Coaches, players amped as normal season anticipated for 2021-22

NEPSAC sports such as baseball and lacrosse were fortunate enough to get most of their seasons played in the spring of the 2020-21 school year. Winter sports weren’t so lucky.

As the pandemic surged in the late stages of 2020, league seasons were delayed, cut short, or canceled altogether, as a slew of school- and state-imposed restrictions left teams unable to cross state lines to play games against their traditional prep opponents.

Things got a bit better as time wore on — and it was different for every team — but for the most part, aside from a handful of exhibition matchups and a heavy dose of skills sessions, typical winter prep activities were few and far between.

With the season in jeopardy as 2020 turned into 2021, many of the local prep school players went and played full-time with their local split-season teams, but that was really it.

Now, almost 18 months since the last true prep hockey game took place in the days leading up to the pandemic, things are finally inching towards returning to normal as teams, players, and coaches get set to gear up for the start of the 2021-22 campaign.

Things will really start to heat up when students return to their respective campuses after Labor Day to begin training for the season’s late November start date.

In the meantime, New England Hockey Journal checks in with several local coaches to see how things were left at the end of the 2019-20 season, how they fared in 2020-21, as well as how things are developing heading into 2021-22.

Independent School League

On paper, the 16-team, Massachusetts-based Independent School League was the most competitive prep league in 2019-20. At the end of the winter slate, eight ISL teams — five from the Keller Division and three from the Eberhart Division — qualified for the NEPSAC playoffs.

Lawrence Academy and Noble and Greenough both appeared in the 2020 Elite 8 Stuart/Corkery Tournament, while St. Sebastian’s, Milton, and Thayer qualified for the Martin/Earl (Large School) bracket. St. Mark’s, Groton, and Rivers were the ISL teams that battled it out for the Piatelli/Simmons (Small School) crown.

The Keller Division, led by Robbie Barker and the reigning divisional champion Lawrence Academy, includes Nobles, St. Sebastian’s, Thayer, Milton, Tabor, Governor’s, and Belmont Hill.

The Eberhart Division, most recently won by St. Mark’s, includes Groton, St. George’s, Middlesex, Roxbury Latin, Brooks, BB&N, and Rivers.

While the 2020-21 season wasn’t what anyone in the ISL had hoped, there was some good that came out of the unprecedented campaign. Just ask coach Carl Corazzini and Lions, who took whatever they could get their hands on at the Southboro, Mass., prep school.

“I think the school was really good to us, from the standpoint of, we went remote from Thanksgiving to the new year, and we were able to play 8-10 games,” said Corazzini, a native of Framingham, Mass., who is entering his eighth season at the helm of St. Mark’s.

“It wasn’t a traditional prep schedule, but we literally played anyone that would play us. It was really nice that teams like the Junior Bruins, the (Boston) Advantage, Cape Cod Whalers, they were willing to play us whenever they could."

When the team returned to campus, they were on campus lockdown but still found ways to be productive.

“The school was nice enough to put in LiveBarn which was great for our parents, and we played intrasquad scrimmages. One of our kids, Michael Fisher (Westboro, Mass.), committed to Princeton just solely based on those scrimmages, so it wasn’t ideal, but we had a lot of fun, and the school was really supportive.”

Now, approaching 2021-22, St. Mark’s and the rest of the ISL are eager to get back to their typical 30-game prep campaign.

“We’re really excited,” Corazzini said. “All of the prep coaches are all calling around, looking for schedule changes, so it’s nice knowing that we’re going into a season where we’re going to be able to play interscholastic games. It’s been an exciting summer so far.”

Housatonic League

The 10-team, Connecticut-based Housatonic League encompasses two of the top teams in New England, Avon Old Farms and Salisbury. In terms of the trophies, it was the most successful prep league in 2019-20.

Avon Old Farms, led by legendary prep bench boss John Gardner, won the Housatonic League championship the last time it was held on the heels of a near-perfect record of 24-3-0. Salisbury, led by Andrew Will, won the Stuart/Corkery Tournament in 2020 after compiling a record of 25-3-2, ousting AOF in the process. With the win, the Crimson Knights won their fourth Elite 8 championship since 2008 and first since the program won three straight from 2013-15.

In the Large School Tournament, Loomis Chaffee, led by coach JR Zavisza, won the Martin/Earl championship. The Pelicans defeated top-ranked Cushing in the title game.

In total, six Housatonic teams qualified for the 2020 NEPSAC playoffs. Hotchkiss joined Avon and Salisbury in the Elite 8 bracket, while Kent and Deerfield joined Loomis in the fight for the Large School crown. Trinity-Pawling, Westminster, Taft, Kent, and Choate did not appear in the playoffs.

The Founders League, a subset of the Housatonic, is made up of all of the same teams, with the exception of Deerfield and Salisbury.

Although the following season wasn’t what it was supposed to be after they were knocked out by Salisbury in the Elite 8 semifinals, Gardner and the Winged Beavers did their best to make the most of 2020-21 — and they did better than most.

“I think we tried really hard last year, and we were one of the few schools that actually played and worked to play (prep games),” Gardner said. “Our school did a really good job with that.

