Direct pipeline from prep paying off for college clubs

Vito Bavaro was a captain at Brooks before landing at Sacred Heart. (Steve McLaughlin/Sacred Heart Athletics)

The competitive ranks of New England prep hockey draw players to this region from near and far. No matter where home is, they all come for the chance to gain exposure and chase the dream of playing at the college level.

A major advantage of playing in this neck of the woods is that there are 20 Division 1 programs within the borders of our six states among Hockey East, the ECAC and Atlantic Hockey. Big schools, small schools. New England is often called a hockey hotbed for a reason. The options for college prospects are many.

Though the region’s prep scene is ripe with talent, the majority of players don’t set foot on a college campus until they play a season or two of junior hockey. However, there are New England-based teams in all three of the aforementioned conferences that pulled players into their programs directly from the prep circuit.