15 takeaways from 2025 boys All-NEPSAC selections

It's crazy to think the NEPSAC boys hockey championships were almost one month ago.

Cushing took down Dexter Southfield for the Elite 8 title in a thriller, while Phillips Andover took home the Large School trophy and Kimball Union captured the Small School title.

The dust has settled. We can now properly look back on the season. And while we haven't put forth our awards yet, All-NEPSAC selections were released on Wednesday.

It's an interesting look at who coaches felt were the best forwards, defensemen and goalies this season. The selections were made by coaches voting on their region. Coaches couldn’t vote for their players.

Let's take a look and react to the All-NEPSAC selections.

East

Forwards 

• Carter Meyer, Rivers
• Rian Chudzinski, Dexter Southfield
• Billy MacAusland, Nobles
• Kyle O'Leary, Nobles
• Max Dineen, Cushing
• Finn Sears, Rivers

Defensemen 

• Evan Jones, Belmont Hill
• Jeremy Poirier, Holderness
• Myles Brosnan, Dexter Southfield
• Marco Senerchia, St. George's

Goalies 

• Justin BriseBois, St. Mark's
• Vinnie D'Urso, Tabor

Takeaways 

1. Last year, Kimball Union forward Sam LeDrew, who had 75 points, was left off. There's no snub of that magnitude this season. The only true snub I see is Cushing's Tommy Bleyl. The Michigan State commit finished with 29 points in 30 games and was instrumental in getting the Penguins wins down the stretch, including the Elite 8 championship. They mostly got these picks right.
2. Up front, Trinity-Pawling's Andrew Migliore, St. Mark's Evan Nee (Arlington, Mass.), Rivers' Justin Graf (Lincoln, Mass.), Belmont Hill's David Bosco (Winchester, Mass.), St. George's Danny Buckley (Warwick, R.I.) and Kimball Union's CJ Watroba (West Springfield, Mass.) have legitimate cases. So did Kimball Union defenseman Lucas Siomos. But I wouldn't identify them as snubs.
3. Of the commitment-eligible forwards, only MacAusland is uncommitted since Dineen recently committed to Sacred Heart. I will say it until I'm blue in the face: How is MacAusland still uncommitted?
4. This is a forward group we'll be talking about for a long time. Meyer, Chudzinski and Sears feel destined for long, successful pro careers, while O'Leary, MacAusland and Dineen project to be impactful Division 1 players someday.
5. Thinking out loud here: Will we see more or fewer freshmen like Meyer and Sears among prep's best? As the high-end players depart before graduation, my guess is more. Will they have the same impact Meyer and Sears did? Those two will be hard to top.
6. Jones and Poirier were two of the most potent offensive defensemen in the region, as each eclipsed 40 points. Brosnan catapulted himself into one of the best two-way defender prospects among local '07s, while Senerchia, a Providence College commit, continued to be an apt puck-moving defenseman.
7. Some might feel St. George's defenseman and Providence College commit Everett Baldwin (East Providence, R.I.) was snubbed. He missed some time due to injury, which brought his numbers down a bit and took him out of the running for this. He was still the top NHL Draft prospect in prep this winter.
8. They got it right in net. BriseBois led the region in goals-against average (1.83) and save percentage (.935) among goalies with at least 1,000 minutes played. He was the biggest reason St. Mark's was the No. 2 seed in the Elite 8. While Tabor didn't make the playoffs, the biggest reason why the Seawolves were even close was due to D'Urso, who ranked second in save percentage at .929.
9. Other candidates in net would be Kimball Union's Blake McMeniman (Revere, Mass.), Holderness' Mark Bierwirth (Chelmsford, Mass.) and Phillips Andover's Chase Anderson (Marblehead, Mass.).

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West

Forwards 

• Liam Lefevbre, Trinity-Pawling
• Joe Salandra, Brunswick
• Duncan Thompson, Berkshire
• Connor Davis, Salisbury
• Indiana Grossbard, Avon Old Farms
• Justin Tavares, Deerfield

Defensemen 

• Josh Williams, Berkshire
• Cam Minella, Brunswick
• Ludovick Gauvin, Trinity-Pawling
• Noah Jettelson, Taft

Goalies 

• Jack Fichthorn, Westminster
• Elliot Lennon, Deerfield

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Takeaways 

1. Let's start on defense. This wasn't a big year for high-end defensemen in the West. It was hardly one for them in the East, too. Minella is definitely high-end. The '09 just tried out for the U.S. National Team Development Program and ranked fourth in the region in points (37). Gauvin, an '06 senior, finished with the third-most points (39) in the region. Those two made sense. I like that coaches went a bit off the scoreboard and picked the hardest defensemen to play against in Williams and Jettelson. Both were vital to their teams in all three zones.
2. I don't see any clear snubs at forward. Instead, it was players who were Robin to their team's Batman. Brunswick's Mason St. Louis (Old Greenwich, Conn.) and Trinity-Pawling's Andrew Migliore both had the production for a spot, but higher point-getting teammates (rightfully) were recognized. Where things aren't as clear is with Salisbury senior forwards Ryan Hedley and Davis — Hedley had four more points. I'm not sure you can make the same Batman and Robin argument since that seems like more of a toss-up between the two.
3. Westminster's Blake Burke (Trumbull, Conn.) and Canterbury's Ryan Lucarelli (Westport, Conn.) are two other forwards who had real cases. Burke carried the Martlets at points, while Lucarelli posted 46 points and made those around him better on a .500 Canterbury squad.
4. Some of the biggest difference-makers in prep were these forwards in the West. Salandra led the region in points (72) and could take over games. The Harvard commit is one of the best players in prep in the last few years. Lefebvre, a Vermont commit, elevated Trinity-Pawling into an offensive juggernaut and a playoff team. Thompson brought Berkshire from a borderline playoff team last year to an Elite 8 contender and the No. 2 seed in the Small School this year. Grossbard's transfer from Loomis Chaffee to Avon Old Farms was a blessing for the Winged Beavers, as he averaged 1.62 points per game. Davis helped pull Salisbury back into the Elite 8 race, while Tavares led his team to the top of it.
5. These are the right two goalies. Westminster wasn't supposed to be very good this season and the Martlets got to the Large School championship game. That had a lot to do with Fichthorn, whose .928 save percentage ranked third in the region among goalies who played at least 1,000 minutes. Lennon wasn't too far behind with a .926 save percentage and ranked fourth in the region with a 2.03 GAA. The 6-foot-3 netminder didn't just bring Deerfield to within a game of the Elite 8 title game — he also skyrocketed his stock.
6. One goalie who had a legitimate case here is Anthony Palmer (Lynnfield, Mass.) of Avon Old Farms. His save percentage was tied with Lennon's, and he boasted a 2.20 GAA. The biggest reason why Fichthorn and Lennon got the nod over him was, in my opinion, due to Avon fatigue. The Winged Beavers have been good for a long time, and they took the slightest step back this season. Two other goalies were Taft's Brady Morris and Berkshire's Kyle Bolduc (Bolton, Conn.).

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