With prep hockey on hold last season, Salisbury is still the defending NEPSAC Elite 8 Champions from their victory in March of 2020 before the coronavirus derailed much of the sporting world.
It’s tough to pick against Andrew Will’s team in 2021-22. The Crimson Knights have established themselves as the preeminent program in prep school hockey, having won five NEPSAC Elite 8 Tournament titles and appearing in the last three finals.
Kimball Union, winners in 2018 and 2019, is also a bonafide super power in the world of prep school hockey. Former Maine and UMass Lowell head coach Tim Whitehead once again has a talented group that should fight to be there in the end.
While the top of the mountain appears to be loaded with the usual suspects, the bottom half of the Elite 8 bracket should be wide open. Is there a Berkshire or a Hotchkiss waiting to surprise the masses and earn a bid into the Elite 8 as those two schools did in 2020? While it’s not likely to be the Bears or Bearcats, there are a couple of teams who haven’t been as familiar entrants in recent years who could crash the party.
Here’s my preseason rankings of the top 10 teams in prep school hockey:
