There is a new No. 1 in this week’s New England Hockey Journal Prep School Coaches Poll. For the first time since our preseason poll, the top team is not Salisbury or Dexter Southfield.
Legendary coach John Gardner’s Avon Old Farms club has used an eight-game winning streak to propel to the top spot. The Winged Beavers likely clinched that distinction with Saturday’s 3-0 shutout against the previous No. 1, their Housatonic League rivals from Salisbury.
Eight teams returned from a week ago, but just three others outside of the top 10 received more than one voting point. (Teams receive 10 points for a first-place vote, nine for a second-place vote, eight for a third-place vote, etc.)
The NEHJ Prep School Coaches Poll is released every Tuesday during the season on hockeyjournal.com. Please send an email to jkummins@hockeyjournal.com if you are interested in participating in our polls throughout the winter.
1. Avon Old Farms (21-2)
108 points - 9 first-place votes
Last week: 2nd
Avon ran its winning streak to eight games with triumphs over Choate, 8-2, and Salisbury, 3-0. Timur Alishlalov led the Winged Beaver offense against Choate with two goals and one assist, and seven other players tallied multiple points, including Charles Leddy, who assisted on a goal in each period. Alishlalov notched a goal and an assist in the Salisbury game, a 25-save shutout for Connor Callaghan. Liam Verdoni and Tabor Heaslip scored the other goals.
2. Lawrence (20-2-2)
87 points - 2 first-place votes
Last week: 3rd
The Spartans posted back-to-back wins over Governor’s, 3-1, and BB&N, 7-1, before skating to a 4-4 tie with St. Mark’s. David Sacco (Middleton, Mass.) notched a goal and an assist against Govs, Conor Lovett (Franklin, Mass.) dished out two assists and Damien Carfagna and Matt Connor (Amherst, N.H.) also scored.
Against BB&N, Riley Duran (Woburn, Mass.) scored a hat trick and added an assist while Sacco matched his four-point effort before scoring a hat trick of his own against St. Mark’s. Also in the latter game, Lovett (1-1-2) and Duran (0-2-2) notched multiple points. In goal, Cooper Steinborn (Lexington, Mass.) made 13 saves during his first start of the season against BB&N.
T3. Salisbury (19-3-1)
81 points
Last week: 1st
The Crimson Knights split their two games, earning a 3-0 shutout victory at Kent before Avon Old Farms turned that exact same result around two days later to snap Salisbury’s five-game winning streak. Against Kent, Jake Quillan scored twice and Oliver Frontini added another goal in support of Max Donoso’s 16-save shutout. Nicholas Haas stopped 28 shots in the loss to the Winged Beavers.
T3. Dexter Southfield (22-4)
81 points
Last week: 4th
Dexter is coming off a potent offensive week during which it beat Berwick, 9-1, Winchendon, 9-3, and Kents Hill, 11-1. Aidan Connolly (Marshfield, Mass.) and Doug Grimes (Brookline, Mass.) both scored hat tricks, with Connolly also adding an assist against Berwick.
Grimes wasn’t done, however, as he posted four goals and six points against Winchendon before finishing the week with a hat trick and an assist against Kents Hill. Jack Dempsey (Natick, Mass.) scored once and dished out four assists in the Winchendon game.
Dempsey and Connolly rounded out the week with six-point games. John McElaney (Walpole, Mass.) scored twice and added two assists against Kents Hill as Matt Copponi (Mansfield, Mass.) also scored two goals and added an assist.
5. Hotchkiss (17-4-2)
57 points
Last week: 6th
The Bearcats skated to a 2-2 tie at Kent before bouncing back for a 4-2 victory over Trinity-Pawling. Bodie Molnar and Declan Conway scored against Kent as Cameron Smith stopped 20 shots. In the victory over T-P, Gavin Puskar (Lakeville, Conn.) scored a pair of goals and assisted on another while Nick Traggio (Sharon, Conn.) scored and handed out two assists.
6. Kimball Union (23-5-2)
54 points
Last week: 5th
After skating to a scoreless tie against Proctor, the Wildcats posted back-to-back one-goal wins over Holderness, 2-1, and Cushing, 4-3. Veeti Kohvakka stood tall in the stalemate with 41 saves and bookended the week with a 37-save performance against Cushing. Tomas Mazura and Bryce Bollman scored at Holderness as Zak Brice made 27 stops. Bollman factored into all four goals against Cushing, scoring two and adding two assists. Donte Pierre also lit the lamp twice.
7. Nobles (17-5-2)
50 points
Last week: 7th
Nobles bounced back from its Feb. 15 loss to Milton with back-to-back convincing victories against BB&N, 9-0, and Belmont Hill, 4-1. Casey Severo was the top pointgetter during Ben Clarke’s (Wellesley, Mass.) 13-save shutout, with four assists. Drew Haxton (Wakefield, R.I.; 2-1-3), David Jacobs (Needham, Mass.; 1-2-3) and Roman Tacelli (Needham, Mass.; 1-2-3) all logged three points. Severo scored a hat trick in the latter game while Tacelli (1-1-2) and Will Moore (Dedham, Mass.; 0-2-2) were also multipoint scorers for the Bulldogs. Marc Smith (Hanover, Mass.) made 10 stops.
8. Bershire (16-7-2)
28 points
Last week: Not ranked
The Bears defeated Trinity-Pawling, 4-2, and Westminster, 6-5, to extend their winning streak to six games and jump back into the NEHJ ranks. Jake MacDonald (Cumberland Center, Maine) scored twice against T-P, while Aidan Thompson (1-1-2) and Hayden Riva (Lakeville, Conn.; 0-2-2) were also multipoint scorers.
Against Westy, Thompson led the way with a hat trick and two assists and Briggs Gammill (New Canaan, Conn.) scored once and added two assists. Jed Baliotti (New Canaan, Conn.) made 25 and 27 saves, respectively, in the wins.
9. Cushing (19-7-3)
25 points
Last week: 9th
The Penguins opened their week with a 4-2 win over Andover and 3-0 shutout of Kents Hill before a 4-3 loss to Kimball Union snapped their seven-game winning streak.
Max Dorrington (North Reading, Mass.) and Jake Hewitt (Ashburnham, Mass.) both posted a goal and an assist while Jackson Irving (Newbury, Mass.) made 24 stops against Andover. Hewitt, C.J. Zezima (New Canaan, Conn.) and Billy Norcross (Lynn, Mass.) all scored goals as Colin Ronan (Saugus, Mass.) pitched a 16-save shutout of Kents Hill.
In Cushing’s lone setback of the week, Hewitt logged two goals and one assist, Nolan Hayes (Milton, Mass.) had a goal and an assist and Irving made 25 saves.
10. New Hampton (21-7-3)
8 points
Last week: Not ranked
First-year head coach Connor Gorman has led the Huskies on a five-game unbeaten streak, including three games over this past week: wins over St. Paul’s, 5-3, and Vermont Academy, 9-0, and a 1-1 tie with Proctor. Marcus Joughlin scored twice and added an assist in the first of those games while Alex Lobdell (Bedford, N.H.) scored the winner.
Four players were three-point scorers against Vermont, including Ryan Mahlmeister, who matched Joughlin’s line (2-1-3) from the previous game. Adam Shuchart was the lone goal scorer against Proctor, lifting the Huskies to a point after Robbie Farrell (Wilmington, Mass.) made 28 saves. Lucas Brine and Andrew Sayles earned victories in the net with the latter pitching the shutout.
Others receiving votes: Loomis Chaffee, St. Mark’s, Brunswick, St. Sebastian’s, Millbrook
