Last season, BB&N got hot at the right time.
The Knights struggled out of the gates, going 4-6-2, but Ed Bourget's squad turned it around as the season went on, going 12-4-2 and winning the Large School title as the No. 4 seed in a 1-0 victory over Dexter Southfield.
It was their second title in three years after knocking off Deerfield in 2022.
Bourget believes that the experience of pulling through highs and lows will be invaluable for upperclassmen who now have two championships to their names.
"That senior class has 11 in it, and their experience is tenfold now," Bourget said. "They also have a significant semifinal loss to St. Paul's sandwiched between those championships. ... Last year, going through that big slide through December and mid-January, then going on a run, it's a huge growth experience for them."
The Knights understand how critical starting on the right foot will be this year as they aim to replicate their success.
"I think what's on everybody's mind now is, every game means something," Bourget said. "There's no night off. I think the most important thing we will get with this team is how consistency matters."
Bourget believes the Large School title game serves as a perfect blueprint.
"I call it our perfect game," he said. "The expectation is to repeat that performance every night, regardless of the opponent."
Opportunity in net
While BB&N returns much of last year's core, there are massive shoes to fill in the crease.
The Knights graduated seniors Alexsa Caron (Dracut, Mass.) and Annabelle Najarian (Duxbury, Mass.). Caron, now a freshman at Stonehill, posted a .949 save percentage last season, earning tournament MVP.
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The workload will fall to senior Eva Mai Whyte (Natick, Mass.) and sophomore Barbara Ma (Cambridge, Mass.).
Bourget believes both goaltenders are set up for success.
"I'm fully confident in both," he said. "We're going to go with a tandem situation since we have a large schedule."
Whyte brings experience from her time behind Caron and Najarian and her success as a field hockey goaltender.
"She knows what it's like to play in big pressure games, and I'm confident in her ability," Bourget said. "She's worked hard over the years to get going, and she's done a great job in her three years here."
Ma skates with the U16 Bay State Breakers and made USA Hockey's Select 15 camp this offseason. Bourget has seen her develop with BB&N's junior varsity squad for a few years now. He believes she's a strong prospect.
"She's just been exceptional from the day she stepped on campus as a seventh-grader," he said. "I'm not concerned or worried about her at all. I've seen a lot of things she's done for our program. She's played on the middle school boys team, middle school girls team, boys JV hockey and girls. She's pretty much played every single game for every single program here."
A strong core remains
The Knights graduated just two skaters from last year's group, leading scorer Meg Britt (Arlington, Mass.), now a freshman forward at Bowdoin, and defender Cailey Larouco (Rockland, Mass.).
"It's pretty exciting to have everyone come back," Bourget said. "The awesome part is you don't have to spend time installing systems and the mundane stuff to be a successful team. You can just come in, compete, get right after it and talk about team culture right from the start and how we want to play the game from start to finish."
BB&N's strength will be its defense, starting with three Division 1 commits. There's Harvard commit Emi Biotti (Cambridge, Mass.), Providence commit Brenna O'Reilly (Burlington, Mass.) and Northeastern commit Lexi Mara (Winchester, Mass.).
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Those three pillars on the blue line give the Knights options. They'll have the chance to have one of them on the ice at any given moment, pairing them with senior Kate Rice (Cambridge, Mass.), sophomore Aislin VanVliet (Belmont, Mass.) and eighth-grader Serena Mohsen.
"The advantage we're going to have is that we'll be able to roll out six D," Bourget said. "The best part is we can pair the younger kids with one of those three, so we'll have a nice little setup that's almost a mentor-mentee relationship. Then, if it's not working, we can just go back to old reliable and go back with our horses. That's the exciting thing."
Bourget is eager to see what Mohsen can do with the opportunity.
"She's a prototypical BB&N kid and a player to watch, for sure," he said. "She's big, tall and strong, and she's going to be like an Emi Biotti type."
The Knights also bring back plenty of firepower up front. There's Brown commit Anika Singh (Lexington, Mass.), Providence commit Izzy King (Bedford, Mass.) and Williams commit Savana Littlewood (Braintree, Mass.). Singh has posted back-to-back 13-point seasons, while Littlewood was second in scoring for the Knights with 15 points (10 goals). She also scored the lone goal in the Large School championship.
Meanwhile, King improved from her sophomore season, putting up 12 points (nine assists) last winter. Bourget believes she can break out as a senior.
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"I'm fired up to see what she does," he said. "I think she's going to have a great year, personally. She got the commitment, and now I want to see her play free and clear, not worrying about anything."
A clean bill of health for Weyerhaeuser
Perhaps the biggest addition for BB&N this season will be an internal one.
Senior forward Hannah Weyerhaeuser (Cambridge, Mass.) missed nearly all of last season with a broken collarbone. The injury also held her out of the IIHF Under-18 Women's World Championship last winter.
She returned toward the end of the prep season and was a point-per-game player once coming back with six goals and nine points. She scored twice against Thayer in the Large School semifinals.
With a clean bill of health, Bourget is excited to see what Weyerhaeuser can do.
"Man, I hope she stays healthy," he said. "That kid needs to stay healthy all year long, and I think everyone will see what I've been seeing for the past five years with her. I've been waiting for her to break out. I've had the luxury to see her develop as a player, see her in practice and make progress in games, going through the national team process."
As a sophomore, Weyerhaeuser posted 24 points (12 goals) in 28 games, a massive step up from her 11-point, four-goal freshman season. The Yale commit is a major play-driver on the top line of a loaded East Coast Wizards U19 squad, which also features O'Reilly, Biotti, Littlewood and King.
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Bourget hopes that puts her in a great spot to hit the ground running once the prep season starts.
"Last year was supposed to be a coming out party, and it kind of got derailed," Bourget said. "I know she's super stoked. I can't wait to see what she's going to do."
