On Saturday, the 14th of February, the Kent hockey rink saw its most colorful games of the year, with Kent boys varsity won 3-2 against Trinity-Pawling in overtime.

It was the annual Valentine’s Day “Pink the Rink” game, a fundraiser for Breast Cancer Awareness. The players wore pink jerseys that will be auctioned off throughout the week, all of the money going to cancer research.

While the first period was uneventful, scoring-wise, the boys played with aggression and strategy. The goalie Peter Negron ’17, had many successful blocks, some of which were very close calls, needing a referee’s review.

In the second period, the game heated up. Trinity Pawling offenseman Dan Harrington scored the first goal of the game 11 minutes in. Just two minutes after the TP goal, the Kent boys fought hard and finally Will Robertson ’17 slipped past the defense to put Kent on the board.

During the third period, Josh Hardiman ’15 proudly shot one into the net, raising the score for the Lions, 2-1. But, minutes after that, TP redeemed themselves when they tied up the score, 2-2.

With the game coming to an end, the Lions battled hard, putting all their energy and focus into the win. They kept the score tied and the game went into a five-minute overtime.

Just when everyone thought that the game would end on a tie, Greg Krisberg ’16 shot from afar and scored with only 7.9 seconds left in OT.

Defenseman Carter Dwyer ’16 says that “the energy was amazing. Everyone was on their feet and making noise, and we felt like a community.”

That the exciting game was for such a good cause only made the win all the sweeter. Ashley Ulis ’18 says that she was “touched that the boys would support breast cancer. I had an aunt with breast cancer and it means a lot to me.”

With some tough games ahead – against Hotchkiss, Salisbury, Deerfield, and Choate – the boys will have to keep up the intensity to improve on their current 9-9-2 record.