After six years as the boss at Northfield Mount Hermon, Kevin Czepiel took on a new challenge in the same job at Berkshire last season.
The returns were immediate. Berkshire went 20-12-0, earning the No. 8 seed in the Large School Tournament. The Bears upset No. 1 Nobles in the first round, 8-5, before falling to eventual Large School champion Kent in Round 2.
"It was kind of unexpected," Czepiel said of last season's result. "The previous year, [Berkshire] graduated 14 kids so for us, it was not knowing what to expect, especially in my first year. Now, it's just trying to build off that culture that we were able to establish in the first year. Flipping the page, it's not getting too far ahead of ourselves. Last year is done and it's a whole new team and a whole new journey."
While the play on the ice was a bit of a surprise, the importance of hockey at Berkshire was also eye-opening to Czepiel. The team being talked about and hyped up on game days, as well as the students showing up for the games created a different level of importance for the job.
"To have a school that was that invested in hockey was special," the head coach said. "I remember talking at the end of last year about not wanting the year to end, which, as most prep school coaches will tell you, is not always the case."
This season will present different challenges. Chief among them: Continuing last year's progress.
A good group of returning scorers
While Antoine Gauthier, the leading scorer from last season, is gone, Berkshire has a variety of legitimate scoring threats coming back.
It starts with Duncan Thompson, who led the team with 25 goals last season. He has interest from Division 1 schools ahead of his senior year.
"He's special," Czepiel said. "I think he definitely was our most complete player last year. The straw that stirred that line."
Along with Thompson is his linemate from last season in Evan Regan, who notched 17 goals and 40 points in 32 games. The '06 from Acton, Mass., transferred to Berkshire from Austin Prep before last season.
"I'm excited to have those two guys back," Czepiel said.
Along with Thompson and Regan, Berkshire will have Deven Hikspoors as a senior. The McKinney, Texas, native had 10 goals and 22 points in 32 games last season.
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Berkshire also benefits from having two '07s who project to have an impact. Matt Lacombe, who is now a junior, posted eight goals and 23 points in 32 games last season. The Bears will also have sophomore Jonah Rainisch, who ranked top five in goals (11) last season.
"I'm expecting them to take an even bigger jump," Czepiel said.
James McMurray, another '07, transferred in and should make an impact up front. The 5-foot-7, 148-pound forward had 15 goals and 47 points in 34 games for the Peterborough Petes U18 team last season, along with playing a handful of games for the Lindsay Muskies in the OJHL.
A new group on defense
The Bears lost a fair amount of talent from last season. Jack Turowsky put up 30 points from the blue line and graduated. Nico Pasquale and Will Matthews graduated along with him. Conrado Calderini, an '06 and a Quinnipiac commit, left Berkshire a year early to pursue junior opportunities.
That's four pillars of a defense that ranked just outside the top 20 last season in goals against.
"We're kind of a completely new group," Czepiel said of the defensemen.
The returning cast isn't big, but it starts with Josh Williams (Boxford, Mass.), who put up five goals and 17 points last season. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound defenseman is playing for the Holy Name Bears 18U team along with many of his other Berkshire teammates.
The team also brings back Gus Chong. An '07 junior, he tallied five assists last season.
"He's going to take a bigger jump this year as one of the elder statesmen back there," Czepiel said of Chong.
But the big story on defense is the five newbies Czepiel has coming in. Two of them are '07s. The first is Harrison McLean, who is 5-foot-9 and 161 pounds from Toronto. He played for Ridley College last season, posting 23 points in 58 games.
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Then there's Dominic Somma, who will add some size. At 6-foot-2 and 194 pounds, Somma enters Berkshire after spending the last three seasons with Mount St. Charles. Last season, he tallied five goals and 29 points for the 16U team.
Czepiel brought in some key '08s too. It starts with Lucas Smith, who was with Nichols School last season. At 6-foot-1 and 172 pounds, Smith had three goals and 47 points in 52 games for Nichols' 16U team.
Berkshire got James Reilly, who was with Bishop Kearney Selects' 15U team last season, notching 14 points in 58 games. Reilly stands at 5-foot-11 and 176 pounds. The Bears also added Zennon Turnovitski. He's a late '08 from Kelowna, British Columbia who played for Yale Hockey Academy last season, posting 20 points in 20 games.
One returner in net, one new guy
Last season, Berkshire went back and forth between goalies Kyle Bolduc, then a junior, and Tommy Adams, then a senior. Bolduc followed Czepiel from Northfield Mount Hermon to Berkshire last season.
Bolduc got the most time between them, earning the starts against Nobles and Kent in the postseason. He finished with a 2.48 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage.
"I've had a couple years in prep where I had one guy that played almost 100 percent of the games," Czepiel said. "So splitting 50/50 was new for me last year. That was the first year I ever did that."
With Adams gone, Bolduc is the experienced goalie returning. But Czepiel may go back to that plan after bringing in '06 goalie Damon Mos from the Nashville Jr. Predators. Mos posted a 3.41 GAA and an .899 save percentage last season.
"With Kyle, the skill has always been there," Czepiel said. "It's just making sure there's that consistency that we want game in and game out."
It can be difficult for upperclassmen goalies in prep who must still battle for the net. The most important stat for goalies is games played, according to BU goalie guru Brian Daccord.
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But Czepiel believes that earning the net will be what helps Bolduc get the most attention.
"If we could add a little competition in the net, we were up front with Kyle and he embraces it," Czepiel said. "He knows if he wants to go on and play in college, he has to win these battles whether it's here or juniors or in college so it's just going to be part of his career for the next 10 years."
