Cam Ellsworth called it “probably the closest team I’ve been a part of.”
It was tempting to dismiss Norwich at the holiday break last season. A 6-4-1 record that included shocking losses (Suffolk at home), combined with a coach in his first season taking over for a legend, suggested that progress might take time.
Wrong. The Cadets (23-5-3) rolled through the next 2½ months, not losing until Wisconsin-Stevens Point broke their hearts in overtime in the national championship game. That was progress.
“I don’t know if I knew what we had, or we knew what we had,” said Ellsworth. “We kind of navigated the year together.”
Entering this season, Norwich knows what it has. And everyone else around the league knows, too.
Start with a deep collection of forwards. Felix Brassard (11-18-29), Coby Downs (9-20-29), Brett Ouderkirk (15-13-28), Maxime Borduas (8-14-22) and Jordan Hall (11-7-18) all return, as does defenseman Gabriel Chicoine (6-16-22).
“I think our strength is in our depth,” said Ellsworth. “We can come out and play in waves. When we started playing our best hockey [last year], we had guys getting healthy and a lot of guys playing roles.”
The minimal graduation losses were on defense, but there are several players back and goalie Tom Aubrun will try to repeat his stellar junior campaign, when he stepped in as a first-time starter, posted a 1.70 goals-against average and .929 save percentage and was named a third-team All-American.
“Taking over the job last year, my biggest concern was what we had in net,” said Ellsworth. “Not knowing. There wasn’t a history. But the level Tom played at was just phenomenal. Any coach would love to have that.”
UMass Boston (19-8-1) is another team that looks good in goal — with veteran Bailey MacBurnie of Beverly, Mass. (1.85 GAA, .926 save percentage) entrenched — and up front. How quickly the Beacons can acclimate several freshman defenseman could determine how fast they can contend again.
Nolan Redler of Winchester, Mass. (15-19-34) and Zack Bross (9-15-24) lead what is annually a potent offense. These Beacons are now completely turned over from the team that won the NEHC tournament and went to the Frozen Four in 2016.
“We can’t hang our hat on that anymore,” said UMB coach Pete Belisle (Manville, R.I.). “We made another [NCAA] tournament. Now let’s get back to it. There’s belief with this group.”
Last season’s third NCAA tournament team from the league, Hobart (21-8-2), graduated three of its top five scorers, including standout defenseman Jack Macnee.
With a young team, Babson (17-7-3) overachieved last season, one reason Jamie Rice (Newton, Mass.) earned Coach of the Year honors.
The Beavers have two dynamic talents up front in junior Nick Rosa (14-16-30) and sophomore Mike Egan of Billerica, Mass. (12-15-27), a lineup full of guys with more experience under their belt (13 of the 22 roster players are sophomores), and significant goaltending questions with the graduation of Matt Pompa and Bryan Botcher.
New England College (16-5-5) crafted a 16-game unbeaten streak in the middle part of last season, one that included wins over Norwich and UMass-Boston, and it will look to be a thorn in the side of the powers again with players like forward Carlos Fornaris (6-28-34, whose 28 assists tied for fifth in Division 3) and goalie Anthony Pupplo (2.03 GAA, .935 save percentage) leading the way.
Skidmore (13-10-3) didn’t score a ton last season, but of its top nine guys, eight were non-seniors. One of those was defenseman Austin Rook (Shrewsbury, Mass.), who finished second on the team in scoring (7-12-19) during an impact freshman season.
Suffolk (8-17), Southern Maine (5-18-3), Castleton (4-17-4) and Johnson & Wales (4-18-3) formed the bottom tier of the league last season and have work to do if they want to escape.
Three stars
Nick Albano (Beverly, Mass.), jr., D, UMass-Boston With two straight All-American seasons behind him, puck-carrying defenseman is writing his résumé as one of the best to play for the Beacons. One more year or two?
Austin Rook (Shrewsbury, Mass.), soph., D, Skidmore The former South Shore Kings standout fit right in with the Thoroughbreds, finishing second on the team in scoring (7-12-19) with the most points by a Skidmore freshman in more than a decade.
Nick Rosa, jr., F, Babson Now an upperclassman on another young Babson team, the Michigan native will be counted on to lead with his experience and production after a 30-point season.
