The New England Hockey Journal staff selected a Coach of the Year and Player of the Year for the 2018-19 prep season.
PREP BOYS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Alex Laferriere
Kent School
Senior | Forward
Laferriere helped Kent do something it had never done before — win a NEPSAC championship. Seeded fourth in the Martin/Earl (large school) tournament, the Lions defeated No. 5 Phillips Andover (4-2), No. 1 Deerfield (7-5) and No. 7 Cushing (2-1) to claim the title, cap a terrific second half of the season and finish with a record of 17-7-3. Playing right wing on one of the region’s most explosive lines, Laferriere finished with second-most points per game among New England players. The Chatham, N.J., native is committed to Army West Point and figures to be back at Kent or skating in the USHL next winter.
PREP BOYS COACH OF THE YEAR
Brooks McQuade
Tilton School
The Rams have been a Lakes Region League program on the rise under McQuade, a New Hampshire grad whose first season was in 2015-16, and they put it all together this winter, winning the Piatelli/Simmons (small school) championship without a single Division 1-committed player on the roster. After finishing the regular season 19-8 and just missing out on a berth to the Stuart/Corkery (elite) tournament, the Rams were awarded the No. 1 seed in the Piatelli/Simmons and handily defeated No. 8 Pomfret (4-1), No. 5 St. Mark’s (4-1) and No. 7 Holderness (5-2) on their road to the title, the program’s first championship since 2002.
PREP GIRLS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Lily Farden
Noble & Greenough School
Senior | Forward
Farden (Hingham, Mass.) concluded a standout career at Nobles by leading the team to the championship game of the NEPSAC Division 1 tournament, where, as the No. 2 seed, it fell to fifth-seeded Kent, 5-2. That followed a stellar season in the Independent School League. She also skated for Team USA in the World Under-18 Women’s Championship in Obihiro, Japan, in January, recording an assist in five games as the Americans took the silver medal, after falling to Canada in overtime, 3-2, in the championship game. The 5-foot-11, right-handed shot will join the team at Harvard next season.
PREP GIRLS COACH OF THE YEAR
Shawn Rousseau
Kent School
The girls coach at Kent since the 2012-13 season, Rousseau guided the Lions to a NEPSAC championship this winter. After winning their first seven games, the Lions dropped three straight close games around the holidays, one to Tabor at the Taft tournament, then to Nobles and Loomis-Chaffee. But from there, the team lost just once in its final 13, a run capped by victories over St. Paul’s (5-0), Loomis-Chaffee (6-1) and Nobles (4-1) in the NEPSAC tournament. Rousseau, who played at Bowdoin and is assisted on the bench by his wife, Laurie, was honored by USA Today as its All-USA Girls Hockey Coach of the Year.
