With the 2019-20 season officially kicking off this week, New England Hockey Journal is pleased to announce the return of its Prep School Coaches Poll for the second consecutive year.
Head coaches from around the region were asked to select their top 10 teams from all leagues, with this week’s voting producing the following results.
Eight of the teams ranked in our first poll of the season also finished last year among New England’s 10 best, including three-time defending Elite Eight champion Kimball Union. Veteran coach Tim Whitehead’s Wildcats sit at the top of this week’s NEHJ ranks, the same place that they both began and ended last season.
Two teams totaled at least 100 points and two others earned a first-place vote from one coach in this week’s preseason balloting. The back half of our season-opening Top 10 is tight as two teams are tied for sixth place and the bottom three are separated by just two points. (Teams receive 10 points for a first-place vote, nine for a second-place vote, eight for a third-place vote, etc.)
The NEHJ Prep School Coaches Poll will be released every Tuesday afternoon during the season.
Please send an email to jkummins@hockeyjournal.com if you are interested in participating in our polls throughout the winter.
1. Kimball Union
128 points - 11 first-place votes
Again defending the Elite Eight championship after winning the Stuart/Corkery Tournament last year, the Wildcats got an early start to their season two weekends ago, splitting games against Stanstead College and Northwood Junior.
KUA earned a 7-1 win in the former game, thanks in large part to four-point efforts from Sullivan Mack and Tomas Mazura. Adam Fantilli netted a hat trick and added an assist against Northwood, but the Wildcats suffered a 7-6 defeat in overtime. All three of those players have six points on the season, with five of Fantilli’s being goals. Senior Veeti Kohvakka earned the win in goal.
2. Salisbury
105 points - 1 first-place vote
The Crimson Knights open Housatonic League action with a Wednesday game at Taft. Andrew Will’s lineup has reloaded and includes a slew of Division 1 commits, despite losing 14 players from last season’s team. Look for Lucas Mercuri (Vermont) and Jake Quillan (Quinnipiac) to lead up front, while Bayard Hall (Oldwick, N.J./Yale) is back on defense as Salisbury looks to avenge back-to-back losses in the Elite Eight title game.
3. Dexter Southfield
95 points - 1 first-place vote
Dexter prepared for Wednesday’s regular-season opener at Cushing with three scrimmages, beating Williston Northampton, 6-5 in overtime, and Delbarton, 12-0, before a 5-5 tie with St. Andrew’s College.
John McElaney (Walpole, Mass.), Ben Raymond (Newton, Mass.) and Culin Wilson (Hingham, Mass.) each had three points against Williston before Aidan Connolly (Marshfield, Mass.) scored in overtime. Fifteen players logged points, including Connolly with two goals and an assist, and three goaltenders played against Delbarton. Patrick Morrissey (Canton, Mass.) scored two goals and Dylan Silverstein (Woburn, Mass.) made 39 saves in the final scrimmage.
4. Gunnery
71 points
The Gunnery completed its preseason against Kent and Trinity-Pawling during this past weekend’s Berkshire Jamboree. Three different players scored goals and Alex Jefferies (Lunenburg, Mass.) and Mark D’Agostino (North Branford, Conn.) each had two assists in a 3-1 win over Kent. Hunter Rossi (Long Island, N.Y.) found the net during a 1-1 draw with T.P. Jefferies, a Merrimack commit, was the top point scorer in all of New England prep hockey (27-30-57) on a team that included 12 seniors last season.
5. Lawrence
67 points
Lawrence enters Friday’s opener against Wyoming Seminary (Pa.) with plenty of faith in its returning cast, although the top two scorers on last year’s ISL Keller Division-winning club are now in the junior ranks. Juniors David Sacco (Middleton, Mass./New Hampshire) and Riley Duran (Woburn, Mass./Providence) will lead coach Robbie Barker’s offense into the new season. Another future Friar, Cole Teleki, joins the returnees on the blue line, in front of senior Brandon Millberg in the goal.
T-6. Cushing
47 points
Cushing opened its season with a Nov. 20 win against Brewster before hosting three scrimmages over the weekend before Thanksgiving. Junior defenseman Lukas Gustafsson handed out three assists. In the opening 5-3 victory, Max Bogdanovich (Scarborough, Maine) and Jake Hewitt (Ashburnham, Mass.) both posted a goal and two assists while Rio Kauffman stopped 23 shots. The Penguins resume regular-season action with a Wednesday test against Dexter Southfield.
T-6. Avon Old Farms
47 points
The Winged Beavers scrimmaged Brunswick and Westminster before Thanksgiving and will take on Williston Northampton on the road in Wednesday’s season opener. Longtime coach John Gardner is confident in the senior leadership duo of Tabor Heaslip (UConn) and Gentry Shamburger up front. Penn State commit Drew Tsakounis is back on a defense that welcomes two newcomers with Division 1 plans already laid out. Conor Callaghan (Upper Saddle River, N.J.) looks to take over the net on a full-time basis.
8. Thayer
38 points
Some of New England’s coaches are high on former NHLer Tony Amonte’s Tigers, who are set to open their first season playing in a new ice rink on the Braintree, Mass., campus. Thayer was not ranked in any of last season’s NEHJ polls. Northeastern commit Sasha Teleguine (North Attleboro, Mass.) scored 23 points as a sophomore and returns as one of the ISL’s top players on a team filled with youngsters looking to help spearhead a return to the postseason. Gavin Fitzpatrick (Norwood, Mass.) is a senior in the net.
9. St. Sebastian’s
37 points
The Arrows carry a load of offensive power into Wednesday’s start of a new season at ISL rival Rivers. Coach Sean McCann’s team brings back its leading scorer and Boston University commit Liam Connors (Westborough, Mass.), a future Boston College Eagle in Timmy Delay (Hingham, Mass.) and senior goaltender Luke Garrity (Duxbury, Mass.), so there is plenty of talent on the ice looking to rebound from last season’s playoff setback as a No. 4 seed in the Elite Eight.
10. Tilton
36 points - 1 first-place vote
After their first New England (Piatelli/Simmons Small School) championship in 17 years, the Rams scrimmaged against Academie Saint-Louis and Brooks last month in preparation for Wednesday’s season opener against Kents Hill. Tilton did not have a single Division 1 commit on last year’s roster, but Jagger Benson (Lynnfield, Mass.) has since signed on with Vermont after finishing third on the team in scoring as a defenseman. Now-senior Jack Seymour led the team with 18 goals and 44 points.
Others receiving votes: Rivers, Loomis Chaffee, Westminster, Exeter, Kent, Nobles, Berkshire, Northfield Mount Hermon, Belmont Hill, Milton, Pomfret, Governor’s, Williston Northampton, Trinity-Pawling, Andover
