Salisbury was one goal away from returning to the Elite 8 championship game last spring. The Crimson Knights fell, 4-3, in overtime to eventual champion Kimball Union in the semifinals.
Like everyone else, the Crimson Knights lost a fair amount of talent to graduation. But where things are different from the other prep powerhouses is the amount of talent returning, combined with the high-end, older prospects coming in.
"Our expectation as a staff is that we're going to be able to play our style and our game relatively early in the season," Salisbury head coach Andrew Will said. "How that translates to wins and losses, we're not worried about that. But we want to get to playing our game as quickly as we can."
Typically, Salisbury struggles early in the season. In the 2021-22 season, the Crimson Knights lost four of six games from Dec. 11 through the Flood Marr Tournament before only losing one more time en route to an Elite 8 title. They won their first three matchups last season and dropped four of their next eight games. They were fine, however, comfortably making the Elite 8 in the end.
But this roster shouldn't struggle as much at the start. It's why Salisbury enters with such high expectations.
It's also why Salisbury is our preseason No. 1 team in boys prep hockey.
