got going. Deerfield added one to close but Dillon answered back in less than a minute and then Hawkins added his sixth of the day with 2:25 remaining. Deerfield would convert an ejection in the final 2:00 and add one more but Choate held it together and took an 8-10 victory from the land of the green. Weston Haught ’06 had an outstanding day in cage! His 14 saves on the day included some key plays that stopped an aggressive Deerfield squad. The team was pleased with its play across the board and looks forward to the challenges of the New England tournament starting back at Deerfield on Wednesday.

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11/6/04 Deerfield JV @ DA 5-6
Choate’s JV headed up to Deerfield to close out its season against archrival Deerfield. The teams met earlier in the year and in that game Choate fell despite a strong start. Each team had something to prove to itself. In a game where both sides were struggling to keep control, Deerfield scored first but Graham Murphy ’06 answered back in the final seconds to leave the scored tied 1-1 at the end of the first. Deerfield established control in the second, however, with its advantage in size and experience. The host team would score three before Choate would get back in the board. Murphy would do it again in the final seconds to close the gap to 2-4 at the half. The third period saw four ejections but neither side could capitalize. A nice outside shot by Alex Oumarbaev ’07 early in the period closed Choate to within 1 and another Oumarbaev goal near mid-period tied things up but a Deerfield goal in the waning seconds restored the margin to one. Early in the final period, Deerfield added another and extended its lead to 6-4. This score held most of the period until Oumarbaev would mark his third and bring Choate back to within one. Despite threatening a couple off times in the final minute and a half, Choate was unable to get any closer and the game ended 5-6 in favor of Deerfield. Michael Marti ’07 had 8 saves in cage in yet another solid game. It was a good game and a fitting close to a solid season. The team improved dramatically during the past 9 weeks and many of the players will be in a position to contribute next fall. Good job, Choate!

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11/10/04 Hotchkiss @ Deerfield 1st round of the NE tournament 8-9
Choate headed into the New England tournament this fall seeded 4th. This pitted the Boars against 5th seeded Hotchkiss in the first round. The teams had met once in the regular season and the Bearcats had come out on top in an overtime contest in Lakeville on Hotchkiss’ Parents Weekend. Choate had played a sub-par game and was eager for a rematch. The Boars came out aggressively and controlled both ends of the pool but suffered from the same shooting difficulties that have plagued the team all season. Choate stopped the powerful Hotchkiss offense right out of the bag. Choate scored first with a nice goal from set by Co-captain Kevin Hawkins ’05. Hotchkiss would answer to tie the score at 1-1. The story of the period, though, was that Choate held Hotchkiss to only two shots in the period. The dominance didn’t help the Boars, though, because the team converted on only one of its nine shots. Choate would continue to control the game in the second, out shooting Hotchkiss 9-5 in that period. Unfortunately, the Boars would continue to struggle to convert. The teams worked back and forth for most of the second period. Choate finally broke the stalemate with a goal by Tyler Ibbotson-Sindelar ’05. Hotchkiss answered right back, though. John Dillon ’06 got things going on a man up to regain the lead and Ibbotson-Sindelar added another to extend it before Hotchkiss got back on the board. Choate had what they knew was a narrow 4-3 lead at the half. Coming out for the third period, Hotchkiss was able to convert a man-up early in the period to tie the game. Dillon would answer back, though, and Choate held a 1-goal lead for most of the quarter. With just over a minute remaining, Hawkins drilled an outside shot to put Choate ahead by 2. The team survived a penalty shot with 7 seconds remaining when the ball went high. That allowed Choate to hold a 2 goals lead heading into what should have been the final period. In the fourth, Choate was unable to capitalize on a man up opportunity. Coming back down the pool, Hawkins was ejected when the referee mistakenly thought that his cajoling the team was a challenge to the referee, who was wearing earplugs. Choate’s lead was narrowed to one. Minutes later, the officials who were readily finding problems with Choate’s play, ejected Co-captain David Guernsey ’05. Hotchkiss converted and tied the game with 2:49 left. Choate and Hotchkiss traded possessions, each taking a time out to set something up, but each team’s defense rose to the challenge. Regulation ended with the teams knotted at 6-6. The teams moved to two 3:00 overtime periods. Hotchkiss scored first with a nice move from the hole set. Ibbotson-Sindelar answered back to tie but Hotchkiss’ hole responded with one more and Hotchkiss had a lead at the end of the first overtime. The teams worked back and forth to little advantage for much of the period until Dillon netted for Choate with :49 left. Choate made a strong defensive stand and it looked like the game would go into sudden death. Hotchkiss go the ball back with only 3 seconds remaining and Choate thought that they had things covered. A nicely placed lob shot at the buzzer, however, found the back of Choate’s cage and Hotchkiss walked away with the win. Choate will go on Saturday to play at Williston in the portion of the tournament that determines the 5-8 standings. It was a tough win against an older larger squad from Hotchkiss. While Choate felt that they were able to control the game, the shot a dismal 22%. You can’t beat a good team shooting like that.

