This is part a series of stories looking back on how the top New England prep school boys' hockey teams performed in the 2019-20 season and what lies ahead over the summer.
Prep school powerhouse Lawrence Academy got off to a strong 7-1 start to the 2019-20 season. Highly touted prospect Riley Duran (Woburn, Mass.) was firing on all cylinders, as was expected, the defense was holding down the fort and senior goaltender Brandon Milberg was solid if anything went wrong.
But the thing is, something did go wrong for the Spartans, potentially derailing what was promising to be a championship-contending season. How the team responded, however, made all the difference in the world between contending and pretending.
Let’s take a look back at the 2019-20 season of the Lawrence Academy Spartans:
Record: 22-3-2
Highs
From the outside looking in, most of the season was a high point. After all, 22 wins and just three losses, right? Not to mention capping it all off by earning the No. 1 seed for the Stuart/Corkery Elite 8 championship.
In a season filled with highs, it's tough to isolate just one. But one stands out.
Having a reliable senior goalie is the ultimate scenario for most coaches, someone you can turn to when you're down a man or the team is not playing well on the road, that sort of thing.
But, in the ninth game, a month into the season, against Canterbury in the Watkins tournament at Cushing, Milberg suffered a dislocated left shoulder and torn labrum on his catching-arm side. Directly after the game, he went to the hospital and, two days later, had surgery.
Done for the season.
Next thing you knew, junior goalie Tomas Pientka, who had been the de facto No. 2 toward developing into the No. 1, was thrust into the top job far ahead of schedule. In fact, the native of Bratislava, Slovakia, found himself starting the next game against none other than prep school titan Dexter Southfield, the only team to have beaten Lawrence to that point in the season, in the tournament championship game, everything on the line.
How's that for pressure?
No big deal, as it turns out (or else it wouldn't be in the "Highs" category). Pientka strapped on the pads for his first game as the No. 1, stood tall against a very strong Dexter team and Lawrence emerged with a 5-4 win for the title.
The moment wasn't exactly a turning point, but rather a continuation of moving in the same direction. Which, when it comes down to it, is more important because things had been going well.
"It was one of those things where we're like, holy moly," said coach Robbie Barker (Concord, N.H.). "You could tell that the kids were like, 'Uh-oh, what's going to happen here?'"
Coming into that fateful Canterbury game, Milberg -- who just three days earlier had committed to Sacred Heart for 2020-21 -- had allowed a mere nine goals and had a .960 save percentage. But after a team meeting led to action by senior captains Holt Oliphant and James Broderick (Wellesley, Mass.), a potentially low point turned into a high point.
"I applaud everything that they did all year long, and they simply played and led by example," Barker said of the two captains. "It was deeds, not words, for those guys throughout the course of the season. And then they talked to the team and everybody kind of rallied. We supported Tomas and we kind of changed a little bit of the way we approached games."
Tighter play defensively and a more restrained attack helped the transition. So much so that Lawrence lost just once the rest of the regular season, a 3-1 defeat to Nobles.
Barker said he's long been a believer in the two-goalie system for this very reason.
"This year, we were trying to get Tomas some experience here and there throughout the course of the start of the season, and Milberg was playing so well that it was an abrupt change," he said. "But Tomas, it took him a little while to get used to the speed and the conditioning that he needed to be at at this level. After four games, I think it was maybe two weeks or so, he started to calm down, have a little bit more confidence in himself and then played outstanding for us."
The play of Duran was another highlight, the top prospect finishing the season with 22 goals and 22 assists in 27 games. Alongside linemate David Sacco (Middleton, Mass.), who had 17 goals and 23 assists in 24 games, the Spartans had a powerful punch.
"We had a fantastic season," Barker said. "We played really well consistently. The kids really bought into what we were selling, the systems and playing for one another."
Top five scorers
Lows
Losing your No. 1 senior goalie early in the season is no picnic. And, no question, going out in the quarterfinals, has to sting for the No. 1 seed in the Stuart/Corkery Elite 8 championship bracket. How could it not? Big things were expected.
"Facing Berkshire, we faced a hot goaltender and we just couldn't put the puck away," Barker said of Bears goalie Jed Baliotti (New Canaan, Conn.). "(We) had plenty of opportunities, but it just wasn't bouncing our way. And then outshooting them in overtime ... 14 to 2, and they squeak one past us, it was a heartbreaker. But it doesn't take away from everything that the kids have accomplished all year long."
From his perspective, Barker said the biggest downer came during a stretch between Feb. 12-20, bookended by a 2-2 tie against Thayer and a 4-4 tie with St. Mark's. In between were one-goal wins over St. Sebastian's and St. Paul's (in overtime), a 3-1 win over Governor's and a 7-1 win over Buckingham Browne & Nichols.
"I think that is sort of a low point, where we put together some games where we weren’t really playing our best hockey, (even though) we were still getting some of the results that we wanted," Barker said.
Barker said he and the coaching staff had to "spice" things up a bit, mixing up practices, doling out time off, etc., to help mitigate some of the wear and tear the team was feeling physically and mentally by that point of the season. And it seemed to work, the team losing one regular-season game the rest of the way.
"I think that that’s where we rose to the occasion, every time the next obstacle came on because we had already dealt with sort of that adversity at the beginning of the season," he said, referring to Milberg's injury. "I think that the difference was that their mindset was, 'If we can do this, we can certainly do this' and they play with a certain confidence that was I thought was remarkable."
Looking ahead
Duran is not coming back for his third season, potentially returning to Woburn or heading to juniors, so with his departure as well as the graduation of seven seniors, it means scoring will have to come from somewhere else next season.
Barker said this adjustment isn't unusual in prep hockey, nor is it unusual to his team. Previously, the Spartans had to find new offense after losing Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (East Greenwich, R.I.), Tyler Young (Lancaster, Mass.) and Sam Colangelo (Stoneham, Mass.). Assistant coach Travis Army, who handles most of the team's recruiting, will again be busy.
"I think that guys tend to step up," Barker said. "Duran finished the season with 44 points, and the year before had 26. And same with Dave Sacco, those guys stepped up and had to play a different role for us, and they certainly did. And they did a great job at it. Now, (we're) looking at bringing in some younger talent, whether they're sophomores or juniors.
"I think we'll be able to pick up right where we left off with the kids that we have in the pipeline."
Barker has Pientka coming back, into his senior year, so goaltending will be covered.
"Looking forward, yeah, I think right now we have good confidence in who we’re bringing back everywhere: on the blue line, in the pipes and up front," Barker said. "So, hopefully we can pick up where we left off and take it a little further next year."
Paul Grant is an editor and a writer for HockeyJournal.com and Seamans Media. He previously oversaw hockey content at ESPN.com and Sporting News. You can connect with him at pgrant@hockeyjournal.com.
