RinkWise podcast: Andrew Will on the evolution of fall and summer hockey

Andrew Will joined the latest episode of the RinkWise podcast. (Dave Arnold/NEHJ)

Andrew Will has built a perennial contender at Salisbury.

In his previous 13 seasons behind the bench for the Crimson Knights, he has amassed a 250-57-26 (.751) record. He’s helped guide the team to five Elite 8 titles (2009, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2022). Salisbury has also won eight Housatonic championships (2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019), and five Flood-Marr titles (2009, 2013, 2014, 2018 and 2019) under Will.

The Crimson Knights had a down year in Will’s eyes last season, skating to a 16-7-5 record. Even with the ups and downs, they still went on a run to the Large School tournament championship game, falling to Taft in overtime. With a strong core of returners and some exciting newcomers, Will believes there is more success in store for Salisbury this season.

He joined New England Hockey Journal editor Evan Marinofsky on the latest RinkWise podcast.

On how fall and summer hockey have changed:

Will: “I think one of those things is just the volume of events, right? There is so much more going on now in the summer and the fall than there used to be. But it’s not always so much that the quantity that’s important. It’s finding the quality stuff. I think when I look at some of the stuff that players are doing through the summer months in particular, there used to be a real emphasis on showcases and kind of recruiting events. There’s still a big part of that, but I’ve been excited to see more and more players wanting to spend time in the summer working on skill development, working on strength, conditioning, utilizing those summer months to really build that base and build that skill level so that when they get to the fall and they get to their season, hopefully they’re reaping the benefits of that. … I think just in terms of fall hockey going from strictly a prep for the start of the prep season to now it’s very much a component of it. I think for colleges, junior teams and for the kids, they feel that that’s an important part of their recruitment process or cycle, getting themselves ready for the season.”

On how prep develops talent for the NHL Draft:

Will: “If you go back a couple of years, I would say, and I can’t remember necessarily the number, but there have been years where there are seven, eight, nine, 10 prep school kids getting drafted. So I think there is a bit of a cyclical thing. But I do think that with some of those higher-end caliber kids that would traditionally come to prep school, I think as a group, we’re not attracting those kids as much anymore because they do want to play a longer season, they do want to position themselves for getting to the USHL and then off to college a little bit quicker. So, some of those higher-end guys, who may be draft eligible, I think it’s fair to ask the question, are as many of them playing prep school hockey as they used to? I also think tied to that, it goes together is, NHL guys and when they’re evaluating players like, ‘OK, so I know what the USHL competition is, but the prep school competition can vary greatly from Wednesday to Saturday.’ So I think sometimes there’s a little bit more confidence in evaluating a player and saying, ‘Hey, I know what I’m getting out of a guy who’s played a year of junior hockey versus a guy who’s maybe going through the prep ranks.'”