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11/13/04 Williston Northampton @ WNS 2nd round of the New England Tournament 15-6
After a disappointing loss in overtime to Hotchkiss on Wednesday, Choate was eager to get back in the water and try to pull things together. Having dropped the game between the 4 and 5 seeds, Choate headed to Easthampton, MA to face the #8 seeded Williston Northampton team. Williston is a crafty squad that Choate had been able to handle earlier in the season. All bets are off in the tournament games, though, so Choate was ready to go when came through the snow to face Williston in its home pool. Choate got off to a dominating start and never looked back. Both teams worked out some kinks early but at just over 2:00 into the game, John Dillon ’06 scored for Choate. Jay Li ’07 added another 38 seconds later. Tyler Ibbotson-Sindelar ’05 added a third and forced Williston to take a time out to regroup. Choate was in control, however, and played nearly flawless polo. Ibbotson-Sindelar scored again with 1:40 left. Co-captain Kevin Hawkins ’05 then added two goals of his own. Ibbotson-Sindelar converted a man-up opportunity with 20 seconds left to give Choate a 7-0 lead at the end of the first. Choate had allowed only 5 shots by Williston in the period. In the second, Choate would draw an ejection with 4:00 left and Li converted it to extend the lead to 8-0. With 2:17 left, Williston finally got on the board. Choate answered back with another goal by Hawkins to take a 9-1 lead into the halftime break. In the third, Choate saw a number of ejections that they didn’t understand, but they responded. Williston would take advantage of one of its opportunities at 4:30 remaining to make the score 9-2. Dillon answered a minute and a half later. Choate would draw an ejection 1:30 later and Dillon would convert that as well. Hawkins would score once more with 4 seconds remaining to give Choate a 12-2 lead at the end of the third. In the final period, Hawkins added another before Co-captain David Guernsey ’05 scored twice within a minute to extend the lead to 15-2. As the period wound down, Williston would add a couple of nice goals on breaks before Ibbotson-Sindelar scored Choate’s 16th of the game. Williston got one more in the final seconds to make the score 16-5. Weston Haught ’06 had a great game with 13 saves and the team showed strong defense throughout. Choate felt ready to face the next round satisfied with a strong opening performance.

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11/13/04 Deerfield @ WNS 3rd round of the New England Tournament 14-4
Deerfield’s commanding defeat of Andover set up a battle between traditional rivals on Deerfield day. The teams had met twice before in the season and Choate had won both of the hard-fought contests 10-8. In fact the second meeting had been only a week before with position in the tournament on the line and both teams had gone all out in the effort. This promised to be a contest for the ages. The teams entered the pool with each one looking to do its school proud on the day where all of the other teams were meeting on the snowy fields of Choate. From the start, the teams were working to get a read on each other. Things went back and forth but neither side gained a clear advantage. With 3:00 remaining, Co-captain Kevin Hawkins ’05 got Choate on the board. Each team killed an ejection in the period, but there wasn’t any other scoring. Despite this, Choate felt like they had the game going their way. Early in the second, Deerfield knotted the score. That would hold through the halfway mark in the period. With just over 3:00 left, Tyler Ibbotson-Sindelar ’05 scored for Choate to take back the lead. Choate would never look back. 40 seconds later John Dillon ’06 would take advantage of a man-up opportunity and Kevin Hawkins would add another with 30 seconds remaining to give the Boars a 4-1 lead. Games with Deerfield are always well contested so the Choate squad had no illusion that things were in the bag. The Boars came out aggressively in the third and took advantage of some miscues by Deerfield. Jeremiah Bolinsky ’06 demanded the respect of the Deerfield defense with a beautiful cross-cage shot when his defender felt that he could leave him. Ibbotson-Sindelar scored 20 seconds later and Spencer Haught ’06 added another 21 seconds after that to blow things open. The 7-1 lead forced Deerfield to call a time out to try to regroup. The planned play fell apart, though and Dillon added another 25 seconds after the last goal. Choate drew an ejection 30 seconds later and Jay Li ‘07 converted the man-up to keep the steak going. Hawkins would add one more to make a string of 9 unanswered goals in less than a period and a half before Deerfield would get a second goal. In the fourth period, Deerfield converted a penalty shot but Choate answered back with goals by Ibbotson-Sindelar and Co-captain David Guernsey ’05. Deerfield would add a fourth goal but Choate would again answer with two. Dillon and Ibbotson-Sindelar would finish things off in the final 1:04 to give Choate a dominating 14-4 win. Weston Haught ’06 had a dominating performance in goal with 15 saves. He was a wall! This has been a tough season in many ways for the Boars and one of the issues has been the frustration that the team has felt as the struggled to be the team that they were capable of being. Today, though, the Boars became that team. They played together as a team with the right mix of discipline, freedom and joy. It was a day that the team can be proud of. And, demolishing Deerfield on Deerfield day, well…

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