RAYNHAM – The more things change, the more they stay the same.

At least that is how one may have felt reviewing the results of the Varsity Skills Challenge and All-Star Game at the 2015 New England Future Stars All-Star Weekend. One event saw a perennial contender emerge victorious yet again as the Natick Chill claimed Skills Challenge gold, while the other saw a weekend-long losing streak come to an end as the White All-Stars earned a 5-4, shootout win.

Becoming nearly as much of a tradition as the event itself, for the third straight season members of the Chill captured the top spot in the Varsity Skills Challenge. Kurt Borgman, the only returning member from last season’s Skills Challenge team, was joined atop the podium this summer by Robby Pini and brothers Dillon and Al Arno, all of whom combined to produce the second highest score by a team in a Skills Challenge on All-Star Weekend with seven points.

After placing third in the opening Team Relay event, the Chill foursome powered their way to victory with back-to-back wins in the remaining two events, the Agility Race and Target Shooting.

With a win in the Team Relay and third place finish in the Target Shooting, a Marlboro Thunder-Boston Brahmas co-op took second overall in the Skills Challenge, while the hometown Raynham Raiders placed third with a score of three points.

While the Varsity Skills Challenge saw a familiar face in the Winner’s Circle, it was an unfamiliar face that broke through in the All-Star Game. Following losses at the Squirt, Peewee, Bantam, Girls U14 and Girls Varsity levels, the White All-Stars finally broke through with a win in their final opportunity to do so.

It was not, however, a victory that came easily for White.

When a goal by Thunder forward Nik Pagano put them down 1-0 less than 30-seconds into the contest, the foundation of yet another White loss had been laid. Yet, with a lot of hockey still left to be played, White rallied and eventually took a 2-1 lead on goals by Southeastern Grizzlies teammates Scott Shorrock and Justin Couture. Couture first setting up Shorrock to make it 1-1, and then Shorrock returning the favor just past the 16-minute mark of the half.

Just when things were looking up, Black returned a favor as well with a two-goal swing of their own to get back in front. A rebound goal by Dillon Arno first drew the game back to even, before a favorable bounce on a goal credited to Eric Perry of the Raiders with just 30-seconds remaining before the half put Black up 3-2 and White 25-minutes from another defeat.

While they fell further behind in the second half, John Gareri of the Norfolk County Hawks scoring with just under nine minutes remaining to make it 4-2, as had been the theme all game, White had one more two-goal swing left in them. Brahmas teammates Egor Borshchev, Steve Giardina and Andrew Miller uniting to set the stage for a dramatic finish.

Giardina was up first, scoring just beyond the 18-minute mark to cut the White deficit to 4-3. Then, as Black had done to them in the first half, White delivered a dagger with just about 30-seconds to play in regulation, Borshchev putting one away to tie the game at 4-4 and force a shootout.

Six shooters in total made attempts during the shootout, but only the very first one to go managed to score, the Grizzlies Couture putting up a backhand that served as the game-winner. The White All-Stars posting a 5-4 win.

For his late game theatrics, Borshchev laid claim to First Star of the Game honors, while Dillon Arno captured his second award of the day as the Second Star of the Game. With a goal and an assist to his credit, Shorrock was named Third Star of the Game.