Last season, Bryce Dolan was a senior captain at Kimball Union Academy. Fast forward a year and the 19-year-old is one of the youngest skaters at Holy Cross, as he’s playing with seniors five years older.
A lot has changed in a season, but Dolan is getting up to speed with the Crusaders after spending three seasons with Kimball Union, one of New England’s most prestigious prep schools.
“I was telling my parents the other day, I don’t even feel like I’m young anymore,” Dolan said. “I just disregard the age; it’s been good.”
Most hockey prospects spend a couple of years with a junior team after high school to prepare for the transition to the collegiate game. Division 1 hockey is bigger and faster than Dolan is use to, but Holy Cross head coach David Berard wanted the 6-foot-1, 190-pound defenseman on his roster immediately.
“Our original plan was to have him play a year of junior after Kimball Union,” Berard (West Warwick, R.I.) said. “We accelerated that because from a physical perspective and a mental perspective, he was ready to make that jump.”
