Brian Phinney’s first season at the helm for Belmont Hill was an overwhelming success.
The Sextants went 21-3-3, cementing themselves as the best team in the ISL Keller division. That record earned them the No. 3 seed in the Elite 8 tournament. Their outstanding play continued through the tournament, earning them a spot in the finals against powerhouse Salisbury. They lost, but that didn’t take away from how good of a season it was for Belmont Hill.
“It was a lot of fun,” Phinney (Ripton, Vt.) said.
At the heart of Belmont Hill’s scoring was then-junior James Fisher (Burlington, Mass.) and then-freshman Teddy Stiga (Sudbury, Mass.). Fisher posted a team-high 17 goals and Stiga notched 21 points in 23 games — both ranked No. 2 and 3, respectively, on the team in scoring.
Both departed in the offseason. Fisher plays for the Youngstown Phantoms of the USHL, while Stiga is part of the U17 NTDP team.
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Last season’s stud goalie Sam Scopa (Lexington, Mass.) followed Fisher and Stiga out the door as well. The Quinnipiac commit is currently in net for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders of the USHL.
Along with those three stars, Belmont Hill graduated 10 seniors who had helped Phinney adjust to his first year as head coach of the Sextants.
Phinney will have the job of figuring out how to replace all those key cogs lost from last year’s teams.
It’s a job he’s excited about.
Establishing a strong group of seniors
Belmont Hill didn’t lose everybody.
Returning is right wing Ronan O’Donnell (Fairfield, Conn.), the leading scorer last season when he posted 12 goals and 32 points in 24 games. The ‘04 committed to Yale in January. He’s one of the captains.
Playing on the left side of O’Donnell’s line this past weekend in the Belmont Hill Jamboree was fellow senior and captain Danny Markham (Winchester, Mass.). The ‘04 had two goals and nine points last season.
Patrolling the middle of those two is Brock Cummings. The ‘05 had five goals and 13 points last season and projects to put up even more this winter. Phinney expects the line of Markham, Cummings and O’Donnell to stick together heading into the first regular season game.
On defense, there’s Matt Biotti (Cambridge, Mass.), who’s committed to Harvard and one of the team’s best players. He notched five goals and 18 points last season in 26 games. There’s also Josh Doolan (Southborough, Mass.), whom Phinney leans on for tough minutes.
“You start to look at all the seniors, there’s a good group there,” Phinney said. “Good kids, work really hard. I think those guys will jump out based on what they’ve done in the past.”
Phinney was fortunate to have nine seniors in his first year at the helm. He was also fortunate to have nine juniors on the roster, making it a veteran-laden team.
“I think to some extent, you want to get to the point where the coach can kind of fade away,” Phinney said. “You need good seniors to be able to do that. I’m excited for these guys and you have such a strong group last year, now it’s their turn, and as much as you want to try and control things as a coach, it’s an organic process so we get to see how these guys make it their own experience and help bring these younger guys along.”
Much of this team’s success will come from how those younger players produce.
Players in bigger roles for the first time
Jake McManus (Winthrop, Mass.) is Exhibit A.
This past weekend, McManus lit the lamp a whopping six (yes, six) times against Proctor in an 8-1 win.
“He’s somebody who’s going to have an opportunity to really make an impact this year,” Phinney said.
Another one is newcomer Lenny Greenberg, who came from Bishop Kearney Selects. The El Segundo, Calif., native played two games for the Sioux Falls Stampede of the USHL last season and is slated to be a huge addition to Belmont Hill’s defensive group.
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In terms of college hockey prospects, Greenberg is near the top of the heap at Belmont Hill.
“I know that he has certainly had a fair amount of interest from schools,” Phinny said. “I think that’s somebody who in the hockey world, you should start to hear a little bit more about.”
They’re not newcomers like Greenberg, but junior Stephen Kilcoyne (Belmont, Mass.) and sophomore Lindan Verville (Needham, Mass.) will be expected to step up quite a bit on the backend.
“The trick is for them, how do you manage new opportunities but still stay true to who you are and your game?” Phinney said.
Phinney also places a high premium on tryouts to fill in depth on the roster. With the team losing so much last offseason, many players got a chance to make the squad for the first time.
The players who made the team in tryouts are forwards Mikey Sullivan, Andrew Waugh, Jake Tavares and Marco Beshere. On defense, there’s Grayson Cohen, Patrick Woods, Evan Dresser, Jack Duffy and Greenberg.
In net is where one of this team’s greatest x-factors will lie after losing Scopa. Keagin Wilson (Hingham, Mass.), an ‘06 from Hingham High, will be one of the goalies. JJ Thibodeau, an ‘07, looks to be the other. Both made the team at tryouts.
