Not many graduating classes can stack up with the one that skated off the ice in the Independent School League last season.
One first-round draft pick (Jay O’Brien of Thayer). Six NEPSAC All-Stars (O’Brien, Aiden McDonough and Jayson Dobay of Thayer, Neil Shea of Lawrence, and Teddy Wooding and Aidan Porter of Rivers). Dozens of players who went on to Division 1 college programs.
But don’t sleep on what’s back this year, as the next generation of top players leads us into what promises to be another exciting season, as teams chase league supremacy and New England accolades.
A loaded St. Sebastian’s team is the one that bears watching. The Arrows take the ice with eight Division 1-committed players among their four classes, a collection of talent that bodes well for this season and the future.
Senior forwards Liam Gorman (Northeastern) and Tommy Lyons (Harvard), senior defenseman James Davenport (Brown), junior forwards Liam Connors (Boston University) and Liam Devlin (New Hampshire), junior defenseman Jayden Struble (Northeastern) and freshman forwards Tim Delay (Boston College) and Jack Hughes (Northeastern) make the Arrows the team to beat at the outset.
The 6-foot-3, 195-pound Gorman, selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the sixth round of the NHL draft in June, has developed from a big, raw player to someone whose tools make him impossible to miss; he averaged better than a point per game last season (17-16-33).
“Liam has very good size and strength,” St. Seb’s coach Sean McCann told New England Hockey Journal. “He’s competitive and has no hesitation to be in tough areas. He has a great stick, a scoring touch and a nose for the net.”
Count Lawrence as a prime challenger in the Keller Division. The optimism for the defending Piatelli/Simmons (small schools) champion starts with junior Sam Colangelo, who put up 13-29-42 numbers last year as Lawrence won the small school title, and impressed during the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, scoring twice in five games.
“Sam has speed and high-end scoring instincts, and he can create opportunities with ease,” said Lawrence coach Robbie Barker (Concord, N.H.). “He is a two-way player that can play in all situations. Watching him progress over last two seasons at Lawrence, then seeing how he performed at this summer’s Hlinka tournament, shows me that he’s only getting better.”
The 6-foot-1, 200-pound winger will head to Northeastern down the road but is determined to help Lawrence earn more hardware this winter, something that seems well within the realm of possibility with players like Riley Duran (Providence), David Sacco (New Hampshire) and Tyler Young joining him up front, and Braden Doyle (Boston University) manning the blue line.
“Winning that championship was amazing and something I’ll never forget. It’s the reason I want to stay and play in prep school,” Colangelo told hockeyjournal.com.
No team in the ISL contributed to last year’s senior star power more than Thayer, but that doesn’t mean the cupboard is empty for coach Tony Amonte (Hingham, Mass.). Senior forward Christian Hayes was identified as a budding star by several league coaches and 6-foot-1 junior goalie Gavin Fitzpatrick is a big asset in net.
Casey Severo of Nobles was a point-a-game guy last year for Nobles and should shine for a team that needs to replenish a lot of its scoring if it wants to contend in the Keller.
After winning just two games last winter, Governor’s is starting a sizable rebuild under new coach Brian McGuirk (Danvers, Mass.), the former Boston University standout and AHL player. The centerpiece of that is sophomore forward Owen Fowler, a recent UMass Lowell commit who joins the program after playing at Central Catholic.
“I am a 200-foot, physical player and (UMass Lowell) will suit my style very well,” Fowler told hockeyjournal.com.
In the Eberhart Division, Rivers has established itself as one of New England’s top programs under Shawn McEachern (Waltham, Mass.). Over the past four seasons, the program has reached a Stuart/Corkery final and semifinal, plus a Piatelli/Simmons final and semi.
Wooding and Porter have moved on to Yale and the BCHL, respectively, but junior Cade Webber (Boston University) is a star in the making, and fellow defensemen Tony Andreozzi (Brown) and Pat Lawn (Bentley) make this blue line as formidable as anyone’s.
“Rivers will be the team to beat until someone actually does it,” said St. Mark’s coach Carl Corazzini (Framingham, Mass.).
The Moore brothers — senior Nolan and sophomore Ian — are two reasons St. Mark’s should be back in the Eberhart mix. The elder Moore collected 25 assists last season while Ian is regarded as one of the top 2002 birth years with a wicked shot. Tucker Hartmann also is coming off a 25-assist season on the blue line.
His size may undermine his status as a top D-1 prospect, but figure on Middlesex goalie Joe Stanizzi to turn heads with his shot-stopping ability. Facing all kinds of talented opponents, he finished with a .938 save percentage last year to help the Zebras win 10 games.
Stars step away. Stars step forward. Make no mistake, the ISL galaxy should again shine bright this winter.
