Loomis Chaffee burst out of the gates for the prep hockey season, winning its first seven games.
J.R. Zavisza, a former prep player at Avon Old Farms who hails from Suffield, Conn., has been at the helm for the Pelicans for since 2011. During the latter stages of his playing career, Zavisza, now 39, played 15 games for the USNTDP Under-18 Team, scoring a goal and two assists and racking up 66 minutes in penalties. He also spent time on the U.S. National Junior Team, recording three assists and 18 minutes in penalties in seven games alongside future NHLers Jordan Leopold and Adam Hall.
From there, he played three seasons for UMass-Amherst, recording four goals, four assists and 28 minutes in penalties over 57 games. While in his junior year with the Minutemen, he realized a playing career wasn't in his future, and turned to coaching. While still with UMass-Amherst, he took coaching jobs at Belchertown (Mass.) High for five years -- three as an assistant, the last two as head coach -- before returning to Avon Old Farms in 2006 to coach its Varisty B team, where he would stay for four years. In 2010, he left for Loomis, taking over the head-coaching role a year later.
