Grayson Badger knows there are areas of his game that need improving. He also knows a college commitment is just the beginning.
Heading into his second season at Dexter Southfield, the Hyde Park, Mass., native is doing his best to enjoy the process as he dives deeper into his prep school hockey career.
Badger, 17, has taken great strides over the past 18 months working under the direction of longtime DXSF coach Dan Donato. Now, he’s starting to reap the rewards. On Aug. 9, the speedy 2004-born winger took to social media to pledge his college commitment to Northeastern.
“Grayson has really come on the last year, year and a half,” Donato told New England Hockey Journal. “Three years ago, I would’ve said he’s a 'maybe' kid, and he still has a way to go, but he’s certainly developed nicely and at a fast trajectory.”
While his hockey habits are what make Badger the highly coveted prospect he is, there's more to the 6-foot, 170-pound winger than meets the eye, Donato said.
“He’s an awesome kid to work with. He practices hard, his teammates love him and he’s a fun guy to have in the locker room, but then it's business when he’s on the ice, so he’s kind of a coach’s dream in that sense. He’s very coachable.”
Coming on strong
After two seasons at Brookline High, Badger arrived at Dexter in fall 2020 to repeat his sophomore year. It turned out to be perfect timing due to the coronavirus and its crippling effect on the prep hockey season. Although it wasn’t a typical slate, DXSF still managed to play 17 games. Those games ended up being crucial for Badger, as Donato placed him on the top line alongside Connor Sutherland and Will Vote (Arlington, Mass.).
“For my money, they were one of the best lines I watched all year,” Donato said. “They just had the right mix of everything. Vote could make plays and set people up, Sutherland could really score the goals and Grayson did everything in the sense that he was the hunter. He hunted down pucks and he was physical. They had all three things you look for in a line: a bit of physical presence, some playmaking, and obviously the goal-scoring, so it worked out really well.”
Vote, who’s bound for NTDP this coming season, is a Boston College commit. Sutherland, a native of Roxbury, Mass., is an increasingly coveted '04 around New England.
“Playing with them was really easy,” Badger said. “Especially Will Vote – the kid’s an animal. He’s one of the best players I’ve played with. He makes passes and gets open, finds guys, and honestly, it made my job a lot easier. Same with (Sutherland). He ended up having the most goals on the team, so it was a crazy line. Coach just kind of put us together and was like, ‘We'll see what happens.’ (Turns out) it was a great play by him.”
Like most prep school hockey players during the pandemic-impacted 2020-21 campaign, Badger spent a lot of time with his split-season team, the Cape Cod Whalers 16-U. In 31 games, he led the way in scoring, notching 39 points on 16 goals and 23 assists. Whether it was in Scituate, Mass., with the Whalers, or in Brookline, Mass., at DXSF, Badger was hard at work the entire season.
“It’s a long season, so you always have to pick things up as you go,” he said. “Working a lot with Coach Donato helped me a lot in terms of systems and understanding where to be on the ice, things like that, but I feel like over the past couple of years I’ve really just been trying to skate more and work on a lot of things (because) I know a lot of kids my age and a lot of my friends are always working on stuff, so I'm just always trying to put in as much work or more.”
Locking down the commitment
It didn't take long for scouts to notice the work that Badger had been putting in, and he quickly began to garner college interest. A week into the verbal commitment period for rising high school juniors, he took to social media to announce his commitment. Things change, but he is expected to join the Huskies in fall 2024.
“At the end of the day, I just really loved the coaching staff at Northeastern, as well as the school and the campus,” he said. “That really was one of my favorite things about it, even though it’s not hockey-related. You want to go somewhere you can really see yourself, and that’s what happened when I went there. I really thought, like, ‘This could be the place for me, even besides hockey.’ I didn't even step in the rink and that’s what I was thinking. I was like, ‘I love it here.’
While the three other Beanpot schools were on his radar, Badger said, Northeastern rose to the top.
“I was just waiting to see what was the best fit. My parents kept asking me, ‘What are you looking for?’ and I was like, ‘When I see it, I’ll let you guys know.’ I knew it was going to come and when I stepped on campus at Northeastern, I just felt like I was kind of in a dream.”
In addition to the Badger and Fisher, former prep school standouts, Cushing's Jackson Dorrington (North Reading, Mass.) and Cameron Lund (Bridgewater, Mass.), are also Northeastern commits.
“I’m wicked excited about that,” Badger said of the Huskies' strong prep contingent coming down the pipeline. “A lot of those guys are really close friends of mine, so I’m excited about hopefully playing with them in the future.”
Gearing up for 2021-22
With his commitment in tow, Badger is finally approaching his first full season at Dexter Southfield. Nowadays, there’s only one thing on his mind. “Obviously, I want to showcase my skills, but winning an Elite 8 championship is my No. 1 priority,” he said. “That’s what all the boys have set our minds on because we've been close, but we’ve never won it.”
In fact, Dexter has made it as far as the semifinals of the Stuart/Corkery Tournament each of the last four years it was held. With Badger's aid, the team is hoping to make it there again and push it over the edge in 2022.
“There are skilled players and then there are junkyard dogs," Donato said. "Grayson is a combination of both. To have that on the ice every night ... he can beat you a lot of different ways. I think he’s going to be a weapon that a lot of teams don’t have.”
With two years left in high school, as well as a likely year of junior, before arriving on Huntington Ave., Badger is focused on rounding out his game as he inches closer to fulfilling his college hockey dream.
“Being physical and trying to play with a little skill,” he said. “That's what Coach Donato and I talk about: trying to be a force and bring a physicality to every single game, (but also) making plays and trying to score goals and get assists. I feel like I can bring a little bit of everything, and I definitely have a lot of work to do in terms of skill and physicality and making sure I'm ready to go every game, but I feel like with two years left, (my development) is going to be great. I've got a lot of learning to do."
Whether it's improving his consistency or getting more pucks to the net, Badger will have plenty of time to work on those areas of his game and more, as a full 30-game prep hockey season lends the opportunity to play against some of the stiffest competition in the region.
“You see him once in a while do something really impressive, and there are times when you watch him and say, ‘Hey, this kid's going to play in the NHL,'" Donato said. "There are (also) times when he's a bit inconsistent, but that's not uncommon for a sophomore. If he turns that side of it up and puts more of a consistent effort night in and night out, shift by shift, I think he’s going to be a really, really good player at Northeastern and beyond."
Liam Flaherty can be reached at liam.flaherty@hockeyjournal.com and on Twitter @_LiamFlaherty.
