RinkWise podcast: Previewing the prep hockey holiday tournaments

Frederick Gunn head coach Craig Badger joined the latest RinkWise podcast. (Dave Arnold/NEHJ)

The prep hockey season is hitting its stride as holiday tournaments begin this week.

On the boys side, the annual Flood-Marr tournament, Avon Old Farms Christmas Classic, the Kevin Mutch tournament, the Groton/Lawrence tournament and more will see some of the region’s top teams battling it out for some early-season hardware.

For the girls, the annual Patsy K. Odden tournament, Harrington tournament, Dexter Southfield tournament and the E.G. Watkins tournaments are among those that will bring the fireworks this weekend.

Many of the tournaments on each side could have significant ripple effects on our prep hockey rankings.

New England Hockey Journal editor Evan Marinofsky chatted with Frederick Gunn coach Craig Badger and NEHJ writer Patrick Donnelly on the latest RinkWise Podcast to preview the upcoming holiday tournaments.

Watch/listen to the podcast

On the excitement of the holiday tournaments

Badger: “As a coach, we preach consistency and trying to bring that excitement day in and day out, but there’s no way to avoid it, especially those first two days where, I think there’s usually over a hundred scouts there. The room is packed. It’s parents, it’s scouts, it’s kids, and it’s just a really, really fun environment to be in and to be a part of. The kids, they know. They’re aware that there are scouts there and guys coming to watch and the pressure of that, but also, wanting to win a tournament and trying to bring a trophy home. So, they’re super excited, and as a coach, I mean, what more do you want, right? You’re focused just on hockey for, 48 hours-plus.”

HOLIDAY SEASON: Full schedules for boys tournaments | Full schedules for girls tournaments

On the Harrington touranment

Donnelly: “The Harrington will be my focus. Especially, if you look at Day 1, BB&N plays Williston. That’s a huge matchup for BB&N. Milton plays St. Paul’s, and then on Saturday, you get BB&N and Milton, Williston and St. Paul’s. Nobles actually could have a nice little setup to go deep in their own tournament. They get Lawrence the first day, then Westminster — Westminster’s no pushover. — St. Mark’s on Day 2. A lot of really intriguing matchups, and especially measuring sticks, whether it’s Milton against Williston, BB&N against Williston, you get St. Paul’s and BB&N and St. Paul’s gets a rematch with Williston. I think those are going to be really exciting to catch.”

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