Flibotte Coming Into His Own in Net for Tanners

Jeremy Flibotte has short-term memory loss. If the puck goes in the net, he doesn’t remember it for long.

The Woburn High School junior is the goalie for the Tanners hockey team, which is coming together late in the season and hoping to make a run in the Division 1 tournament.

Flibotte’s talents were on full display on Wednesday in Reading. Though he allowed three goals after Woburn pounced to a 3-0 edge, he bounced back and stood tall as the high-powered Rockets peppered him with third period shots. His efforts between the pipes helped preserve a 3-3 tie.

“You have to shake it off and pretend it’s 0-0 going into every period,” said Flibotte. “Just shake it off as quick as possible, and save the next one.”

The junior has suffered a few blowout losses this year, but he’s also notched four shutouts on the campaign. As the Tanners have gone 4-1-1 in their last six games, Flibotte has let in just nine goals and has two shutouts.

Last season Flibotte started in net for the first time as a sophomore, and led the Tanners to a first round shut out before the locals fell in the quarterfinal round.

“The experience he got from last year is huge,” said head coach Jim Duran. “We had no expectations for him because he was only a sophomore. He played all the games except maybe one, and this year he’s played some big games when we really needed him.”

According to Flibotte, the Tanners are embracing their role as underdogs this year, hoping to surprise some teams in the Division 1 postseason.

“The last two years we had a really solid team that helped me build my confidence a little bit,” said Flibotte. “Even though we’re a young team, we’re doing good. People think we’re not supposed to even make the tournament, we shouldn’t be a good team. But we’re proving them different.”