The 2018-19 USPHL NCDC season kicks off Friday in what will likely be another year of the haves and have nots.
The Middlesex Islanders Hockey Club, two-time defending champions, will once again be one of the top teams in the league. Nipping at their heels will be the Jersey Hitmen, winners of the Dineen Cup in 2015 and 2016, and the Boston Junior Bruins, victors in 2014.
The USPHL NCDC formed prior to the 2016-17 season to give players in the Northeast a chance to play “tuition-free” junior hockey. In theory, it was a good idea that would give local kids a chance to play close to home without paying close to $10,000 like they had to in the past with the USPHL Premier and EJHL.
Even with a draft, the league has been unable to create a tuition-free landscape with any semblance of parity. Along with the South Shore Kings, the Islanders Hockey Club, Junior Bruins and Jersey Hitmen continue to dominate the lower half of the league.
1. Jersey Hitmen
The Jersey Hitmen have a deep and talented roster with seven Division 1 commits. Toby Harris’ crew will be gunning to dethrone the Islanders and take the Dineen Cup back to the Garden State.
Up front, ’00 Connor Tait (Quinnipiac), ’99 Greg Koutsomitis (Dartmouth), ’00 Michael Kane (Holy Cross), ’00 Zach Rehbaum (Brown) and ’00 Mickey Burns (Vermont) lead the way. Two uncommitted players to keep an eye out for are ’00 Brayden Patricia and ’99 Jericho Petkovich, who starred recently at Canterbury.
On defense, ’00s John Campomenosi (Quinnipiac) and Jonathan Morrison (Air Force) should carry most of the weight. The committed duo has some veterans around them to provide stability on the blue line.
Jersey's goaltender, '99 Ryan McInchak', is arguably the top prospect in the league at his position.
2. Junior Bruins
This could be the year the Junior Bruins take back control of the Northern Division in the USPHL NCDC. Mike Anderson’s team returns quite a few weapons and brought in some key newcomers.
The Junior Bruins have 10 players who are committed, or once were, to a Division 1 school. The headliner is Northeastern commit Robbie Griffin, a two-way ’01 forward who recovers pucks and makes plays.
’00 Shea Courtmanche (Dartmouth), ’99 Nik Allain (UConn), ’99 Zach Pellegrino (Bentley), ’99 Riley Prattson (Providence), ’99 Matt Allen (Providence), and ’99 Jonny Mulera (Providence) are also key players offensively.
Two ’99 forwards who’ve worked their way up the system with the Junior Bruins are Anthony Sciucco and Ryan Lovett. Both bring a nice offensive element to the team. ’99s Jack Studley and Tim Kent are former prep players who should log minutes and carve out roles.
’99 Cam Boudreau (Quinnipiac), ’01 Mike Brown (Merrimack) and ’99 Sean Keohan (Dartmouth) lead the way on the blue line. ’00 Jacob King comes to the Junior Bruins after starring at Pope Francis and ’99 Blake Colman brings size after graduating from St. Sebastian’s.
’00 Yaniv Perets is a solid import goaltender from Canada, and ’98 Bryan McGrath will be steady between the pipes after playing at Roxbury Latin and Salisbury.
3. Islanders HC
Sean Tremblay’s team was ravaged with offseason departures, whether it be players aging out of junior or going to college. However, the cupboard is far from bare, and the organization brought in a ton of imports. Tremblay always does a good job of getting out to events, including USA Hockey National Camps, to scout players.
Just six players on the team’s initial roster hail from New England. One of those is ’98 defenseman Jack Moran, a Maine commit, who will log big minutes on the blue line.
’00 Hunter McCoy has always shown potential, going back to his days at Phillips Exeter. ’98 Bobby Murray was a standout prep player at Phillips Exeter, as was ’98 Evan Daddario at Belmont Hill.
Keep an eye out for ’00 Will Winship who is forgoing his senior year at Central Catholic to play junior hockey. He’s a big-bodied winger with potential if he can piece it all together.
If the imports and other players from far and wide work out, the Islanders could three-peat. However, it’s looking like 2018-19 won’t be as easy as 2017-18.
4. South Shore Kings
John Gurskis’ team also has some significant turnover, but assistant coach Tyler Holske did a good job of bringing in players from outside the region to keep the Kings in contention.
’00 Cole Hudson will serve as first-string goaltender after playing at Gilmour Academy in Ohio. He fills the void left by Tyriq Outen, who went up to the QMJHL.
’98 Sebastian Janda, from the Czech Republic, will be the team’s top defenseman. ’99 Ryan Donnelly (Swampscott, Mass.), ’99 Connor Lind (Marlboro, Mass.) and ’00 Ryan Leonard (Duxbury, Mass.) are the team’s local blue liners.
Middletown, R.I., native Sam Milnes, a ’99, is a key newcomer up front after captaining Williston Northampton last season. Other top forwards include ’99 Alexander Schemel, who played for Belarus at the World Juniors, and ’98 Daniel Dlabaja, who comes over after playing in Czech Republic.
5. Boston Bandits
’01 forward Zach Jones (UNH) and ’00 forward Jack Brackett (RPI) are the team’s only committed players. Other players up front to watch are ’00 Artjoms Koppass and ’00 Jared Thomas.
On defense, ’00 Linden Alger is a sleeper as far as a future collegiate prospect, due to his size and range. He should find his way onto a Division 1 roster as an older freshman in a few seasons.
6. Connecticut Jr. Rangers
The Rangers will be without forward John DeRoche, one of the best players in the league a year ago, as he’s now a freshman at Vermont. A couple of ‘98s should lead the way up front. Former Brunswick standout Colin Slyne and former Old Rochester/Fairhaven star Noah Strawn are the top offensive threats from the region.
7. New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs
’01 center Aidan Curran (UNH) is the team’s only committed player. A few other forwards are familiar names for those who’ve followed high school and prep hockey over the years. ’99 Robbie Ferreira was a key player at Central Catholic and Vermont Academy, while ’99 Trent DeNuccio laced up the skates for Loomis Chaffee.
’99 defenseman Cam Speck played at Exeter last season and should be an Atlantic Hockey player or a good NESCAC recruit after this season.
In net, former Princeton commit ’00 Doug Connor will battle ’99 Brian Cannata, the younger brother of former Merrimack star Joe Cannata, for playing time.
8. New Jersey Rockets
Trinity-Pawling alum Jason Franzone did a good job recruiting talent for the Rockets. The organization has a philosophy of trying to build from within and win with younger players instead of stacking the board with older guys.
The top player on this year’s team is ’02 goaltender Tucker Tynan, who has signed to play in the OHL.
9. Northern Cyclones
Frank O’Connor always does a good job of scouring the continent and beyond for talent that might have fallen through the cracks elsewhere. The Cyclones have some sleepers in ’02 forward Pavel Karaoke and ’01 defenseman Eric Hurrell.
Army commit Josh Chapman, a ’98, is the team’s sole committed player. ’99 Christian Thomas was formerly committed to Vermont.
10. PAL Islanders
New Brown commit, ’01 goaltender Jacob Zacharewicz, is the team’s top prospect. ’00 goaltender Matt Lane is a Nobles alum.
11. Rochester Monarchs
Albany Academy alum, ’99 Liam Bove, is a name familiar to those who have followed prep hockey over the past couple of seasons. Another forward, ’99 Kyle Valiquette, played at Northfield Mount Hermon.
12. Syracuse Stars
’00 defenseman Haralds Jirgens played at Hill Academy in Ontario and has played internationally for his native Latvia. ’98 Matthieu Gervais is a former player at Canterbury who played in the NCDC with the CT Jr. Rangers last season.
