The fields and quarterfinal matchups have been set for the three New England Prep School Athletic Council postseason tournaments.
The Stuart/Corkery Elite 8, Martin/Earl Large School and Piatelli/Simmons Small School will all be contested over the coming week with the three champions crowned next Sunday. All games will be held at the campus sites of the higher seed.
Kimball Union secured the top seed of the Elite 8 Tournament while Brunswick and St. Mark’s are the first seeds in the Large School and Small School tournaments, respectively. With the first prep school champions set to be crowned since 2020 right before Covid halted much of the sporting world, there is no shortage of storylines now that the tournament seeds and matchups have been determined.
Stuart/Corkery Elite 8 Tournament
No. 8 Holderness at No. 1 Kimball Union
No. 5 Salisbury at No. 4 Dexter Southfield
No. 7 Cushing at No. 2 Avon Old Farms
No. 6 St. Sebastian’s at No. 3 Belmont Hill
Martin/Earl Large School Tournament
No. 8 Berkshire at No. 1 Brunswick
No. 5 Northfield Mount Hermon at No. 4 Nobles
No. 7 Loomis Chaffee at No. 2. Kent
No. 6 Phillips Andover at No. 3 Phillips Exeter
Piatelli/Simmons Small School Tournament
No. 8 Portsmouth Abbey at No. 1 St. Mark’s
No. 5 Rivers at No. 4 Pomfret
No. 7 St. George’s at No. 2 Frederick Gunn
No. 6 Governor’s at No. 3 Westminster
Familiar Foes
Two of the Elite 8 quarterfinal matchups will be teams meeting for a third time this season. Kimball Union will look to make it three straight wins over Lakes Region rival Holderness in one quarterfinal. The Wildcats won the first matchup against the Bulls, 3-2 in overtime, before clinching the Lakes Region championship with a 4-1 win.
Both games between Belmont Hill and St. Sebastian’s this season have gone to overtime. The first ended in a 3-3 tie. The Sextants took the second clash of ISL titans in the extra session by a score of 2-1.
While Dexter Southfield and Salisbury haven’t met this season, there is some familiarity. Salisbury defeated Dexter Southfield, 4-0, in the championship game of the 2020 Elite 8 Tournament at Trinity College. Dexter Southfield coach Danny Donato came to the Brookline, Mass., school after guiding Salisbury for seven seasons. He was behind the bench for Salisbury’s first title in 2006.
In the Martin/Earl Large School Tournament, Phillips Exeter and Phillips Andover clash in one of prep school’s biggest rivalries. The two teams have already met twice with Exeter coming up on top in both of the previous games, including a 3-2 thriller to end the season.
The underdogs in two of the other Large School matchups have already defeated their quarterfinal opponents. Berkshire was a 3-1 winner over Brunswick earlier in the year while Loomis Chaffee upended Kent, 4-2, back in January.
NHL draft prospects matching up
There will be plenty of NHL scouts converging on prep school rinks Wednesday. Depending on who is the favorite of a particular organization, scouts will be at Belmont Hill, Dexter Southfield or Nobles.
The Belmont Hill-St. Sebastian’s tilt features two power forwards, both projected to be selected in the 2022 NHL draft. Northeastern commit James Fisher (Wilmington, Mass.) of Belmont Hill and Harvard recruit Michael Callow (South Boston, Mass.) of St. Sebastian’s will look to state their case for draft prospect superiority on the big stage.
Dexter Southfield has a few potential picks, highlighted by Northeastern commit Grayson Badger (Hyde Park, Mass.) and Harvard commit Will Hughes (Andover, Mass.). While Salisbury doesn’t have anyone on NHL Central Scouting, it would be wise for scouts to look at Northeastern commit Dylan Hryckowian.
Over at Nobles, scouts will be checking in on Harvard commit Ben MacDonald (Weston, Mass.). The Bulldogs finished the season with two losses, which sent them plummeting in the prep computer rankings, thus why they’re in the Large School instead of the Elite 8.
Most NHL scouts will likely pass on watching St. Mark’s defenseman and Princeton commit Michael Fisher (Westboro, Mass.) until the weekend. The Lions, the top seed in the Small School, face Portsmouth Abbey in the quarterfinals.
NTDP watch
Among players in the prep school tournaments, only Belmont Hill forward Teddy Stiga (Sudbury, Mass.) is a lock to make USA Hockey’s NTDP U17 team for the 2022-23 season. While St. Sebastian’s doesn’t have an '06, second-line right Teddy Mutryn (Norwell, Mass.) is one of the better '07s in the country and is certainly on the program’s radar for 2023-24. Also on the radar for 2023-24 is St. Mark’s scoring dynamo Richard Gallant (Concord, Mass.).
Other '06s of note in the three tournaments are Nobles goaltender Thatcher Bernstein (Brookline, Mass.), St. George’s goaltender Ryder Shea (Framingham, Mass.), Kent defensemen Alex Bales and Jacob Ingstrup, and Brunswick forward Drew DellaSalla.
NEPSAC drops the ball
It’s truly unfortunate that all three prep finals won’t be at a neutral site on Sunday as has been accustomed over the years. It’s just another instance of the prep school governing body doing something to hurt student-athletes.
It will likely prevent the small school and large school contestants from receiving the recognition and exposure they deserve. Scouts and college coaches will have to choose one venue instead of having the chance to watch all three games.
Hopefully, schools will make every effort to stagger start times on all three days to give scouts and college coaches a chance to catch more than one game.
