With the viability of the 2020-21 New England prep school season in question, two top Cushing Academy ’04s are skating for the Junior Bruins of the NCDC.
If not for the pandemic, defenseman Jackson Dorrington (North Reading, Mass.) and center Cam Lund (Bridgewater, Mass.) in all likelihood would be playing split-season Midgets now and looking forward to the start of the season at Cushing Academy.
Instead, both are living at home, taking online classes at Cushing and playing junior hockey against players who, in some cases, are four years older than they are.
“These kids are obviously playing up in terms of their birth year, but they are extremely talented players. They are kids that outgrew their birth year years ago,’’ said Mike Anderson, the coach of the Junior Bruins.
Anderson raves about the potential of Dorrington (6-1, 185 pounds), who committed to Northeastern this month, and Lund (6-2, 165). Both are eligible for the NHL Entry Draft in 2022.
“Jackson’s a player that has a legitimate opportunity to be at the top of the draft list when his time comes. He’s an enormously talented defenseman. Physically, very gifted. Thinks the game well beyond his years. He’s certainly a kid Northeastern should be very excited about,’’ said Anderson.
“Cam (Lund) is very similar to Jackson in respect to his upside. His future will extend well beyond college hockey. I’ve heard things like, ‘The best player to come out of Massachusetts since Jack Eichel.’ I’ve heard those kinds of things floated around and you can see why. There’s an enormous upside to his game. They are ’04s on paper, but that’s it. They don’t play the game like kids at that age.’’
Four games into the season, Lund is second in the NCDC in scoring with 3-4-7.
Dorrington said playing for the Junior Bruins made sense this fall.
“I’ve played for the Junior Bruins before. I knew it would be a good situation and I know some of the guys on the team. My other options would have been U-18. This is more challenging,’’ he said.
He doesn’t drive, so his father has been taking him to Marlboro for practices and games.
With traffic, it’s at least an hour drive, which leaves time for school work.
“Sometimes if I have a class late in the day, I have to do my class on Zoom in the car. I sit in the back seat and try and get some work done,’’ he said.
Whether Dorrington and Lund return to prep hockey or continue to play for the Junior Bruins for the duration of the season remains to be seen.
“That’s a conversation for a later date. Right now, it’s nothing but a hypothetical because there is no (prep) hockey for them to return to at this point,’’ said Anderson.
Youngsters to watch
In addition to Dorrington and Lund, the Junior Bruins have two other talented ’04s in wingers Chris Delaney (Hopkinton, Mass.) and Carson Walters (Aurora, Ill.).
“These are full scholarship, Division 1 players,’’ Anderson said.
Walters played for Chicago Mission U-15s last season.
“He has a world of talent. He wanted the opportunity to get on the radar of some of the big boys out here on the East Coast before choosing his college path,’’ said Anderson.
Delaney (Hopkinton, Mass.) is listed at 5-6, 135 pounds, but doesn’t play like it.
“Chris Delaney is not big in stature — neither were (former Junior Bruins) Sean Farrell or Gunnarwolfe Fontaine. Things have worked out pretty well for those guys. Hockey players are hockey players. That’s what Chris is. He’ll have a hell of a college career, for sure,’’ Anderson said.
Driven to succeed
Jackson Faughnan’s first year as a student at Milton Academy has been, well, different.
Instead of attending classes on campus in Massachusetts, he’s going to school online from home in Syracuse, N.Y.
The hockey part is where it gets complicated. Faughnan is playing for the U-16 Cape Cod Whalers. He and his parents, Valerie and Gene, are making the 300-mile-plus trip from New York every weekend for the games.
“They come up every weekend no matter where we play, whether it’s Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts. They get the schedule early in the week and then they make the trek. They have been about as reliable as anybody could possibly be,’’ said David Franzosa, the coach of the Whalers.
Faughnan, an ’04, played for the Syracuse Nationals U-16s last season. He is starting to draw interest from Ivy League schools.
“He does all the hard things to get the puck out of the zone and protect his own end,’’ said Franzosa. “He is really steady, reliable, physical and tough. He’s a good calming influence to have on the team.’’
Generals on the march
It’s winning time for the Northeast Generals.
In its first four North American Hockey League seasons, the Attleboro, Mass.-based franchise has had mixed results.
“The one thing we’ve done really well is get kids committed, which is the ultimate goal,’’ said Bryan Erickson, the team’s coach and general manager.
Colin Bilek, a captain at Army this season, Louis Boudon of Lake Superior and Justin Jallen of Brown are three examples of former Generals thriving in Division 1.
“The one thing we haven’t done well is build a winner,’’ said Erickson.
Determined to change that, Erickson and the Generals head into the season with what looks to be their best team yet. But they started slowly, dropping two road games to the Maine Nordiques on Oct. 9 and 10.
“The plan was to go for it this year. In May I would have said we’re a really strong Robertson Cup favorite. I still like our chances, but at the same time, every team got better, with the four teams in the NA (sitting out the season because of the pandemic), the two USHL teams going out and the Canadian border closed (keeping home some players who had planned to play in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario),’’ said Erickson.
“I still think we’re going to be very good, but other teams got that much better. It’s awesome for the league and for our division. It puts us in a battle every night.’’
Defenseman Alex Tertyshny, an AIC commit whose late father Dimitri played for the Philadelphia Flyers, figures to be the Generals’ top player.
“He’s super-smooth offensively, but good defensively, too,’’ Erickson said.
The Generals also have two other D-1 commits on defense in Bobby Metz (Colgate) and ’04 Matthew Sutter (Lake Superior), who Erickson is high on.
“He’s going to make ’04 mistakes, but you can see why he’s committed,’’ he said.
Up front, the Generals have three lines “that keep rolling and rolling.’’
Captain Dylan Schuett is drawing Ivy League interest, according to Erickson. “He’ll run guys over, go through guys, be hard to play against,’’ said Erickson.
“On the fourth line we have an RPI commit (Eric Fawkes) and a Northeastern commit (Anthony Messuri). That’s pretty good.’’
In net, the Generals expect to lean on a pair of 5-foot-11 goalies in returner Joey Stanizzi, formerly of the Middlesex School, and newcomer Hugo Haas from the Czech Republic.
“Haas is a huge addition and kind of lightens the load on Joey, who found out last year how good the league is on a night-in, night-out basis. Some nights he was an All-Star and other nights he was a kid who played prep school hockey the year before,’’ said Erickson.
The Generals are prepared to play home games in New Hampshire and Connecticut, if necessary.
They are doing all they can to stay COVID-free. “We’ve done 300 tests and luckily we haven’t had a positive,’’ said Erickson.
