Cushing purple runs in Dan Fontas' blood.
The Acton, Mass., native is set to embark on his first season at the helm of the Penguins' boys program after Ryan Bourque left Cushing to become an assistant for the AHL’s Providence Bruins.
Fontas previously coached Cushing's Varsity B team from 2021 to 2024, being promoted to associate head coach of the varsity squad entering the 2024-25 season, during which he helped guide the Penguins to an Elite 8 championship.
His roots run even deeper at Cushing, too, as he captained the Penguins to a New England prep championship in 1998 before a four-year collegiate career at UMass Lowell.
Before returning to Cushing as a coach in 2021, he was general manager and head coach of the New England Stars from 2012-19, following a run as head coach of Acton-Boxboro High School from 2003-08.
Fontas joined New England Hockey Journal editor Evan Marinofsky on the latest RinkWise podcast.
The two discussed a bevy of topics, including Fontas' transition at Cushing, his coaching philosophy and the importance of relationship-building with players. They also talked about the challenges and changes in recruiting, the CHL ruling and the future of fall hockey for prep schools.
RinkWise podcast: Cushing boys coach Dan Fontas
How the CHL ruling will affect prep
Fontas:Â "Let's be honest, we're always losing our top-end players. We're always losing one or two kids to the USHL or BCHL right now. Those kids may have a different opportunity to go to the QMJHL, OHL, WHL or something like that, right? I think that was never going to change: losing your potential best prospects or players within your system. With the CHL rule changes, does it allow for more American-born players to go play in those Canadian major-junior leagues? 100 percent. But the player pool is still the same, right? So I haven't seen an impact with us yet.
"We lost two players this past year: Tommy Bleyl, who left early to go play in Moncton (QMJHL), and Maks Corovic, who decided to go play in the OHL. I think we were going to lose those guys regardless. They probably would've just been in the USHL if it wasn't the OHL (or QMJHL), right? I'm pretty confident, right now, that I don't think things are gonna change drastically. Could prep get a little younger in future years? Maybe. Maybe you see a few more kids competing as freshmen that you may not have seen in previous years, because there are a few more open spots for those kids to be more impactful.
The future of fall hockey
Fontas:Â "I don't know where it's going to go. I think I know where I'd like to see it go. I'd love for prep to start Oct. 1, and we kind of model the college (season), but I know that's a hard thing to obtain today. So it's probably going to be a mixture of teams doing what they're doing now, like those Connecticut teams trying to form something down there, so they have an opportunity to be able to give their players a development path. Teams like us, Winchendon, Holderness and Dexter, doing what we're doing right now so we can give our players the best opportunity for development and give them a Sept. to March season, right? If you don't offer anything, then you're not gonna be able to sustain a viable program. I would say for the next couple of years, it's gonna stay as is, a little flatlined until someone takes a leap of faith and is a little bit of a renegade going out on their own."
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