Boys prep hockey: 8 early storylines to watch in 2023-24

The 2022-23 New England boys prep hockey season was one with a plethora of intriguing storylines.

Avon Old Farms and Cushing, the league’s top two teams, met in the Elite 8 final, with the Winged Beavers edging out a victory for the championship.

Taft snuck past Salisbury in the Large School tournament final, and Lawrence Academy went on a run to win the Small School tournament, capping it off with a thrilling win over Frederick Gunn.

It's early and the fall season hasn't even happened yet, but here are eight storylines to watch as puck drop sits just over three months from now.

1. Who will the best team be?

There was a clear top four teams in 2022-23: Cushing, Avon Old Farms, Milton Academy and Nobles. All four were dominant throughout the regular season and earned the top four spots in the Elite 8 tournament.

All four will enter this winter looking a lot different. Cushing will be without top forwards Landan Resendes (Marlboro, Mass.) and Ethan Gardula (Princeton, Mass.), defenders Ryan Philbrick (Concord, N.H.) and Zach Rizzo, and goalie Cooper Rautenstrauch. Avon Old Farms graduated its top forward line of Joe Connor (Amherst, N.H.), Charlie Gollob and Joe Odyniec (Ridgefield, Conn.), as well as netminder Stephen Peck.

Milton graduated its top four point-getters, including forwards Jacob Pohl, Mikka Kelechian and Brendan Maher, and defenseman Mason Chen. Nobles’ big loss will be Thatcher Bernstein (Brookline, Mass.) in net; he will play in the USHL this season.

Both Cushing and Avon Old Farms boast strong recruiting classes in 2023-24. Milton still has star netminder Sam Caulfield (Needham, Mass.) and top defenseman Dylan Hunt (Marlboro, Mass.).

The big team to watch is Nobles. Forwards Dennis Davidson (Newton, Mass.), Ted MacAusland (Westwood, Mass.) and Ethan Cox (Westboro, Mass.) will all be juniors next season. They played huge roles for Nobles in 2022-23 and are projected to make an even bigger impact this winter.

Kimball Union is always in the mix and will be again this season. Head coach Tim Whitehead has Jack Sadowski (Arlington, Mass.) leading the way up front with a strong core of Andrew O’Sullivan, Jack McMinn and Ian Ramsay on defense.

Another interesting team to watch is Brunswick.

2. Who will be the best player?

If the USHL and the U.S. National Team Development Program didn’t exist, the answer here would be Resendes or St. Mark’s Richard Gallant (Concord, Mass.). But Resendes will head to the USHL’s Cedar Rapids RoughRiders for the winter, while Gallant made the national program.

Drew DellaSalla will begin the season with the USHL's Youngstown Phantoms or else he would be a candidate to be the best player.

Without a doubt, St. Sebastian's Teddy Mutryn will certainly be one of the top players in prep. The Norwell, Mass., native was an NTDP camp invite but didn’t make the team. He was selected 22nd overall by the Chicago Steel in the USHL Futures Draft and recently announced his commitment to Boston College.

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New Hampton’s Cam Caron (Dracut, Mass.) made a massive impact in his freshman year, posting 47 points in 34 games. The 6-foot-3, 180-pound forward will be expected to take a step forward.

For forwards, Sadowski and Frederick Gunn’s Alex LoGuercio (Monroe, Conn.) will be top producers.

On defense, O’Sullivan, Hunt, Cushing’s Tyler Russo (Hamilton, Mass.), Holderness’ Caeden Herrington (Manchester, Vt.), St. Mark’s Calvin Beard (Southboro, Mass.) and St. George's Everett Baldwin (Rumford, R.I.) look to be the best.

3. New boys coaches in new places

There weren’t a ton of new head coaching openings this season. One of the big ones was Paul Cannata (Milton, Mass.) retiring from Milton Academy, with Jim Gaudet (Etna, N.H.) slated to take his place.

At Berkshire, Kevin Czepiel (Holyoke, Mass.) enters his first season after taking over for Dan Driscoll, who will continue to be the athletic director at the school. Czepiel left the Northfield Mount Hermon coaching job. Replacing Czepiel at NMH will be Jake Bennett, who spent the last six seasons as an associate head hockey coach for Kent.

Elsewhere, Mike Busconi (Watertown, Mass.) takes over at Winchendon for Jaymie Harrington (West Boylston, Mass.) and Allie Skelley (Wolfeboro, N.H.) left Portsmouth Abbey to take the St. George’s head coaching job. Taking over for Skelley at Portsmouth Abbey will be Zachery Cappelli (East Providence, R.I.).