“It was the best thing for every player because we were on the ice six days a week. Basically, from the start of the school year up until Thanksgiving, we were doing skills sessions. So, we weren’t getting the press, the publicity, or the notoriety, but we were getting better.”

Aside from those skills sessions, AOF also managed to play quite a few quality games against local in-state prep opponents, such as Salisbury and Canterbury. Now, with Labor Day and the start of the coming school year on the horizon, their focus turns to 2021-22.

“It was a tough year, but we persevered and, hopefully, we’ll be better for it,” Gardner said. “We’re just looking forward to getting back to some degree of normalcy. I think everybody is.”

Lakes Region

The eight-team, New Hampshire-based Lakes Region League is led by reigning league champion Kimball Union, which won three straight Elite 8 championships from 2017-19 before Salisbury knocked off Dexter Southfield to win the tournament the last time it was held.

KUA, led by coach Tim Whitehead, was the only Lakes Region team to qualify for the Stuart/Corkery Tournament in 2020, while Tilton and New Hampton both qualified for the Piatelli/Simmons (Small School) bracket.

Due to their secluded locations in New Hampshire, Lakes Region teams, like the Meriden, N.H., based KUA, were able to participate in some of the most relatively “normal” prep schedules in 2020-21. Unlike most schools that went remote for weeks on end in the middle of last season’s campaign, the Wildcats were in the classroom and on the ice year-round.

“It actually worked out better than we expected,” Whitehead said. “We were on the ice from Sept. 14 to April, and that opportunity to develop and practice and compete among ourselves was just tremendous.

“We were fortunate that we got eight games. And that’s a lot better than most, because of our rural location. Only eight, but it definitely broke up the season a bit and gave guys an opportunity to have some fun against someone other than themselves.”

Like the rest of the New England prep teams, however, practice time still heavily outweighed the game time for the Wildcats in 2020-21.

“The development throughout the course of the year, on the ice and in the weight room, was quite significant, so we feel very fortunate, but we did miss the games,” Whitehead said. "Games are fun, both for the players and the coaches, and parents, so we’re looking forward to getting back after it and returning to our normal slate of games.”

The most exciting aspect of which, Whitehead said, will be the return of the numerous prep tournaments.

“We always play in six tournaments, the Stanstead Showcase, the Exeter Invitational, the Flood Marr holiday tournament, and the True Prep Cup, and then we have our Lakes Region playoffs and the New England championships,” he said. “We missed out on all six of those last year, as well as all our non-league games, so we’re really excited about it."

For KUA and the rest of the Lakes Region, the official (and anticipated normal) start of the 2021-22 campaign cannot come soon enough.

“We put the ice down in September and then they get in the gym and on the ice, so we’re anxious to get started,” Whitehead said. “We have a good group of returners and some new kids coming in that we’re excited about, so it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Independent

While most New England prep schools reside in the leagues above, several programs remain independent. Dexter Southfield, Berkshire, Brunswick, Cushing, Gunnery, Phillips Exeter, and more, are all heavy competitors in the New England prep sphere without residing under a set league umbrella.

Seven independent teams qualified for the 2020 NEPSAC playoffs. Berkshire and Dexter Southfield both appeared in the Elite 8 Tournament. DXSF, led by coach Dan Donato, finished as the runner-up after Salisbury came out victorious in the title game.

Cushing and Brunswick both appeared in the 2020 edition of the Martin/Earl, while Gunnery, Pomfret and Millbrook qualified for the Piatelli/Simmons. In the end, Craig Badger and the Gunnery Highlanders came out on top, claiming the Small School crown over Pomfret.

Under the direction of Donato, who arrived at Dexter Southfield after leaving Salisbury in 2009, the team has advanced to the final four of the Elite 8 Tournament each of the last four years it was held. After not having the chance to qualify in 2021, the Brookline, Mass., prep school coach is eager to get there again in 2022.

“I can’t wait,” Donato said. “We were lucky — we ended up getting 18 games (last year), so at least our kids were able to play and develop and grow that camaraderie. Certainly nothing like playing your usual prep rivals, but at least we felt like there was some normalcy compared to what most programs and teams had to go through.”

While practice and development time is important, Donato said, it’s always nice to have something to play for.

“Every year we try to be, obviously, the best we can be and try to win that Elite 8 championship. We like to aim high with these guys because it gives them a real goal to shoot for. We’re the only team that’s been to the final four each of the last four years, so we’d like nothing better than to put it over the top and win it this year.”

It might take a few weeks to get into the swing of things after the unprecedented nature of the past 18 months, but the return of a normal prep hockey season in New England is coming, and it’s coming quick.

“It’s going to be interesting,” Donato said. “It’s really going to be interesting to see what last year did to prep school hockey as far as who’s going to be good, who left, who didn’t leave, all of those different things. Because of COVID, I think it’s had a huge impact. And then also with the transfer portal and the colleges, I think it’s going to be very interesting to see what happens in the future. It will be interesting, for sure, but we are excited to get going.”

This article appeared in the print edition of the July/August 2021 New England Hockey Journal magazine.