RinkWise podcast: Previewing the 2023-24 boys prep hockey season

Avon Old Farms celebrates winning the 2023 Elite 8 Tournament. (Dave Arnold/NEHJ)

The boys prep hockey season is right around the corner.

Avon Old Farms took home the Elite 8 title over Cushing last season, but John Gardner‘s team must deal with its share of turnover and a challenging Housatonic schedule. This season figures to see plenty of parity as other stalwarts in the region like Salisbury and St. Sebastian’s vie for a chance to win some hardware.

RinkWise podcast host Stephanie Wood chatted with New England Hockey Journal editor Evan Marinofsky to preview the upcoming season in the latest episode.

They discuss who some of the top teams entering the season are, players to watch and how the prep hockey landscape is evolving.

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General thoughts ahead of the season

Marinofsky: “I think you do have some other teams who are going to be competing for Elite 8 contention that maybe weren’t last year. I think obviously the ISL is always strong. I’m curious, like in the Housatonic, that’s a really tough schedule, right? You got Avon down there, you’ve got Salisbury and Kent, and that’s sort of a difficult thing to deal with. Then obviously, you’ve got Kimball Union and Holderness up in New Hampshire. So, I think the parity is very good. I think it’s going to be very good. I don’t think there’s a clear [favorite]. I don’t think there’s any team that we’re going to say, ‘They are going to win the Elite 8 no problem.’ There’s no team like that.”

Players to watch

Marinofsky: “I’m going to miss some people since these are just some players off the top of my head. We mentioned the St. Seb’s guys. Jack Sadowski is one. We mentioned the Cushing kids. Two St. Mark’s forwards I think are gonna have a huge impact this year are Andrew Gibbons and Austin Borggaard. …I think they’re both poised to be outstanding players. On defense, I think Calvin Beard at St. Mark’s, Caden Herrington at Holderness, Dylan Hunt at Milton, Andrew O’Sullivan at Kimball Union. I think those are kind of the four defensemen I’m watching a lot. Then in net, Sam Caulfield, Ryder Shea and Marko Bilic I think are kind of the three. Again, I’m missing people, but there’s going to be a lot more about this on the website. And there’s going to be a lot on boys prep this year.”

The RinkWise podcast can be streamed here and on major platforms, such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.