With Thanksgiving approaching, exhibition games are in full swing for teams in the New England Prep School Ice Hockey Association.
This past weekend represented a nice opportunity for scouts and college coaches to get a glimpse at the 2018-19 editions of several area prep school teams as well as a few teams from outside the region that made the trek north.
New England Hockey Journal was on hand to watch Pomfret at Rivers and Hill at Nobles on Saturday before catching Delbarton at Dexter and Hill at Belmont Hill on Sunday.
Exhibition games will continue Tuesday and Friday leading up to several jamborees over the weekend. New England Hockey Journal will be covering the Belmont Hill Jamboree on Saturday, the St. Paul’s Jamboree on Sunday, and the Berkshire Jamboree and Hotchkiss Jamboree on Monday.
Pomfret at Rivers
The Griffins came into MacDowell Ice Arena and walked away with a 4-1 win thanks in large part to the stellar play of senior goaltender Peyton Durand. The ’00 from Newport, R.I., is on the smaller side, but he’s athletic and has quick reflexes. Due to his lack of size, he sometimes gives up some rebounds and leaves some holes in the net, but when he’s on his game, he can be a game-changer.
The top line of returners, late ’00 juniors Kyle Tomaso and Tyler Bourque, and newcomer, ’02 sophomore Cam Lowe, was good. The line moved the puck around and connected a couple of times. Lowe, who previously played with Boston Jr. Bruins and Boston Advantage, has good hockey sense, plays well in all three zones, and can make some plays. He’ll be a player to watch over the coming years.
On defense, former Central Catholic star Landon Krekorian was solid. An ’01 senior, he has size and length and competes well. He’d be a nice pickup for a Division III team.
Head coach Matt Goethals always seems to have his team ready to compete hard. They played with the urgency of a regular season game.
About a half dozen NHL scouts were on hand to watch Rivers ’01 junior defenseman Cade Webber. The big, 6-foot-6 blue liner is rangy and skates well. It wasn’t his showing, but it’s tough for him to get up for a prep school exhibition game after playing against college teams and internationally over the past month for the U.S. NTDP U-18 team.
Shawn McEachern will still have a solid team, led by the blue line. In addition to Webber, the Red Wings boast ’00 senior Antonio Andreozzi (Brown) and ’01 sophomore Pat Lawn (Bentley) as committed players on the back end. ’01 sophomore Ryan Bell and ’01 junior Ryan Rahbany are also solid back there. The defense will have to be the strength of the team with the graduation of Princeton commit Aidan Porter, who is now playing in the BCHL.
Up front, the team will miss Yale commit Teddy Wooding, but ’02 junior Philip Tresca has come along way. The Yale commit will be a key to the offensive production as will ’01 junior Matt Cormier who had a big USA Hockey Select 17 Player Development Camp this past June. One newcomer to watch is ’02 left wing Coleman Nee who comes over from Arlington Catholic.
Hill at Nobles
The Bulldogs wore practice jerseys and the scoreboard was off in this glorified scrimmage so it was tough to gauge too much in terms of Brian Day’s team.
Merrimack commit, ’01 junior center Casey Severo, was really good. He’s fast, hunts pucks, and has good vision. He made a nice play, beating out a loose puck on a dump in before sending it out to the slot for a goal.
Another player who impressed was ’03 left-shot defenseman Aidan Lyons, who played previously for the Boston Jr. Terriers. He’s a puck-moving machine with a lot of skill. He made several nice breakout passes and was able to push the pace in transition.
As for Hill, Chris Bala’s team doesn’t have the depth of many of the top prep teams from around here, but there were a few standouts.
Left-shot defenseman Ville Wilpola ('00), a senior from Turku, Finland, was fun to watch. He’s a really good skater who loves to jump into the rush. On several occasions, he was the first man in the forecheck. In addition to his puck-moving capabilities, he plays the game with an edge, especially for an undersized defenseman. He hits hard and isn’t afraid to be scrappy.
Senior C.J. Duvall ('00) was the team’s best forward, as of now. He’s a good skater who plays with energy and sees the ice well. He’s probably a NESCAC player or maybe an Atlantic Hockey player, if he plays a year or two of junior hockey.
Junior forward Brock Weimer ('01) was also good. He wore No. 10, but will usually be No. 26, according to the roster. He’s another good skater who plays with pace and can make some plays.
The team’s best prospect appears to be ’03 left-shot forward Owen McLaughlin, who previously played with Valley Forge Minutemen. From Spring City, Pa., he made quite a few really nice looks. His vision was good and he skates well with a long stride. Some might remember him from USA Hockey Select 15 Player Development Camp.
Delbarton at Dexter
This one was all Dexter. Danny Donato’s team was just too much for Delbarton on Sunday morning. Senior center John Farinacci ('01) lit the lamp twice in front of about a dozen NHL scouts who were in attendance to watch the Harvard commit.
He was on a line with ’01 Chase McInnis, a Northeastern recruit, and ‘01 John McElaney. McInnis, the younger brother of BC junior defenseman Luke McInnis and son of retired NHL star and former BC Eagle Marty McInnis, will be effective with Farinacci. He has that ability to hunt pucks and work really hard.
Dexter will be very deep on the blue line. On Sunday, Donato rolled out four pairings. Of course, the defensive corp will miss Vancouver Canucks prospect Jack Rathbone, who has moved onto Harvard.
That defense will get to play in front of Harvard commit, ’01 senior goaltender Derek Mullahy of Scituate, the best goaltender in prep hockey.
Bright spots for Delbarton was the play of ’02 junior forward Brendan Clark and ’03 goaltender Brett Cleaves, who faced a lot of rubber.
Dexter’s Lines
Chase McInnis - John Farinacci - John McElaney
Ben Raymond - Aidan Connolly - Connor Blanchard
Douglas Grimes - Wes Gierkink - Thomas Greeley
Vincent Gould - Cully Wilson - Jack Dempsey
Bobby Pearl - Patrick Morrissey
Ben Meehan - John Fusco
Michael Adamson - Matt Fusco
Kevin McKay - Jack Hughes
Derek Mullahy
Hill at Belmont Hill
Belmont Hill head coach Jeremiah McCarthy opted to play his newcomers and JV players from last year in an effort to decide who will make the team. There were numbers, but it was hard to pick up on many of the players without having seen and recognized a few from the fall. One defenseman that looked good was ’03 Tommy Goguen, who wore No. 6.
Belmont Hill will have to replace Yale commit Connor Hopkins, who left school a year early to go to the BCHL.
The defense will be solid, led by ’00 seniors Robert Radocchia and James Perullo, ’01 junior Brett Bliss, a Brown recruit, and ’03 sophomore Will Killoran. Up front, ’00 senior Andrew Holland, ’01 junior Luke Khozozian and ’02 sophomore Ryan McGuire should lead the way.
Hill was able to control puck possession for much of the game. Again, Wilpola stood out on the team’s blue line. The Blues will be back up in New England several times throughout the season, including at the Barber Tournament and individual games at Choate (Dec. 1), Cushing (Dec. 8), Winchendon (Dec. 9) Tabor (Dec. 20), Brunswick (Jan. 19), Gunnery (Jan. 26) and Worcester Academy (Feb. 17).