4. How will Cushing’s boys perform after losing big pieces from last year’s team?

As stated earlier, Resendes, Gardula, Philbrick, Rizzo and Rautenstrauch have moved on. Four of the five graduated as seniors, while Resendes left the Penguins a year early to pursue life in the USHL. All five were key cogs in getting head coach Paul Pearl’s team to the Elite 8 championship game in March.

If there’s anything Pearl (Winthrop, Mass.) is good at, however, it’s drawing in more elite talent, and the longtime Division 1 college hockey coach did that again this offseason.

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For starters, Cushing welcomes Bronson and Tanner Hunt, who are both ’05 forwards. The brothers played for Northstar Christian Academy’s 18-U team in 2022-23. Forward Luke Goukler will come by way of the Nashville Junior Predators. The ’06 is a Merrimack commit. Josh Iby (Springfield, Mass.), fresh off winning an MIAA Division 1 title with Pope Francis, will join the Penguins. Kole Hyles is another impact player going to Cushing. The ’06 comes from Seacoast Performance Academy and recently committed to UNH.

Ryland Randle, an ’06 from Dallas Stars Elite 16-U, will join the blue line. So will Alexis Boily, an ’06 from the Saint-Eustache Vikings, and Danny Pasqua, an ’05 out of Minnetonka High School.

In net, Pearl brought in Marko Bilic, an ’06 from Toronto who played last season with Ridley College.

5. Goalie of the year candidates 

It’s common for the best goalies in prep to be seniors or postgrads, so many of the top netminders from the 2022-23 season have moved on. 

Who’s up next? 

Caulfield is a strong choice. His save percentage of .948 was tied for first in the region in his first season as a starter at Milton. He raised his value even more by playing in Amherst, N.Y., at USA Hockey’s Select 17 Camp. So did St. George’s Ryder Shea (Framingham, Mass.), who is another goalie of the year candidate. Shea is committed to the University of Maine. 

As a freshman ’07 last winter, JJ Thibodeau (Waltham, Mass.) held strong for Belmont Hill. Keagin Wilson (Hingham, Mass.), an ’06, saw lots of time down the stretch for the Sextants. Both are due for a step forward in 2023-24. 

Groton’s Ethan Ramonetti, St. Sebastian’s Pelle Russo (West Newton, Mass.) and Northfield Mount Hermon’s Tommy Adams (Fairfield, Conn.) are early candidates to be goalie of the year, too.

6. Prospects for the 2024 NHL Draft

The 2023 NHL draft was a down one for players being picked straight from prep hockey. While 2024 doesn’t have a top draft prospect, there are many who will fight for the attention of NHL scouts. 

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O’Sullivan was Kimball Union’s leader on defense in 2022-23, posting five goals and 26 points in 34 games. If his next step is a sizable one, he should hear his name called at the draft. The same goes for Hunt, who isn’t a huge point-getter, but for teams who appreciate a reliable, steady defenseman, he’s a candidate to be selected.

Herrington, a University of Vermont commit, has the tools and frame to be a contender for the 2024 draft. He’s dynamic offensively, so expect the numbers to be there at season’s end. The big thing for him will be rounding out his play in his own zone. 

Forwards who will contend for being picked are Sadowski, Westminster’s Blake Burke (Trumbull, Conn.) and St. George’s Ryan Staples (Middletown, R.I.). 

7. Who will be the best newcomer?

For this section, I’ll focus mainly on younger players jumping in who could have a big impact this winter. 

Spencer Thornborough (Boxford, Mass.), an ’08 forward, showed well at the Mass. Hockey Festival and should be important for Governor’s Academy this winter. Dexter Southfield has three newcomers who could make an impact: forwards Tyler Hamilton (Framingham, Mass.), Joe Marchi (Foxboro, Mass.) and Noah Survilas (Winthrop, Mass.), and defenseman Thomas Broderick (Norwood, Mass.). 

Avon Old Farms brought in former St. Mary’s goalie Anthony Palmer (Winthrop, Mass.). The ’07 has a chance to command the net for the defending Elite 8 champs. 

Belmont Hill has forward David Bosco (Winchester, Mass.) and defenseman Brady Sloper (North Andover, Mass.) looking to make the big club.

8. Surprise teams

The big candidate for going from the middle of the pack to the top of the heap is St. George’s. The program has the personnel to do it, along with Skelley, the new bench boss. 

The Dragons already have Shea in net, plus Everett Baldwin in front of him. Along with Baldwin, St. George’s will have Marco Senerichia (Greenville, R.I.) and Nathan Walsh (Mendon, Mass.) on defense. 

Staples has been brought in up front to play with Colin Walsh (East Greenwich, R.I.), Tate Pecknold (Fairfield, Conn.), Danny Buckley (Warwick, R.I.) and Max Donatelli (Barrington, R.I.). 

Another team to watch is Groton with Ramonetti in net. 

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