RinkWise podcast: Recapping the prep holiday tournaments

Will Baker was strong for Brunswick en route to the Kevin Mutch Tournament title. (Dave Arnold/NEHJ)

There was no shortage of surprises at the boys and girls prep hockey holiday tournaments this past weekend.

On the boys side, Brunswick mowed through a gauntlet in the Kevin Mutch Christmas Tournament, outlasting host St. Sebastian’s for the win. At the Flood-Marr, Kimball Union knocked off Salisbury to take home the win, while Kent took down Avon Old Farms in Avon’s own tournament.

For the girls, Loomis Chaffee upset Andover in the Patsy K. Odden Tournament championship. St. Paul’s knocked off Williston Northampton to make a run to the Harrington Tournament final, where they fell to Nobles. Elsewhere, Thayer and Groton also fell in upsets over the weekend, too.

There’s plenty to unpack from the weekend. New England Hockey Journal editor Evan Marinofsky and writer Patrick Donnelly sat down to recap a busy few days on the latest RinkWise podcast.

RinkWise podcast: Takeaways from the prep holiday tournaments

On one of the keys to Nobles’ success:

Donnelly: “Nobles, I saw them twice this weekend. I’d seen them once before, and my biggest takeaway is, ‘Holy cow, that forecheck.’ There’s just nothing for opposing breakouts to do, just absolutely nothing. It was honestly a little bit of a fire drill sometimes for St. Paul’s, and it was the same thing for Loomis Chaffee when I saw them. It was the same thing for St. Mark’s when I saw them play Nobles on Saturday. They come at you in waves and it’s just relentless. … I think they’re really opportunistic because the forecheck creates so much chaos where they’re just going to get chances because of it. … A lot of their goals are off rebounds and come from dirty areas.”

On Brunswick’s Kevin Mutch Tournament win:

Marinofsky: “Brunswick. What a run, I mean, to beat Rivers — and they beat them handily – to then beat St. Andrew’s College … but to then also outlast Sebs in a home game for Sebs. For Brunswick to go in and rattle those three wins off, it’s big. … It was all Sebs in the second half of the game, and they weathered it. So to me, of the big four championship wins, Brunswick might have been the most impressive, given the gauntlet of teams they had to go through. Rivers, St. Andrew’s College, who has tons of talent – the NHL scouts are watching St. Andrew’s College – and then to take down Seb’s.”